Young techies win their way to Silicon Valley

MANILA, Philippines - After being selected as the final five of the recently concluded ON3 national competition, five teams of Filipino innovators are one step closer to Silicon Valley, the mecca of technophiles and innovators.

Following a round of due diligence, two of the five teams will be crowned as winners of the grand prize in the fourth quarter this year.

The prize: a three-month Silicon Valley Immersion Package that includes training, mentoring, exposure and introduction to venture capitalists, as well as the opportunity to pitch to potential investors, among others.

The ON3 initiative of the Science and Technology Advisory Council-Silicon Valley (STAC-SV) was held during the National Science and Technology Week of the Department of Science and Technology at the SMX in Pasay City last July 30.

Gracing the event were DOST Secretary Mario Montejo, Jojo Flores and Christina Laskowski of STAC-SV, and Myla Crespo Villanueva, CEO of Novare Technologies, a major sponsor of ON3.

The STAC-SV, a non-profit organization, seeks to create a bridge that links Filipino innovation to capital and opportunities, and bring them to the forefront of leading-edge global markets.

“We at Novare Technologies are very happy to support STAC-SV and the DOST in this great endeavor. Our Philippine talent should be exposed to the world. Who knows, the next great start-up story may just come from here,” said Villanueva, a well-known IT innovator in the global and local IT industry.

Selected were Piclyf, a radical new visual diary and website that aims to change the way we document life through pictures; RAD Green Solutions for its Pyroclave, a cost-effective processor for infectious medical wastes; Khaos Manufacturing for its Improved Khaos Super Gas Saver; GSMetrix, a mobile weather monitoring solution through GSM technologies; and Arnichem Corp., with its revolutionary dry-wettable biofertilizer solution.

Many of this year’s ON3 finalists hailed from Cebu and Davao. “I am very impressed with our innovators from Cebu and Davao,” said Villanueva. “I would like to see more competitors from all over the Visayas and Mindanao in next year’s ON3 competition.”

“Novare will be supporting the initiatives of STAC-SV and the DOST in the long term, as part of its mission to help enable our young technologists to compete against the best in the world,” she added.