Exhibit showcases work of Visayan inventors

CEBU, Philippines - Soon, we would be able to recharge our mobile phones without adding to our daily electric consumption.

A toilet with built-in waste water treatment facility will soon be built in the homes reducing water pollution.

Motorcycles can now operate in the water! Believe it or not.

These are just some of the inventions and research studies that Visayans can be proud of because these came straight from the very minds of creative and brilliant inventors and innovators from Central, Eastern and Western Visayas.

Just yesterday, inventors and researchers, both professionals and students, went center stage as the Department of Science and Technology showcased their greatest works and ideas in the 2009 Visayan Island Invention Exhibit Festival.

Great minds joined together to show the public that there are more ways to make life even easier and better with their latest inventions and proposals.

With the theme “Inventions: Responding to Global Challenges,” the exhibit aims not only to recognize the exemplary works of Visayan inventors but to also determine the qualifiers for the National Invention Contest which will be held on November 16 to 20 at the Philippine Trade Training Center in Manila.

There are 17 entries presented and currently displayed at the Ayala Activity Center. It is a three-day exhibit that was opened yesterday and will culminate tomorrow. During these days, entries will be judged, and the winners shall receive cash, certificate of merit and shall qualify to the national invention contest.

Engineer Rene Burt Llanto, DOST-7 regional director, said that this is also part of DOST’s efforts under the Technology Application and Promotion Institute to foster innovation and inventions in the country.

“All we have to do is to create a venue where all inventors can be nurtured to bloom into their full capacity,” Llanto said.

While the activity receives full support and participation from the innovative community, Llanto said they are encouraging more inventors to show up and share what they got.

“We recognize the strategic roles of our inventors in helping shape the economy. And we will not falter in supporting them,” said lawyer Mario Bravo in his speech delivered by DOST-8 director Edgar Esperancilla.

 Llanto said that “by encouraging inventors to continue discovering new ideas, they are also promising full assistance in all their endeavors.”

Under the Inventors and Invention Incentives Act of the Philippines or Republic Act 7459, the government shall provide a conducive environment that would give encouragement and support to inventors and develop programs that would maximize their capability and productivity through incentives and other forms of assistance, Tabada said.

Inventors who will be able to secure a patent from the Intellectual Property Office will be assured of financial and technical assistance from the DOST to help them all the way to the commercialization of their works, he added.

In Cebu, Visayas Inventors Association president Jesselito Baring admitted that they only have few members because some inventors were afraid to show up due to the mentality that theirs are just simple inventions that do not deserve the limelight.

Llanto also laments at this and stressed that “theirs might just be simple ideas but what’s important is that these were able to solve practical problems.”

Baring said that the society needs true inventors who will stand by themselves and will stay firm in their beliefs against all odds.

“We already expect that we cannot gain the society’s trust ad support the first time, but a true inventor will support himself first and is not dependent of others,” Baring said.

Winners of the contest will be announced tomorrow, October 4. Works will be judged according to the following criteria: originality and creativity, usefulness, market potential and presentation and demonstration. — Jessica Ann R. Pareja/MEEV   (FREEMAN NEWS)