Cebu inventor bags award for recycled decor fixtures

MANILA, Philippines - A Cebuano innovator who has already won awards and citations for manufacturing furniture and decorative fixtures from recycled materials bagged the Tuklas Award” in the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) 2014 National Invention Contests and Exhibits (NICE) during the just concluded National Science and Technology Week celebrations at the SMX Convention Center.

The winning invention of Pedro Delantar, Jr. was a molded coarse particle product with cast paper based reinforcement, basically a decorative fixture that used castaway materials from the making of furniture.

Delantar, a member of the Filipino Inventor Society (FIS) and currently president of the Rotary Club of Cebu, won a P150,000, cash prize as well as a plaque from the NICE and the World Intellectual Property Organization.

Winning second prize was Jaime Esteban for his multi-purpose rotary dryer.

DOST Secretary Mario Montejo said the NICE was their major event to promote and showcase Filipino invention and innovation.

“Invention creates a new product. It is an improvement over what is in the market, and the idea is to convert it to a product or a process to create a much superior or much more competitive product,” Montejo said during the awarding ceremonies.

He added that there is support available for inventors from the DOST’s Metals Industry Research and Development Center. “Right now we are funding to make gears no matter what size, at prices that are comparable to ASEAN. Maybe this year we will have a prototype for electronic devices,” Montejo said.

Other winners in the 2014 NICE was the Outstanding Utility Model Awards won by Bernade Archeta for a granulator machine; 2nd winner was the in-line water purification and sterilization apparatus by Rodrigo Duque; and 3rd went to Emiliano Quitiol for his thermal used lubricating oil redistiller.

In NICE’s Outstanding Creative Research or Likha Award, the 1st winner was “The Process of Producing an All Natural and Hypo Allergenic Nata de Coco Wound Care Product in an Industrial Scale” research of Denver Chicano and Acel Pauline Ampong-Chicano; 2nd winner was the “Sustainable and Resilient Emerging/Floating Structure” research of Cris Cyril Abbu Myla Gador; while the 3rd prize winner was the “Multi-purpose Self-propelled Riding-type Mower” research project of Joel Alcaraz.

The winners won cash awards and plaques from NICE and the World Intellectual Property Organization, which recognizes the achievements of inventors, creators and innovative companies around the world.

Held every two years, NICE is open to student and professional inventors from both the public and private sectors.