January 21, 2021- Young innovators from the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) and Nueva Vizcaya State University (NVSU) beat online last December 19, 2020 nine other teams at the Luzon Demo Day of the Innovation Olympics 2.0.
The AIM and NVSU teams will compete with fellow finalists from the Visayas Region and Mindanao Region for the grand prize of PHP 200,000. Each finalist will receive P100,000 for the implementation of their projects.
Dr. Glenn B.Gregorio, Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) Director, and Dr. Rico C. Ancog, SEARCA program lead for Emerging Innovation for Growth as well as UP Scientist III and Associate Professor at the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), were among the five judges during the Luzon Demo Day.
Innovation Olympics second edition was launched in October 2020 as a nationwide search for innovative solutions in precision agriculture for small-scale vegetable farming developed by young Filipinos.
“The IO2 is the platform where the innovative, adventurous, or crazy ideas of our youth can be honed and tested in the farmers’ field and make the life of farmers comfortable and profitable. We believe that our youth are the implementors of Agriculture 4.0 and they have the ability to make it a reality,“ Dr. Gregorio highlighted.
The collaborators for Innovation Olympics 2.0 is the East-West Seed with the SEARCA, Sensient Colors LLC, University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB), UPLB-Technology Transfer and Business Development Office (UPLB-TTBDO), UPLB Startup Innovation and Business Opportunity Linkaging Labs (SIBOL Labs), and APEX: The UPLB Business Network.
SEARCA’s support to the Innovation Olympics 2.0 is tied to its priority focus on Emerging Innovation for Growth (EIG) to achieve outcomes or solutions that can be described as transformational innovation, which may be in the form of agripreneurship startups, technology adaptation or prototypes such as those being developed in the competition.
Farm Journal Using Analytics and Networks (FarmJuan) AIM Team developed by Earwin Belen, Carlo Tansuk, Kit Sumabat, and Arvi Ubaldo, who are all AIM Master of Science in Innovation and Business students.
FarmJuan is a digital agriculture system enabler that provides actionable insights for farmers that can help increase yield and profit, monitor farm inputs and minimize their production costs.
“Will provide end-to-end solutions that empower farmers and consumers by leveraging IoT sensors, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and blockchain to monitor, detect, and trace vegetables at the farm level.” Belen FarmJuan stressed.
It will also link farmers to a licensed agriculturist that can provide prescriptions to the farmers based on the data from the system Belen added.
Subsequently , the Automated Irrigation and Nutrient Management System (AIRIN) of NVSU team was developed by Myka Fragata, Maricel Farro, and Jaime Hapicio, who are all NVSU students. Farro and Hapicio are both BS Electrical Engineering students, while Fragata is pursuing her BS in Secondary Education-General Sciences.
“We want to create a sure system where farmers will not struggle in irrigation and fertilizer and pesticide application because they can control their farm operations just through SMS or text messaging” Fragata said.
“With AIRIN, farmers can get a synergistic system with soil sensors that can measure the soil’s current moisture; pH; salinity; temperature; nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium content; a water level sensor to know the availability of water from the source remotely; a communication system that can log all these data and send real-time updates and recommendations to farmers to ensure healthy soils and increase crop yield; and a solar-powered irrigation system that can water up to 15 meters deep and deliver up to 1,000 liters per hour.” Fragata stated.
Meanwhile, prior to the Luzon Demo Day, a three-day hackathon with design thinking expert Carlo Valencia was held for 11 competing teams from Luzon. The hackathon enabled them to refine their ideas through the concepts of design thinking—a process used to understand the users, challenge assumptions, redefine problems, and create innovative solutions to prototype and test.
Lastly, the schedule is this coming March to May 2021, the Luzon finalists will be implementing their projects together with their mentors. They will present their results along with the finalists from the Visayas and Mindanao at the Innovation Olympics 2.0 National Demo Day in June 2021.
Based on the information coming from Ms Leah Lyn D. Domingo of SEARCA