TECH PLANTER in the Philippines 2022 Demo Day Announcement

In order to help bring deep technologies into society, TECH PLANTER ASEAN has again started a new season this 2022, and the first Demo Day will be held in the Republic of the Philippines!

This year, 9 finalists out of 34 applications were selected to pitch and compete in the Demo Day for the title of “TECH PLANTER in the Philippines 2022 Grand Winner”. The finalists will be coming together on-site to present the technologies they are developing with a passion to solve different deep issues that are encountered in the Philippines and even globally. 

The finalists will be judged by representatives of government agencies, technology business incubators and companies from the Philippines and Japan. 

JUDGES

Head Judge: Dr. Yevgeny Aster Dulla | Managing Director, Leave a Nest Philippines, Inc.

Yev was born and raised in Iloilo City, Philippines. He graduated with a degree in BS Chemistry from the University of the Philippines – Visayas, after which he worked as an instructor at the University of the Philippines – Manila. He came to Japan in 2013 to pursue graduate studies where he acquired his Masters in Health Life Sciences and PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences. In 2020, he joined Leave a Nest Co., Ltd. and is currently under the Frontier Development Division. He is also a Balik Scientist Awardee for 2020~2021, and is the Managing Director for Leave a Nest’s newly opened Philippine subsidiary.

Dr. Nie Yuntong, Manager | Mitsui Chemicals Singapore R&D Centre, Pte. Ltd.

Dr. Nie received her PhD in Chemistry at National University of Singapore. She has over 10 years work experience in the chemical industry and is currently Manager in the Research Division in Mitsui Chemicals Singapore R&D Centre (MS-R&D). Mitsui Chemicals Inc. is one of the diversified companies in Japan and providing a wide variety of chemicals and polymers globally. Mission of MS-R&D is to develop new business from Asia Pacific. We are looking for new business opportunities making best use of open innovation in connection with Mitsui Chemicals’ proprietary technologies.

Mr. Kenji Yamamoto | Director, Real Tech Holdings Co., Ltd.

Kenji is Director of Real Tech Holdings Singapore and manages deep tech VC investments in the Southeast Asia region. Prior to his position, he has had over 10 years of experience in equity investments across Asia, US and Africa. He has served as Principal at TPTF, US-APAC tech VC, and as Deputy General Manager of the investment division for an international mining/materials company. He started his career as a co-founder of a startup in Japan as leading sales & marketing and finance functions. He earned his MBA from INSEAD and majored in nuclear engineering in the University of Tokyo.

Mr. Yuichiro Takayama | Director of Global Business Division, BIPROGY, Inc.

Since his assignment in Global Business Division of BIPROGY Inc, where is in charge of new overseas business planning and management of overseas group companies, he has engaged in development of new overseas business including M&A projects especially in ASEAN region. He also has experienced corporate finance field in financial industry more than 20 years in Japan, Singapore, and South Korea.

(Judge TBD) Mitsui O.S.K. Lines

Dr. Enrico Paringit | Executive Director, Department of Science and Technology – Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development (DOST-PCIEERD)

Dr. Enrico C. Paringit started as the executive director of DOST-PCIEERD in December 2018. An outstanding engineer, he led game-changing programs and projects in land surveying, remote sensing and geographic information system, environmental monitoring, and disaster risk assessment and management. One of these is the Disaster Risk Assessment, Exposure and Mitigation-Light Ranging and Detection Technology or DREAM LiDAR, which addressed the effects of flooding disasters in the Philippines through accurate national terrain elevation maps and training of LiDAR and flood mapping experts.

Mr. Jo-Dann Darong | Assistant Director, Competitiveness Bureau, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)

After working in the banking sector, Jo-Dann “JD” N. Darong started serving the Philippine government as the Project Development Officer at the Department of Education, and he has continued to serve in different areas of the government. In 2019, JD was appointed by the Secretary of the Department of Science and Technology as a member of the Fairness Opinion Board and designated as an economic expert and financial consultant for the Philippine government's technology transfer and commercialization projects. At present, he is a senior doctoral student for a Ph.D. Development Studies at De La Salle University-Manila, and a Visiting Ph.D. Fellow at the NHH Norwegian School of Economics, BI Norwegian Business School, and the University of Oslo. He is also presently the Director III of the Competitiveness and Innovations Group of the Department of Trade and Industry.

Mr. Joseph de Leon | Founding Member, Manila Angel Investors Network

In his day job, Joseph de Leon is the Director of Venture Strategy for Gravitas Prime. He leads M&A advisory, capital raises, and market entry partnerships for clients in Asia. For fun, he does the same thing for startups as a founding member of Manila Angel Investors Network (MAIN). MAIN is the country's largest active angel investor network, winner of Start-up Investor of the Year for the Philippines' 2019 RiceBowl Awards and partnered with Investing In Women, an initiative of the Australian Government, to nurture more female founders and funders. Joseph has worked with winning start-ups from all over the world. He has covered Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, Samoa, and Switzerland. He has the privilege of being the Philippines Ambassador for Seedstars SA, selected as the Philippines' first Amazon AWS Scout, and as a mentor for institutions such as the German Accelerator, Impact Hub, UNDP, Founders Institute and IIDF. JdL is a certified Six Sigma Blackbelt, and an MBA from Emory University. He's also pursued further studies in Finance at UP Diliman, and has a BS Legal Management from Ateneo de Manila.

Mr. Kevin dela Cruz | Entrepreneurship and Incubation Manager, PhilDev Foundation

Kevin has been working in the development sector for eleven (11) years assuming various roles as a social entrepreneur, government consultant for livelihood and education, lecturer in enterprise development and a program development manager. He is working as the Entrepreneurship and Incubation Manager of the PhilDev Foundation. He is also the Co-Founder and Lead Consultant of Strago Solutions Consulting working with clients from various sectors focusing on development sustainability and management. He was a Professional Fellow on Economic Empowerment of the US Department of State and a member of the Global Shapers Manila Hub of the World Economic Forum.

Mr. John Dave Del Rosario | Head, Community and Ecosystem Department, IdeaSpace-QBO

Dave is currently the Head of the Community and Ecosystem Department at IdeaSpace-QBO where he leads the startup awareness and advocacy initiatives of the organization. Prior to joining IdeaSpace-QBO, he helped build and develop the local startup community of Mindanao through his Center Manager role at IDEYA, a technology business incubator established by DOST PCIEERD in MSU-IIT. Dave possesses 9 years of professional experience with strong and diverse exposure in the areas of project management, incubator development, and community development. He is an alumnus of YSEALI Academic Fellow 2018 and also a Startup Weekend Facilitator.

In addition to the 9 finalists, 6 teams were selected to be Lightning Talk speakers on the Demo Day. They will be given the opportunity to pitch their technologies for 3 minutes outside of judging. 

Event Details:

• Date: 14 May 2022
• Time: 1:00 PM – 6:00 PM (PH Time | +1 for JP Time)
• Venue: Iloilo Science and Technology University, Iloilo City, Philippines
• Type of Event: Hybrid implementation, Semi-closed

Timeline:

Other links and information:

• TECH PLANTER ASEAN 2022 Global Partners Announcement
• TECH PLANTER in the Philippines Website
• For other information, you can contact Ezza at [email protected]
• Website