DOST-NCR Launches Science Beyond Borders Campaign

The Department of Science and Technology- National Capital Region (DOST-NCR) has launched its Science Beyond Borders campaign at the Lucky Chinatown Mall in Binondo, Manila with two events, the Innovations for Filipinos Working Distantly from the Philippines (iFWD PH) Summit, and the 2024 Science Food Festival which featured products from 21 companies and groups that have been assisted under DOST’s Small Enterprise Technology Upgrading Program (SETUP), Community Empowerment through Science and Technology (CEST) program, and the iFWD PH program.

A five-year campaign, DOST-NCR Regional Director Engr. Romelen T. Tresvalles said that “Science Beyond Borders will debunk the stereotype that science, technology, and innovation (STI) are only confined to laboratories and colleges and universities”. This will be done, she added, through various activities that show the application of S&T in the day-to-day lives of people from all walks of life.

In his keynote speech, Science Secretary Dr. Renato U. Solidum, Jr. discussed the phrase “beyond borders” to mean a number of things, including: democratizing the transformative power of STI, citing the Department’s programs to ensure that everyone gains the benefits of

the advances in science and technology; delving into the unusual, such as enabling OFWs to transcend barriers of time and territories through the iFWD PH program; and shifting paradigms among startups and micro enterprises in sectors yet to be explored.

Four Memoranda of Understanding were signed during the opening ceremonies between DOST and the Global Filipino Movement, the Online Micro Sellers Multipurpose Cooperative, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc.- Las Piňas, and the Department of Migrant Workers (DMW), with whom the DOST will be working to ensure that the investments that OFWs have worked so hard for will be protected. For his part, Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac in his pre-taped message reiterated his Department’s support and initiatives for the country’s makabagong bayani.

Echoing the Science Chief’s call to move beyond the ordinary and usual, the event also saw the launching of two new food technologies based on Okara, the soy pulp that remains after pureed soybeans are filtered in the production of soy. Researchers from DOST’s Industrial Technology Development Institute developed a nutritional drink from the soy by-product, while researchers from the Polytechnic University of the Philippines-Manila came up with Okara flour, in collaboration with Queenbee Enterprises, a taho manufacturer and one of DOST-NCR’s SETUP adoptors.

DOST Undersecretary for Regional Operations Engr. Sancho A. Mabborang best summed up the pivotal role of STI and their possibilities in going beyond borders by saying that DOST is society’s “call a friend” lifeline, a shout out to the Department’s slogan of STI “providing solutions and opening up opportunities.”

By: Pinky Marcelo, SCCU