Leading Firms Attest to Critical Role of S and T in Enabling Company’s Growth

Author: Pinky Marcelo Published: Published: Jan. 25, 2024

Leading figures from two of Metro Manila’s more successful companies spoke about the critical role of science, technology, and innovation in spurring their respective company’s growth and development in an online colloquium titled “Navigating the Regional Innovation Ecosystem with DOST,” which was jointly organized by the Department of Science and Technology-NCR and the Technological University of the Philippines (TUP).

The forum was organized to encourage innovation from Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) by highlighting DOST’s assistance programs for universities and colleges that have robust research and development, as well as commercialization programs like the TUP. It also aimed to show how innovations from local research and development can make Philippine micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) more competitive in both the domestic and foreign markets.

Danilyn’s Enterprises, Inc., a long-time technology adoptor of DOST-NCR under DOST’s Small Enterprise Technology Upgrading Program (SETUP), makes custom made furniture and curtains that have adorned the rooms of Malacanang Palace and some of the country’s top hotels.

Danilyn’s Enterprises Vice President and Marketing Head Ms. Melinda C. Medallo started her business in 1991. She first applied for SETUP assistance in 2006 to address some production problems, such as the dust produced in furniture making that was posing a health hazard to their employees. SETUP introduced the company to cleaner production technologies and enabled them to acquire a dust collector, among other forms of technical assistance, that overall improved Danilyn’s’ productivity.

Years later, technology-enhanced Danilyn’s is a widely recognized name in its field and is now producing mixed media furniture. The company has also adopted DOST’s handloom technology for commercialization.

There’s one technology, though, that Ms. Medallo said will be very useful for them, and this is the technology that can make use of discarded foam and cloth that are two of the waste products in furniture making.

On the other hand, USHER Technologies, Inc. is a product of a 2016 R&D collaboration between the government through DOST’s Philippine Council for Industry Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development (PCIEERD), the academe through the Mapua Institute of Technology, and the private sector through Dr. Francis Aldrine A. Uy.

Dr Uy is a firm advocate of research that has practical applications to benefit the public. His invention, the Universal Structural Health Evaluation and Recording System or USHER, is the only Filipino made Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) System that can provide 24/7 accurate seismic data, structural monitoring, condition base maintenance, and disaster risk reduction to structures nationwide.

Dr. Michael B. Baylon, the company’s Senior Structural Health Engineer, further expounded on how USHER functions as an “ECG of buildings.”

USHER can be installed in public infrastructures to monitor the integrity, soundness, and performance of buildings and bridges under geological events. Through this technology, building owners, LGUs, and other concerned personnel can make the necessary changes to the structures to avert economic and human losses if calamities do occur.

The successful commercialization of USHER also demonstrates how DOST’s support to HEIs during the scientific research stage and up to the technology adoption and commercialization stage, can help businesses and the public as well.

The online forum was capped by a presentation by Mr. Matthew Bryan P. Villanueva of DOST’s Technology Application and Promotion Institute (DOST-TAPI) of the different support programs that TAPI offers for researchers and technology developers, particularly those from academic institutions.