DOST Awards 2022 Best Industry, Best Community

The Department of Science and Technology is currently celebrating the National Science and Technology Week, which will run until November 27 at the World Trade Center. One of the highlights of this year's NSTW celebration is the awarding of the best adoptors of DOST's two banner programs - the Small Enterprise Technology Upgrading Program (SETUP) and the Community Empowerment thru Science and Technology (CEST).

DOST Secretary Renato U. Solidum, Jr. and Undersecretary for Regional Operations Sancho A. Mabborang handed out the awards to the outstanding performers last November 24, 2022 at the World Trade Center in Pasay City.

JLM Farms from the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) bested 16 other regional winners to take the spotlight as the 2022 National Best SETUP PRAISE Awardee. JLM Farms, which is a vegetable farming production site located in Mankayan, Benguet, took dual honors since it also won as this year's Most Sustainable MSME.

DOST-National Capital Region's Manila HealtkTek Inc. (MTek) was among the Top 5 finalists, and was later on awarded as the Most Innovative MSME. MTek is a spin-off company which emerged from the research and laboratory work of its faculty research and MTek CEO, Dr. Raul V. Destura. Their products include disease test kits, including the GenAmplify COVID-19 Test Kit.

Among the other winners were DOST Region IX's Provider Enterprises as the Most Productive MSME, DOST Region VI's Negros Prawn Producers Cooperative as the Most Resilient MSME, and DOST-CALABARZON's Ginga AgriFood Manufacturing Enterprises Inc. as the Most Agile MSME.

DOST VI had another winning company in Filbake Food Corporation which won the 2022 iReady or the Most Industry 4.0 Ready Award for MSMEs. This award recognizes a company's readiness and ability to adopt Industry 4.0 technologies in its business operations. DOST II's entry, ACT (Machineries and Metal Craft) Corporation, on the other hand, received the 2022 ICON Award.

Recognizing the critical role of local communities in the successful implementation of its programs, DOST also gives out the Best Community Empowerment thru Science and Technology (CEST) Community Award to recognize the exemplary performance of local communities as partners in implementing science and technology-based projects in their locality.

This year, the Local Government Unit of Tublay, Benguet in the Cordillera Administrative Region was awarded as the National Winner for the Best CEST Community Award. The Local Government Unit of Gabaldon, Nueva Ecija of Region III and the Samahan ng Kababaihan of Lope De Vega, Northern Samar in Region VIII were hailed as First Runner-Up and Second Runner-Up, respectively.

CEST Community Regional Winners from the National Capital Region, Region V (Bicol Region), and Region XI made up the rest of the top 6 semi-finalists. DOST-NCR's Brgy. Balangkas in Valenzuela City, through the Community Empowerment thru Science and Technology, were able to encourage and form communities of women, solo parents, youth, and men in their community. Moreso, they were able to produce several products for livelihood such as plant fertilizers, bags, wallet pouches, and many more from their Materials Recovery Facility.