Bohol tech scene bounces back

MANILA, Philippines - Less than a year after being struck by the deadly 7.2 magnitude earthquake that rocked the Visayas, technology entrepreneurs in Bohol are back on their feet and the community is up and running.

This was evident in the recent Bohol Startup Weekend, the first for the province and part of the Startup Weekend global movement of technopreneurs, where teams create apps and businesses in just 54 hours.

Supported by Smart Communications Inc. and Idea-Space Foundation Inc., the event was organized by Techtalks.ph, the Department of Science and Technology-Information and Communication Technology Office (DOST-ICTO), Bohol Information and Communication Technology Council, and the Bohol provincial government.

Smart LTE and PLDT DSL connectivity powered the two-day, three-night event at the University of Bohol.

“It’s really inspiring to see a solid community from different sectors working together to create tech ventures with great potential just seven months after the Bohol earthquake. It’s very representative of the unwavering and innovative Filipino technopreneur mindset,” said Ramon Isberto, Smart public affairs group head, who visited the teams during the open-pitching first night.

Flipnotes, a mobile and Web application for sharing life experiences and memories by flipping photos with text, emerged as the winner from eight teams who made it to the final pitching.

Emerging as second place was RentMINE, an app that enables renting out of items in exchange for cash. Meanwhile, Ready for Emergency and Disaster or RED App won third place.

Other teams that pitched included Anda Concepts, iBuild, #Rent, RSteate, Talk2Doc, and Unlocked Design Services.

“What’s interesting is the wide range of tech business ideas and prototypes that emerged from this Bohol Startup Weekend. We even saw a pitch for hardware venture. This shows the growing level of the tech startup community in the province and we are more than happy to support the community,” said IdeaSpace’s Dustin Masancay, who joined DOST-ICTO deputy executive director Monchito Ibrahim, Insights Consulting owner David Aaron, Orange & Bronze Software Labs CEO Calen Legaspi, and Rhett Jones of Synacy as judges.