One-day course on 'tech-based entrepreneurship'

MANILA, Philippines - The Technology Resource Center (TRC) is out to help today’s generation of technology-savvy students pursue a successful career in technology-based entrepreneurship.

TRC director general Dennis L. Cunanan said the agency had prepared an “Innovation Opportunity Camp” to be held at the Philippine Trade Training Center on Feb. 24 for that purpose. The camp is a major component of the Technology Partnering Forum 2010.

“The Innovation Opportunity Camp will enable students to learn about the technology commercialization process and its guidelines, the identification and evaluation of market opportunities for new technologies, the considerations on IPR (intellectual property rights), the development of business plans, and the sources of financing for startups,” Cunanan explained.

To highlight the TechForum’s student-focused events are the TekBiz Fora and the TeknoBiz Idea Challenge competition.

The TekBiz Fora will teach students how to generate opportunities and profitable business ideas, how to protect, develop, research and market them, price their products and/or services, write attractive business plans, and pitch them to venture capitalists and other prospective financial and/or technical partners.

TRC is also launching its “Business Tech-in-a-Box,” a package of templates to enable technopreneurs to organize and launch their own technology-based enterprises.

On the other hand, the TeknoBiz Idea Challenge is a competition for student groups with innovative but marketable technology-based business ideas that have not yet been introduced in the country. Entries can fall under any of the regular competition categories of Renewable Energy, Food Processing, Organic, Herbal, and ICT products and services.

The competition will also have a special mobile technology category, with entries eligible to compete if it uses or connects to any of these telecommunications services — SMS, MMS, GPRS or 3G/HSDPA — and falls into any of the product or service types such as games, messaging, social networking, entertainment, productivity, or developmental (social, economic and environmental programs).

“This competition (TeknoBiz Idea Challenge) is designed to provide students with a venue to show off their creativity and technopreneurial skills,” Cunanan said. Medals and certificates will be given to each of the winners as well as cash prizes to the top three finalists, who will be announced at the end of the three-day event.

The Innovation Opportunity Camp forms part of the Technology Partnering Forum (TechForum) 2010 slated in the same venue on Feb. 22 to 24 to mark the TRC’s 33rd year of promoting technology development as a means to boost business and national productivity.

The other components of TechForum 2010 are the Technology Showcase and the Idea-to-Liquidity Technology Symposium, all guaranteed to turn this historic occasion into a technology festival of unprecedented proportions.

Expected to attend the TechForum are students and proponents of new technologies in various fields, venture capitalists, economic developers, seed investors, members of academic institutions, engineering and science education communities, and public and private non-profit research institutes.

“Technology commercialization experts and corporate licensing executives will also be around to lend their expertise to participants from around the country and abroad,” Cunanan said.

Interested participants in the TechForum’s Innovation Opportunity Camp may fill out and submit their registration forms online, or download them from www.trctechforum.com and e-mail them to tlidsg@yahoo.com, or fax them to 721-0063, or call 721-0094 or 727-6205 loc. 411.