MANILA, October 20, 2017 – Twenty startups are set to compete at the first STARTUPS TO THE RESQUE, an ASEAN-wide startup competition that challenges startups to develop the best innovation solution related to disaster resilience and recovery. The 20 startups will showcase their products or services in an international pitching competition to be held during the Department of Trade and Industry’s (DTI) annual Slingshot event on October 20, 2017 at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC).
This competition is organized by QBO Innovation Hub (QBO) – the Philippines’ first public-private initiative for startups formed by IdeaSpace, J. P. Morgan, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), and DTI – in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), The Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation (PDRF), and Slingshot.
The ASEAN region is home to some of the world’s most disaster-prone countries, not just in terms of natural calamities but also long-running conflicts. The STARTUPS TO THE RESQUE challenge empowers startups from across the region to come up with ways to use their existing products, services, and business models to form creative solutions to pressing global issues, including environmental disasters, outbreaks/pandemics, or violence and conflict.
The final 20 startups were selected from more than 100 innovation solutions submitted by companies across ASEAN during a run-up call for proposals held from 13 September to 6 October, in the lead-up to the International Disaster Risk
Rene “Butch” Meily
President
Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation / QBO Innovation Hub / IdeaSpace Foundation
Rene “Butch” Meily is a global executive with over 20 years corporate experience in US, Europe, and Asia. He has an extensive experience in Disaster and Crisis Management, Public Relations, and Corporate Social Responsibility activities. He is currently the President of the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation (PDRF), a private-public partnership focusing on disaster preparation, response, and recovery. He is also the President of QBO Innovation Hub and IdeaSpace Foundation.
Katrina R. Chan
Director
QBO Innovation Hub
Katrina Chan is currently QBO Philippines’ Director. With experience in corporate development, capital markets, and scaling startups, Katrina leads QBO’s initiatives in developing a startup ecosystem in the country. She also serves as IdeaSpace Associate Director for Strategy and Business Development.
Undersecretary Noya Terrado
Trade and Investments Promotion Group (TIPG)
Undersecretary Terrado oversees the Foreign Trade Service Corps (FTSC), Export Marketing Bureau (EMB), and Bureau of Domestic Trade Promotions (BDTP), Center for International Trade Expositions and Missions (CITEM), Philippine Trade Training Center (PTTC), and Design Center of the Philippines. Prior to her appointment as the TIPG Undersecretary, she worked as the executive leader for DTI’s Management Services Group (MSG). Among her key initiatives are the Ease of Doing Business (EODB), the APEC Women and the Economy (APEC WE) and the DTI-wide roll out of the Performance Governance System resulting in DTI attaining Level 4 (highest) with the Gold Trailblazer Award and as among the 12 Islands of Good Governance (IGG) conferred by the Institute for Solidarity in Asia (ISA).
QUALIFIED COMPANIES
1. ChatbotPH
Profile: The premier chatbot development in the Philippines. We help you to create, train and maintain chatbots for your business. www.chatbot.ph
2. After Effect
Profile: After Effect specializes in Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology, mainly focusing on “Chatbot” and machine learning. It’s services cover wide varieties of digital technology. After Effect aims to integrate AI daily routine, in order to improve people quality of life.
www.aftereffect.ml
3. SkyEye Analytics, Inc.
Profile: SkyEye Analytics caters to both the public and private sectors. From land surveying to disaster mitigation and from precision agriculture to forest protection, SkyEye believes in the power of drones for good. It is a company committed to procuring, processing and analyzing data to help you make better. www.skyeyeph.com
4. Gavagives
Profile: A fundraising platform for non-profit organizations. It is a platform that enables anyone to create campaigns for anything they wish—passion, hope, wishes, life, or dreams.
www.gavagives.com
5. LifeMesh
Profile: LifeMesh is decentralized global software that connects Humanitarian aid organization and communities in need. By leveraging blockchain technology, it promises unparalleled transparency, resiliency, accountability and trust to its users.
www.devpost.com/software/lifemesh-1q93t8
6. Ascendant Technologies, Inc.
Profile: Ascendant Technologies, Inc. is a software development company dedicated in providing comprehensive and high quality information system business solutions for medium sized industries, primarily in the filed of healthcare digital systems management. www.ascendant.com.ph
7. Senti
Profile: Senti is a social media analytics company specializing in understanding Filipino culture. www.senti.com.ph
8. Tralulu
Profile: Tralulu is a digital marketplace for local guides and guided experiences with a vision to enable a world where travelers can travel with the locals. Through the marketplace, guides and their communities can become sustainable financially. On the other hand, travelers will be able to book local guides easily from cities to the most remote communities. www.tralulu.com
9. StyleGenie PH
Profile: StyleGenie PH is the first styling+clothing subscription box in the Philippines.
www.stylegenie.ph
10. Cropital
Profile: Cropital is a crowdfunding platform that connects anyone to help finance our farmers. We aim to improve the income and productivity of our farmers through crowdfunding.
www.cropital.com
11. Timba
Profile: Timba is a social enterprise that aims to share progressive ideas with everyone. We champion sustainable living, reuse waste creatively and we love collaborative production. By using discarded materials, basic electronics and passive building techniques we aim to inspire our surrounding with fresh and fun approaches to sustainable living. www.kitatimba.com
12. BillionBricks
Profile: BillionBricks is a Singapore-based non-profit design and technology studio that innovates new shelter solutions for the homeless and most vulnerable communities. It provides women-centric, highly replicable and scalable solutions to significantly enhance the opportunities for communities to emerge out of poverty. Its first shelter solution is weatherHYDE, a temporary women-focused shelter designed to save the lives of the homeless and displaced living in extreme weather. www.weatherhyde.org www.billionabricks.org
13. ServeHappy Jobs
Profile: ServeHappy Jobs is the Philippines’ First Hotel and Restaurant Job Source. It is a job marketplace for food service professionals looking for rewarding careers and hospitality businesses looking for dedicated staffing. www.servehappyjobs.com
14. Pushkart.ph
Profile: Pushkart.ph is an online grocery delivery service, developed by a group of young Filipino millenials that aims to ensure fast, convenient and safe delivery of groceries right at your doorstep. www.pushkart.ph
15. UPROOT Aquaponics
Profile: UPROOT Aquaponics is a social enterprise that aims to alleviate poverty, hunger and malnutrition through community shared aquaponics. Providing marginalized communities’ access to healthy and nutritious food and auxiliary income through the use of aquaponics.
https://www.facebook.com/UPROOTAquaponics
16. Blogapalooza
Profile: We connect Businesses and Bloggers directly, helping Businesses to lower their costs and increase their profit with the help of rich content from Bloggers. We organize events that stimulate interaction and publicity for Businesses, and features for Bloggers. We connect Businesses and Bloggers directly, helping Businesses to lower their costs and increase their profit with the help of rich content from Bloggers. www.blogapalooza.ph
17. Haraya Labs
Profile: Haraya Labs provide STEM education to K-12 students with interactive platforms in Virtual Reality.
http://facebook.com/Haraya.Labs
18. Frontlearners, Inc.
Profile: Frontlearners, Inc. is an e-learning content developer and e-school solution provider. Frontlearners developed the BlendEd Box that contains thousands of DepEd K12 curriculum-based e-learning materials. It is affordable and ready-to-use. It is high speed and works with or without the Internet. The BlendEd Box is a turn-key solution that enables schools to consistently implement a more effective method of teaching. www.frontlearners.com
19. GO GRIDLESS PHILIPPINES CORP.
Profile: GO GRIDLESS is a B2B wholesaler of Off-Grid technology solutions. We work with a variety of businesses and partners to provide quality, industry-leading solutions sourced from around the world. www.gogridless.com.ph
All twenty companies will showcase their ideas at Slingshot ASEAN 2017, from which the top six finalists will be invited to pitch on stage. The top three startups with the best pitches will be selected as winners.
“We are proud of what we have seen so far. The participants have great ideas that we can definitely use to solve some of today’s global threats,” said Butch Meily, QBO President. “We are glad that in its first year ‘STARTUPS TO THE RESQUE’ has attracted great minds. We hope that it continues to be a platform where startup companies can deliver meaningful impact to relevant communities.”
“Climate and disaster risks are real threats to people and development – and we have seen this repeatedly in the last decade not just in the Philippines but across ASEAN. Risk and climate-informed development planning is now taking center stage and rightly so. With this competition, we hope to see ideas that can be explored and developed into solutions that will reduce risks and increase resilience of communities,” said Titon Mitra, UNDP Philippines Country Director.
The first prize winner will receive $10,000 as well as an opportunity to work with the UNDP and deploy their solutions with PDRF, one of the world’s leading private sector disaster resilience consortia comprised of the Philippines’ top corporations; the second and third prize winners will receive $4,000 and $2,000 respectively.
More than just a competition, STARTUPS TO THE RESQUE promotes awareness on the different crises faced by ASEAN countries – like the devastating Typhoon Haiyan that ravaged Eastern Visayas particularly Tacloban, and even Vietnam, or the current armed conflict happening in Marawi – and inspires startups to play a more proactive role in preventing and mitigating these disasters. Together, the startup ecosystems across ASEAN can innovate and collaborate with each other with the shared goal of promoting preparedness and resilient recovery.
COMPANY PROFILE
Just like the humble one-room house that inspired our name, QBO (‘ku-bo’) represents bayanihan or teamwork. We invite entrepreneurs, talents, and mentors and investors alike to come together and make ideas flourish, showcase Filipino innovation, and build great companies.
QBO (‘ku-bo’) is an innovation hub, or a platform for the startup community to collaborate, develop talent, and grow. It provide startups with support and resources through events and capacity building programs as well as focused interventions designed to improve access to markets, knowledge, capital, and talent. QBO is the country’s first public-private initiative for startups, created through a partnership between IdeaSpace, J.P. Morgan, DOST, and DTI. Spurred on by the vision of Filipinos startups changing the world, QBO’s mission is to create a globally competitive startup ecosystem in the Philippines.
VISION
Filipino startups changing the world.
MISSION
Developing a globally competitive startup ecosystem in the Philippines by encouraging collaboration between the public and private sectors, developing the startup community and providing business incubation from ideation to exit.
WHAT WE DO
Our mission is to develop a globally competitive startup ecosystem and we believe in three core actions to achieve it:
TO ENCOURAGE QLLABORATION
TO DEVELOP THE STARTUP QMMUNITY
TO ASSIST IN INQBATION
HOW WE DO IT
QLITAN.
Networking events
We host regular networking events that also feature guest speakers for our startup community to discover, collaborate, and bounce ideas off of each other.
BASIQS.
Introductory classes
We conduct classes that run through the fundamentals of initiating a startup for those who are new to the scene and are exploring putting up their own venture.
WORQSHOPS.
Specialized workshops
We offer in-depth workshops on a range of topics like branding, marketing, and fundraising to shed more light on specialized topics and provide actionable learnings.
FEEDBAQ.
Feedback and mentorships sessions
We provide an avenue for startups to receive insight on different aspects of their business through small group sessions with peers and our network of mentors and industry leaders.
SHOWQASE.
Investor pitch
We set up sessions where startups get the opportunity to pitch their ideas to top angel investors, venture capitalists, and corporations for a chance to get funded or secure partnerships.
QONSULTATION.
Consultation services
We equip startups with expert advice and practical tips through individual consultation services on government-related matters as well as legal, financial, and design concerns with top firms.
QBO HQ.
Co-working space
We provide members of our QMMUNITY access to our headquarters to use as a co-working space or a venue to host meetings, workshops, and other startup-related events.
INQBATION.
Incubation Program
We offer select startups the opportunity to be considered for INQBATION, a program created in partnership with J.P. Morgan that provides customized mentorship and other resources based on a startup’s specific needs.
About QBO
QBO (‘ku-bo’) is an innovation hub, or a platform for the startup community to collaborate, develop talent, and grow. It provides startups with support and resources through events and capacity building programs as well as focused interventions designed to improve access to markets, knowledge, capital, and talent. QBO is the country’s first public-private initiative for startups, created through a partnership between IdeaSpace, J.P. Morgan, DOST, and DTI. Spurred on by the vision of Filipinos startups changing the world, QBO’s mission is to create a globally competitive startup ecosystem in the Philippines.
Contact us: http://qbo.com.ph/ ; hello@qbo.com.ph Social Media (Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/LinkedIn): /QBOphilippines or @QBOphilippines
.png)
No comments:
Post a Comment