By Daniel P. Tapaoan, Jr. 

Truly a home for young innovators. 

A group of electronics and communications engineering students of Mariano Marcos State University emerged victorious in a national competition organized by Smart Communications, Inc. 

During the culminating activity of the Smart Innovation Generation - Season 2 held online on May 28, the “No Deaferrence” team bagged the Real MVP Award for having demonstrated working Minimum Viable Project with their innovation application, MICAH.

Composed of Humphrey John Balanay, Jose Angelo Pascua, Conrado Galang Jr., Reynard Manantan, and John Ryan Santiago, the said team whose project is an application that converts gestures to text or voice was among the Giga 25 that made it to the third phase of the program.

They were along with the “MaMaSu” group composed of information technology students John Eliezer Galano, Zachary Cyrius Y. Domingo and Love Joy Butac, whose project is entitled MVLE mobile, a virtual learning application that can be used on both Android and iOS devices.

The two teams emerged as top participants having hurdled the three phases of the Smart Communications-sponsored activity. They received Php 30,000 each, and enjoyed mentorship and lecture sessions with industry experts in the third stage (Giga Phase). Another financial grant worth Php 25,000 will be given to each finalist for the implementation of their respective programs.  

Out of the 79 projects from the first stage (Kilo Phase) in August 2021, they qualified for the second stage (Mega Phase) along with other 48 projects, receiving a Php 10,000 connectivity grant and participated in capacity building lectures, workshops and mentorship sessions.

Other groups that made it to the final phase of the competition were Adamson University, Ateneo De Naga University, Batangas State University, Biliran Province State University, Bulacan State University, Davao Central College, Polytechnic University of the Philippines, University of Negros Occidental - Recoletos, University of San Jose - Recoletos, and Wesleyan University. 

Smart Innovation Generation aims to empower the youth in developing and using technology as they take an active role in nation-building and rebuilding. Technologies developed through the program are expected to help communities recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. (HLY/JVBT, StratCom)