Science and Technology, Research and Development

[Insanedriver]

Hala @ Soulmakerbakit daw nagkikiss si batman and robin sabi ng Pamankin ko
Justice League Fanatic pa naman siya

[JustHorace]

We also have the Philippine Institute for Pure and Applied Chemistry (PIPAC) inside the Ateneo's Loyola campus.

[death327]

@CosmoManila - is it possible for you to take some photos of the facilities. I remember seven years ago, a friend of mine told me that the PIPAC facility is air-locked in the evening (as in sealed or vacuumized), is it true?

@insanedriver - hindi ko nga rin alam... pero the thought of it is cute...

[death327]

DEMAND AND SUPPLY By Boo Chanco
The Philippine Star 05/07/2007

One of the best things the present UP administration has done is to push through the long planned conversion of a portion of the UP campus into a technology park. Not only will UP earn some money to augment its extremely modest budget, it will provide opportunities for UP scientists that would hopefully encourage them to stay rather than go elsewhere to keep body and soul together.

It is difficult to understand why the campus leftists have been opposing this move for quite a long time now. They would rather that UP progressively lose its land to squatters and land grabbers. Luckily, even with the regular change in UP’s top leadership, the idea of putting up a technology park was never given up.

It is just as well too that Ayala has remained patient through the years. Now, Ayala Land has started to build a $120 million science park at the UP campus and the first buildings are due to be finished soon. Hopes are high that the UP-Ayala science park can be a catalyst for change, most specially in how we regard science’s role in our economic development.

In an era of instant everything, it seems we do not have the patience to invest in science. Yet, the lessons learned from Taiwan and from Vietnam, indicate that it’s important to incubate science and technology if we want to join the league of tiger economies around us. In Taiwan, it was only after they invested in developing their science and technology did their GDP start to skyrocket.

Some months ago, I wrote about how we lost a billion dollar investment of Intel to Vietnam and I wondered how we could have fumbled that one. The reason we lost that is now perfectly clear... the Intel executives said so themselves that the one big attraction of Vietnam is the importance its government is giving to the development of its manpower resources in science and technology.

Rey Vea, Mapua president and an outstanding UP alumnus, explained in his recent commencement address before graduating UP students why such an investment in S and T is important today. "We have upon us a knowledge-based economy and in such an economy nothing could be of greater strategic value to a country than the capability to generate new knowledge and technologies." Vea cites Lester Thurow of the Sloan School of Management who wrote in his book Building Wealth, that one of the more robust conclusions of economics is the high social returns of R & D spending.

Vea warned that "if we are not content to be the modern-day equivalents of ‘hewers of wood and bearers of water’, then not having R & D capability is not an option." He pointed out that as early as 1957, MIT economist Robert Solow calculated and showed that technology is responsible for about 80 percent of growth. "According to Fortune magazine, when the Pentium chip came out, ounce for ounce, it was about 40 times more expensive than gold. It was not due to the material because the chip was mainly just plain silicon, one of the most abundant materials on earth. Rather, it was the technology and the knowledge embodied in the chip that made it so valuable."

The thing is, Filipino scientists have always been world class but have also been frustrated at the lack of importance Philippine society gives to science. When was the last time a television network covered live the release of the results of the board examinations in engineering with the same excitement and hoopla that ABS-CBN gave the release of the last bar examinations? Society thinks lawyers are more important, so we get a surplus of lawyers!

Thus, it isn’t surprising that the discovery of several ground breaking technologies by Filipino scientists found their way abroad for commercialization. The local scene ignored their entrepreneurial promise. It is often recalled Erythromycin, a common antibiotic from Philippine soil bacteria and originating research from the country based on Filipino scientist Dr. Abelardo’s sample, was first commercialized abroad by New York Stock Exchange-listed Eli Lilly, a global research-based pharmaceutical company.

Filipino scientists Dr. Baldomero Olivera and Dr. Lourdes Cruz were the first to study prialt ziconotide, a pain killer 1,000 times more powerful than morphine and is non-addictive. But this was patented by Neurex of the US and developed by Elan Pharma PLC. It was a Filipino, Dr. Juan Salcedo that discovered that milled rice mixed with Vitamin B1 was a good cure for Beri-beri.

And who has not heard of Dado Banatao, the wealthiest Filipino in America today? When the world’s most powerful mainframe computer was the IBM 360, Banatao’s innovative new chip-set design produced 10 times more power at a thousandth of the cost.

Banatao’s other technological innovations include: developing the first single-chip; the 16-bit microprocessor-based calculator while working for Commodore International in ’76; the first single-chip MicroVAX while working for Digital Equipment; the first 10-Mbit Ethernet CMOS with silicon coupler data-link control and trans-receiver chip; getting 3Com into the Ethernet PC add-in card business while at Seeq Technology in early ’80s; the first system logic chip set for the PC-XT and the PC-AT while at Mostron in ’84 and Chips & Technologies in ’85; the first enhanced graphics adapter chip set while at Chips & Technologies in ’85; pioneering local bus concept for PC while at S3 in 1989, and the first Windows accelerator chip while at S3 in ’90.

All these came to mind as I was reading the graduation address of Mikaela Fudolig, that 16-year old UP summa cum laude Physics graduate before her fellow graduates of UP’s College of Science. She asked the question: how do we, as scientists, help in nation building?

"I have noticed, again, from the many talks that I have attended, that the common idea of "community service" is Sangguniang Kabataan. Red Cross. Gawad Kalinga. Opinion leaders view community service, which they correlate to nation building, as using physical energy to help the poor. You want to do community service? Solicit money from your congressman and donate a school building. You want to do community service? Help during calamities. You want to do community service? Build houses for the poor.

"Again, let me make this clear: These ways are indeed community service. But are these the only ways to do community service? Should community service simply be giving something for nothing? Should community service necessarily involve a lot of legwork? Should the effects of community service be immediate?"

She cited the work of another fellow UP scientist. "When our very own Alexander Edward Dy made it possible for amoebiasis to be tested based on salivary IgA instead of stool, was that community service? Current conventional wisdom would answer: NO... And how can Alexander Dy’s amoebiasis test serve the poor in the squatters’ area? His method will definitely not give jobs to them. It wouldn’t give them shelter. And it’s not FREE.

"Mr. Dy’s amoebiasis test would probably not be given for free. It would not give them shelter, and most probably, wouldn’t give jobs, at least not to the usual recipients of charity. But if amoebiasis can be diagnosed faster simply by getting the saliva of a patient, something which can be readily obtained, then more amoebiasis patients would be cured. More lives would be saved.

"The community service of scientists is often underestimated. Our discoveries are often tagged as having no practical applications, of no use in calamities, and of no immediate help to the poor... if Alexander Dy, now magna cum laude, insisted on tutoring every single kid in his barangay FOR FREE, then they would be considered by the majority as excellent servers of the community. But they would not have done what they have done. Where would we be now?"

Well, hopefully we all see our scientists in a whole new light. They are essential to our economic development. Nurture them... incubate their ideas... or else as Rey Vea puts it, be content to be the modern-day equivalents of "hewers of wood and bearers of water."

------------------------------

I hope the philippine government will have some realization on this.

[waketrex]

you have to move from an agricultural society, to a industrial, to technological... finally happening. They should set up a department outside the DOST to support the scientist and inventors of the country. Also they should also setup a department for the advancement internet technology. The internet is really next generation phone system not only carrying voice but also data.

[ritche]

The program on marine protected areas undertaken by Silliman University in Dumaguete City was adjudged the Best Higher Education Institutions (HEI) Research Program in the country by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) during an awarding ceremony yesterday (January 25) at the Philippine International Convention Center, Manila.

Silliman received P1 million after it bested 11 other entries with its entry, “The Marine Laboratory Program on Marine Protected Areas”, which details the efforts of the SU Marine Laboratory, now Institute of Environment and Marine Sciences (IEMS), at fishery enhancement and biodiversity conservation in the Visayas and Mindanao. This program pioneered the establishment of marine protected areas (MPAs) in the country.

All 12 entries for the national award were limited to the winners in the regional search in Regions I, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII and X and CARAGA, CAR and NCR. The regional winners received plaques and cash awards of P300,000, P200,000 and P100,000 for the first, second and third placers, respectively.

University of the Philippines-Diliman placed second in the national awards for its entry, “Application of Nuclear Techniques to Address Specified Red Tide”, while Mariano Marcos State University placed third for its entry, “Integrated Kawayan R&D Program of the Ilocos Region”. The second and third placers received P500, 000 and P300, 000, respectively.

“This award is a result of consistent, quality research being undertaken by Silliman University focusing on one critical component of our people’s development, and this is our coast and their resources,” Silliman President Dr. Ben Malayang III said.

He said the award “proves that Silliman University is among the best institutions in the country.”

According to Malayang the driving force behind the research activities at Silliman “is the commitment and creativity if our own faculty”. And he said research is what the university is encouraging its teachers to pursue.

In his opening remarks, CHED Chairman Dr. Carlito Puno emphasized the value of research.

“Research plays a very crucial role so that young professionals, or even academicians, or even administrators will not become “prisoners of what it is”, Puno said.

As academic institutions are trusted to generate and disseminate knowledge, Puno encouraged HEIs to contribute also to national development as they pursue their respective research programs and projects.

This was reinforced by the keynote address of Congressman LuisVillafuerte of the Second District of Camarines Sur who emphasized the importance of research in technology development and pledged support for R & D programs.

The SU IEMS’ program on marine protected areas has the longest record of research, extension and development work on the subject of marine protected areas (MPAs) among academic institutions in the country, having been the first to established an MPA (Sumilon Island) in 1974.

It has established 20 MPAs for fishery enhancement and biodiversity conservation in the Visayas and Mindanao and has extended to 61 others in the form of habitat and resource assessments, biodiversity enhancement, and capacity building.

Dr. Angel Alcala, SU Research Director and former Silliman President and Secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and CHED Chairman said the winning program on marine protected areas “is the only program on the country that has a long-term involvement of so many people, including local communities, which has an impact on policy and curriculum development.”

Supporting Puno’s statement, he said: “Research plays a large pat in the academe. Teaching should be supplemented, complemented by actual practical data derived from research.”

“Your teaching becomes a live when you talk about the local situations using local examples,” Alcala said. “If you do not do research, you will be stagnant, you will be repeating all the things that you have learned in your graduate school years.”

MPA Program Leader and SU IEMS Director Dr. Hilconida Calumpong said the award provides an opportunity for the Institute to continue with the research it is doing on MPAs.

“We hope to use the monetary award to look at connectivity among MPA using genetic markers and oceanographic tools,” she said.

Calumpong said that this kind of research will enable Silliman to help further promote the management of coastal resources among communities for food security. Furthermore, she emphasized that this kind of research is actually the product of collaboration among many faculty and staff of Silliman and other universities here and abroad. She also acknowledged the important role that the communities, LGUs, NGOs, NGAs, PO’s, and other stakeholders have played in the data gathering.

Despite Silliman’s financial challenges, Calumpong said that the research was possible through the support of funding agencies, both from government and private funding agencies here and abroad.

The national winners were determined by the five-member 2006 National Evaluation Committee headed by Dr. Emil Javier, President of the National Academy of Science and Technology and National Chair, AGHAM. The other members included Dr. Saturnino Ocampo Jr., CHED Commissioner, Dr. Filemon A. Uriarte Jr., Academician, National Academy of Science and Technology, Dr. Fortunato de la Pena, Undersecretary for Science and Technology Services of the Department of Science and Technology, and Dr. Mario Lamberte, Micro Finance Manager, EMERGE USAID.

[ritche]

No to global warming! Yes to clean and green environment!

Vote for partylist...

AGHAM

[death327]

Originally Posted by ritche

The program on marine protected areas undertaken by Silliman University in Dumaguete City was adjudged the Best Higher Education Institutions (HEI) Research Program in the country by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) during an awarding ceremony yesterday (January 25) at the Philippine International Convention Center, Manila.

Congrats SU!

@ritche - Agham Youth ka?

[ritche]

I am just a supporter...

[estella]

Lili,

Thanks for remembering my father, Magdalo V. Francisco, Sr. and his legacy. He truly was a remarkable and gifted inventor. He was also one of the very few if not the only chiropractor in the Philippines in his time.

Originally Posted by Lili

By the way, the Banana Catsup was invented by Filipino Magdalo Francisco. He worked as a chief chemist/ food technologist in United Food Company (UFC). He guarded his secret formula for the banana catsup so closely that it was under lock and key and only he can authorize the concoction. He had this stipulation in his contract. When he was separated from work, he discovered that UFC was able to duplicate his secret banana catsup. So, he filed for infringement of patent and trademark against UFC for stealing his formula and using it for its own concoction of banana catsup. He won. Magdalo Francisco then built his own rival brand against soon becoming popular UFC Banana Catsup, which he called Mafran Catsup (the predecessor of Jufran). Mafran was not able to topple UFC in sales. So, he may have gotten some money from the case, but ultimately UFC garnered the rewards of his intellectual property --the famous UFC banana catsup that Filipinos prefer over tomato catsup.

For the actual case: http://www.lawphil.net/judjuris/juri...9155_1970.html

[death327]

CS recognition speech/ B.S. valedictory address
STAR SCIENCE By mikaela irene d. fudolig


Thursday, May 10, 2007

Pinagpapala ang Pinagpapalà:
The Role of the Scientist in Nation Building
2007 UP Diliman College of Science
B.S. Valedictory Address
Good afternoon.

Let me start my speech with this quote: "Pinagpapalà ang pinagpapala, at pinagpapala ang pinagpapalà."

For those who didn’t get that, let me literally translate it in English: "Blessed are those who shovel, and those who are blessed are made to shovel." Of course, it loses its lyricism, so I repeat: "Pinagpapalà ang pinagpapala, at pinagpapala ang pinagpapalà."

From the various talks that I have attended, I noticed a general theme: that aside from being good students, which is the primary reason why all of us are here today to be recognized by the College of Science, we should have leadership capabilities and social responsibility. Of course, the fact that we’re from UP sets great expectations.

Do I agree with that? I will make this clear: yes, I do agree. Academic excellence alone is a joy that you will most likely keep to yourself, and if not put to good use, then the University has invested on something for nothing.

The question now is: how do we, as scientists, help in nation building?

I have noticed, again, from the many talks that I have attended, that the common idea of "community service" is Sangguniang Kabataan. Red Cross. Gawad Kalinga. Opinion leaders view community service, which they correlate with nation building, as using physical energy to help the poor. You want to do community service? Solicit money from your congressman and donate a school building. You want to do community service? Help during calamities. You want to do community service? Build houses for the poor.

Again, let me make this clear: These ways are indeed community service. But are these the only ways to do community service? Should community service simply be giving something for nothing? Should community service necessarily involve a lot of legwork? Should the effects of community service be immediate?

Let me ask you now: When Michael Faraday discovered magnetic induction, was that community service?

When James Hutton developed and Charles Lyell promoted the theory of uniformitarianism, was that community service?

When our very own Alexander Edward Dy made it possible for amoebiasis to be tested based on salivary IgA instead of stool, was that community service?

Current conventional wisdom would answer: NO. Faraday had been criticized before for discovering something without practical use. And so what if slow geological processes occurred eons before and continue until now? And how can Alexander Dy’s amoebiasis test serve the poor in the squatters’ area? His method will definitely not give jobs to them. It wouldn’t give them shelter. And it’s not FREE.

But Faraday’s discovery of magnetic induction is what led to using AC power in our homes. It is the reason we can power this microphone. It is why you have lights at home and in the classroom. It is why you can power your refrigerator.

The concept of uniformitarianism did nothing to help the poor, but it helped gain more understanding of the Earth. And it is uniformitarianism that influenced Charles Darwin in formulating his theory of evolution. And I think you know how influential Darwin’s theory of natural selection has been.

Mr. Dy’s amoebiasis test would probably not be given for free. It would not give them shelter, and most probably, wouldn’t give jobs, at least not to the usual recipients of charity. But if amoebiasis can be diagnosed faster simply by getting the saliva of a patient, something which can be readily obtained, then more amoebiasis patients would be cured. More lives would be saved.

The community service of scientists is often underestimated. Our discoveries are often tagged as having no practical applications, of no use in calamities, and of no immediate help to the poor. If Faraday had concentrated on donating blood, if Hutton and Lyell focused on building houses, if Alexander Dy, now magna cum laude, insisted on tutoring every single kid in his barangay FOR FREE, then they would be considered by the majority as excellent servers of the community. But they would not have done what they have done. Where would we be now?

Fellow scientists, do not be disheartened. Our efforts may be devalued by those who seek immediate, visible, and tangible results. But the fact remains: science drives the technology that makes lives better all over the world. Our devotion to our craft, our unceasing search for our holy grail, that piece of knowledge that will change the way things are, is as much community service as the more popular and immediately recognized forms of giving. Let not the pressure to be recognized make us stray from our efforts to improve the life of humanity in the best way we can.

Thank you. * * *
Mikaela Irene Fudolig obtained her B.S. Physics degree (summa cum laude) from the University of the Philippines in April 2007. At barely 16 years old, she is the youngest B.S. graduate in UP history. This article was delivered during the 2007 College of Science Recognition Program where she was recognized with the Excellence Award in Undergraduate Studies. She trained at the National Institute of Physics, College of Science under the supervision of Dr. Jose Perico Esguerra. E-mail her at mikkifudolig@yahoo.com


Source: http://www.philstar.com/index.php?p=49&type=2&sec=36&aid=1225

[Lili]

Oh, it is good that you discovered that entry @estella. I have always been fascinated when I first read this story that was memorialized in Philippine Supreme Court reports. The fascination was also an offshoot of the fact that I so preferred Philippine banana catsup over tomato catsup when eating fried chicken. Thanks to the invention/concoction of your father.

So, he is also a chiropractor. If he had been a practitioner in this time, it would have been more lucrative because people now realize the value of the practice of chiropractors in treating musculo-spinal and bone ailments. During his time, I have read that the legitimacy of chiropractor was also questioned by medical associations. They also questioned the practitioners of "hilot". Now, massage and physical therapy are integral parts of the practice of both mainstream medicine and alternative healing. Truly, your father is a trailblazer who thought outside the box.

[averatec3200]

There's also Philippine Engineering and Technology Center loacated at MEPZ2 Lapu-lapu City



The center is involved in the development of automotive junction boxes and harnesses.

[death327]

Thank you averatec. Is it private or government funded?

[averatec3200]

It is a private institution owned by Lear Corporation. A US automotive supplier.

[death327]

thanks. Nest week ko na update yung thread na to. Medyo busy pa ako.

[ritche]

Scientists here conduct researches with national and international impact.

[death327]

Kraft Foods opens P67.9-M R&D Center

By Mia M. Gonzalez
Reporter


PRESIDENT Arroyo on Thursday inaugurated the P67.9-million Research and Development Center of Kraft Foods Philippines Inc. in Sucat, Parañaque City, which will serve as a regional hub for food product research and development services.

The President, with US Ambassador Kristie Kenny and Kraft officials led by Kraft Philippines president and general manager Ma. Victoria Tiongson, toured the facility which has a state-of-the-art pilot plant and packaging innovation laboratory for testing new products and packaging materials. The facility is fully staffed by Filipinos.

Tod Gimbel, Kraft Foods Asia-Pacific director for corporate affairs said Kraft decided to build the center as a manifestation of Kraft’s confidence in the Philippine economy.

“This new R&D center symbolizes our continued commitment to research and development because our future growth is built on innovation and breakthrough products. It also serves as a testimony to Kraft Foods’ commitment and confidence in the Philippines’ continued economic growth and development,” Gimbel said.

Tiongson said in a statement that the facility “boasts of an all-Filipino talent” and “shows how confident Kraft is in the Filipino’s abilities, which we believe is at par with those from other developed countries.”

Kenny told reporters after the tour that Kraft’s decision to establish a research and development center in the Philippines is a recognition “of great Filipino talent.”

“You have wonderful engineers, food safety specialists. I think it’s a pretty exciting example of great American companies and products being done here by talented Filipinos,” she said.

James Andrade, Kraft Foods Asia Pacific vice president for research and development, said in a press briefing that the Philippines was chosen to host the new facility because of Kraft’s long history with the country which just entered its 44th year, and the Philippines’ strategic location in “supporting product development across the region.”

“The Southeast Asian market continues to be an important one for Kraft food and we’ll continue to try to develop that market, and provide the products that will [respond to] consumers needs and expectations,” Andrade said.

He added that another factor for setting the center in the Philippines “are the people who make up our workforce here at all levels in all functions,” which he said he mentioned to President Arroyo during the tour of the new facility.

“We have a tremendous groups of people who work here,” Andrade said.

He said that the Philippines R&D center will be Kraft Asia’s “center of excellence for beverages technology,” which will complement other Kraft “centers of expertise” in the region, such as its center for cheese and dairy in Melbourne, Australia, “biscuit-type products” in China, and joint ventures in Seoul, Korea and Tokyo, Japan.

Asked how the Philippines managed to position itself as a center for Kraft’s beverage technology in the region, Andrade explained that in Kraft, areas of expertise are developed based on the available skills in a particular area.

“Over time, we developed our [Philippine] researchers and scientists in addition to producing cheese and biscuit products, to get a very deep knowledge and understanding of powdered beverages [and] flavors as [they relate] to powdered beverages that can be supported across Asia and the region,” he said.

Andrade said that such research has led to the development of products that are unique to the Philippines, such as Mango Tang—which is popular in the Philippines but not in the West.

The inauguration of the R&D Center coincided with the 44th year of Kraft Foods in the country.



For another article check this: Crafting food

[le Reine]

this is good news indeed. not to mention that it would be built in my beloved city!

[death327]

And an additional job for researchers! At least to lower down underemployment.