Honda Cars Philippines Inc., in partnership with the Department of Science and Technology — Science Education Institute, hosted a celebration of innovation and technology by honoring youthful talent in the 6th cycle of the imake.wemake: create.innovate.collaborate contest.

The competition showcased 20 selected finalist projects from a total of 89 participating schools. The award ceremony took place on 27 to 28 July at Crimson Hotel, Alabang, Muntinlupa City, emphasizing the importance of critical thinking, collaboration, and engineering skills.

Teams composed of students and teacher-coaches dedicated a rigorous 90-day process to designing, building, and testing their project prototypes. The program's aim was to promote creative and collaborative mindsets among students, enabling them to address real-world problems in their communities.

Such an approach harnesses critical thinking, experimentation, risk analysis, engineering, and technical skills, cultivating the next generation of Filipino innovators.

Three schools were chosen by a distinguished Board of Judges to receive the Youth Innovation Award for technologies that exhibited factors like novelty, patentability, functionality, unique selling point, collaboration, design feasibility, extensibility, and practicability.

The three winning teams represent an array of innovative technological solutions to pressing environmental and agricultural challenges:

1. Cavite Science Integrated School — Their project, titled "Project Kalinga," focuses on geolocation estimation of forest activities using triangulation and sound classification to combat illegal logging and deforestation. Uno A. Café, Rainier M. Guinto, Sigmund Francis S. Manalo, and Precious A. Zapanta, along with coach Ms. Elain E. Malones, contributed to this pioneering initiative.
2. Philippine Science High School — CALABARZON Region Campus — Addressing the cabbage pest infestation problem, their creation, "SAMGIOP," is an IoT-based sensory device for detecting leaf damage and abiotic factors. The technology relies on a Convolutional Neural Network embedded in the Raspberry Pi, a state-of-the-art integration by Harvae C. dela Cruz, Joanna Daniella C. Fajardo, Ma. Hannah Isabel L. Suguitan, and Anjirehl Ernest Godfrei C. Zapata, along with their coach Ms. Marizel B. Villanueva.

3.Vinzons Pilot High School — Targeting environmental damage caused by microplastics, their project, "E-QUIA," is a remote-controlled electrostatic collector of Polyethylene Terephthalate microplastics in freshwater. The device showcases an eco-friendly separation method, masterminded by Alliyah C. Cambronero, Reynier Francis E. Espinola, Allen Misty B. Jalina, and Lea Monina G. Pioquinto, with their coach Mr. Jason N. Bargo.

During the event, both DoST-SEI Director Dr. Josette T. Biyo and Atty. Louie Soriano, vice president of HCPI, shared words of encouragement. Dr. Biyo applauded the winners and urged them to nurture creativity to solve local problems.

Soriano, on the other hand, commended DoST-SEI for being impactful mentors and said, "May our young Filipino innovators continue to become bearers of hope for the country, and never give up trying to help solve different problems through technology and innovation.

Always remember that you can dream big dreams and that you have the power to realize a better life for your family and your communities."

The event demonstrated the power of innovation, collaboration, and the vital role of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math in national development.

It marked a milestone in the continuous endeavor to foster innovation in the Philippines, uniting corporations, schools, and government institutions in a shared vision for the country's technological future.