Rise Rural Philippines bests QC StartUp Student Competition

Rise Rural Philippines comprised of entrepreneurship, science, and technology students from the University of the Philippines-Los Baños, Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila, and Ateneo de Manila University ended up being the overall winner of the first-ever StartUp QC Student Competition.

The students created the Araw-Kalinga Box that integrates a solar-powered ultrasound machine, a cold box for vaccine storage, and a compartment to deliver the medical instrument. It addresses healthcare challenges in Geographically Isolated and Disadvantaged Areas or GIDA.

The local government of Quezon City awarded 27 outstanding student teams (out of 39 finalists) that have submitted their business pitches on sustainability, health, education, agriculture and governance.

The students were provided networking opportunities during the program’s demo day at the Matrix Creation Events Place in Barangay Pinyahan last Thursday.

According to Mayor Joy Belmonte, the local government believes in the potential of the brilliant minds of young students to bring significant innovations that would greatly improve the lives of their fellow Filipinos.

“We believe that our students already have innovative ideas and the desire to make a meaningful impact in the world,” Belmonte said.

“It is our job in the city government to support them and help them make these concepts come to fruition,” she added.

Meanwhile, the second-place program, which received P75,000, is ESEA. This project, created by ADMU, aims to improve the fisheries supply chain and connect Filipino fisherfolk directly with consumers through a user-friendly mobile application.

The third prize winner and the recipient of P50,000, NYHA Robotics composed of students from UP promotes robotics for children with their all-in-one learning kit and specialized robotics competition kits.

Noteworthy among the gold bucket winners is a group of senior high school students from the Philippine Science High School, whose idea — the LakBike app envisions automating bicycle mobility utilization in Quezon City. Through this innovative platform, cyclists can easily rent bicycles from popular areas within the city for use in designated bike lanes or other appropriate locations.

The other 24 winners received prizes across gold (two teams), silver (10 teams), and bronze (12 teams) categories, each getting guaranteed cash prizes of P35,000, P25,000 and P15,000 respectively. QC awarded a total of P725,000 cash prizes to the talented student innovators.

Earlier this year, the QC Local Economic Investment Promotions Office (LEIPO) conducted a campus tour across Metro Manila to unearth innovative and creative business ideas from senior high school to college-level students.

“We are thrilled to host the grand finals of the very first StartUp QC Student Competition, and the business ideas that were presented by these students are truly inspiring,” said QC LEIPO Jay Gatmaitan.

“In celebration of QC’s 85th founding anniversary this year, we are elevating our efforts and initiatives, especially for the youth, and the business community. Hopefully, these young citizens will be inspired to strive to build on their ideas after pursuing their studies, knowing that their government will support them to the best of its capacity.”

The StartUp QC is an initiative by the Quezon City Government aimed at promoting entrepreneurship and innovation among students and the youth.