ACILYS Country Round for PH Concludes while AIPO and Reactor School Cement their Partnership

On September 16, Reactor School Philippines held a demo day to conclude the Philippine round of the ASEAN-China-India Youth Leadership Summit (ACILYS) which began in late June 2023. ACILYS is a hackathon and case competition focusing on the theme of “Sustainability – Urban Living”. The event was organized by the Singapore-based Reactor School in partnership with the OSG Youth Alliance and was hosted here in the Ateneo de Manila University in partnership with the Ateneo Intellectual Property Office (AIPO). Participating in the country finals were ten teams, each consisting of 5 students, that were shortlisted out of the numerous teams from different universities across the Philippines who joined the competition.

Each team presented the results of their months-long efforts to create solutions addressing problems in sustainability to a panel of judges consisting of Dr Ria Canlas, the Director of National University’s (NU) Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and a member of the National Innovation Council, Ms Johanna Erroba, the Youth engagement Analyst for UNDP Philippines, and Mr Reuel Ruiz Jr the Program Head for Quezon City’s StartUp Program.

Students present their sustainability solution

From left to right: Ms. Johanna Erroba, Mr. Reuel Ruiz, Jr., and Dr. Ria Canlas judging the team presentations

Of the ten teams, the three winning teams were Team “Earth, Wind, and Fire”, with their financing platform for farmers, Team “Jellyshark”, with their gamified e-commerce platform for sustainable clothing, and Team “One Big Animo” for their NFC-based sustainable supply chain tracking for clothing. Members of the top 3 winning teams are awarded an all-expenses-paid trip to Singapore to participate in the ACILYS Grand Finals where they will be competing against students from different countries in the region. They are also provided with mentorship support to further develop their ideas.

Team Earth, Wind, and Fire

Team Jellyshark

Team One Big Animo

Against the backdrop of this competition, the Ateneo Intellectual Property Office represented, by Engr Benjamin Mirasol, the Head of Commercialization and Business Incubation, and Reactor School, represented by Ms Fatima Malate, Reactor School’s Country Lead for the Philippines, affirmed their strategic partnership with a ceremonial signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).

Engr Benjamin Mirasol (left) and Ms Fatima Malate (right) sign the MOU between the Ateneo Intellectual Property Office and Reactor School

The MOU highlights the mutual points of collaboration which include strengthening industry academe engagements, co-organizing events and activities fostering innovation, and the sharing of expertise and resources between AIPO and Reactor School.

Conclusion of the ceremonial MOA Signing

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