Investing in deep technology through research & development: The Leave a Nest way

Interconnected webs of societal issues in the Philippines are still unaddressed with the lack of deep technology focus in the country. Deep tech, a niche focus area of Leave a Nest, aims to give solutions to deep issues in different aspects of the community through extensive technological and scientific research, which require unique and complex strategies for implementation into society.

Undeniably, similar to some parts of the world, the startup ecosystem in the Philippines has been dominated by founders and technologists who focus on the improvement and innovations in the fintech and e-commerce industry. With the increasing dependency of Filipinos on online transactions (like online shopping, banking and loans, social media, etc.), a market was created and was huge enough that app-based startups started sprouting and doubled in half a decade. But along with this, confounding societal issues still plague the Filipino society — most of which are not solved by existing startups. This is where deep technology enters the picture.

In an effort to further mainstream this type of technology, Leave a Nest Philippines will hold the Hyper Interdisciplinary Conference in the Philippines 2022 (HIC PH 2022) on Nov. 5, 2022. This year’s conference will be a face-to-face implementation comeback with the theme of “Philippines in 3D: Data-Driven Deep Technology.” This initiative is co-organized with Batangas State University (BSU) and conducted in partnership with Focus Systems Corp., a Japanese IT company interested in collaborations and innovations together with Filipino researchers. Panel Sessions are brought by Japanese startups: Melody International Ltd., Sagri, Co. Ltd., and ZIP Infrastructure, all of whom will be physically attending the conference, and talking about their startups. BSU and Central Bicol State University of Agriculture (CBSUA) are also part of the conference as Publication Partners through their respective university research journals.

The conference will dive into the merging of research areas with data-driven technologies in the form of applied information technology (IT), artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and big data, among others. It aims to collect and share knowledge about existing issues and solutions so that S&T stakeholders, especially academic researchers and industry partners, can occupy the underserved spaces in deep technology innovations.

Panel sessions focused on healthcare, forestry, and energy will be conducted. Additionally, research project presentations, through HIC PH’s Research Splash and Engineering Splash sessions, will be held to exhibit selected researchers’ topics and recent discoveries in their respective fields through short pitch formats, which will represent their own “splash of ideas.”

As a testament to Leave a Nest’s continuous pursuit of enhancing deep technology to help solve issues in society, Leave a Nest Co., Ltd., the Japanese parent company of Leave a Nest Philippines, Inc., will be announcing partnership agreements with two Philippine deep-tech startups in the form of investments and research grants. These two startup companies hope to solve issues in the inefficiency in reforestation efforts and the integration and management of energy in the country. This follows the first investments made by Leave a Nest Co., Ltd. last 2019 with Wela Online Corp., which has grown into an EduTech powerhouse in the Philippines since the investment and currently focusing on their expansion overseas.

Leave a Nest Philippines hopes that this could be a vessel of knowledge manufacturing for academia, private companies, government agencies and other attendees and that this can ignite the passion to foster deep technologies in research projects here in the country.

The Hyper Interdisciplinary Conference (HIC) in the Philippines is the first leg of the HIC ASEAN Series 2022-2023 organized by Leave a Nest Group in six ASEAN countries. The HIC serves as an avenue for researchers, individuals from the private sector, government agencies, academic institutions and startup companies to showcase innovative research ideas and formulate groundbreaking opportunities with all attending stakeholders.

HIC Philippines will be followed by HIC Indonesia on Nov. 12, 2022, HIC Thailand on Nov. 19, 2022, HIC Vietnam on Feb. 11, 2023, HIC Malaysia on Feb. 18, 2023, and lastly HIC Singapore on Feb. 25, 2023.

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