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By Dennis Posadas WITH the rise of institutions like the UP Ayala Technohub (a Silicon Valley-like enclave at the UP Diliman campus) and Filipinos like Dado Banatao (hardware/semiconductors) and Winston Damarillo (open source software), one would think that we are on our way to developing a local Silicon Valley-type environment like Beijing’s Zhongguancun district or India’s Bangalore. It is nice to talk and dream about these things, especially since we have a lot of technopreneurs in ICT, in telecoms, in software, hardware and other technologies. But as Kevin Costner said in the movie Field of Dreams, “if you build it they will come.” By it, we mean an ecosystem for innovation. First we need a source of innovation. Typically, it can come from universities like UP, government R&D labs, private corporations that have research arms, or even individuals. The problem sometimes with innovation that comes from corporations that do research, as in the case of Route 128 in Boston, Massachusetts in the 60’s and 70’s, is that oftentimes these are confidential research. No wonder, it is research done for the advancement of the business, and not some altruistic “blue sky” research. On the other hand, universities oftentimes engage in extremely theoretical research, because their aim is primarily knowledge creation. “Publish or perish” is the credo often heard in the academe, and to do research with business overtones has traditionally been viewed as a sellout to the establishment. So here you have two extremes, pulling scientists and engineers towards the two ends of the spectrum. Another source of innovation are the government R&D institutions like the DoST ASTI, which has developed the Bayanihan Linux operating system for example. But where the middle ground falls is when academe and industry meet. It can be when a pharmaceutical company works with the chemistry or biology departments to do drug discovery and testing. Or when an electronics or semiconductor company works with the engineering and physics departments to develop some products or manufacturing and testing procedures. Both have actually happened here to some extent; when I was with the local chip industry, we did some collaborative research with schools like UP Diliman. It hasn’t quite reached the extent that it has in schools like MIT and Stanford, but hopefully this will continue and develop further. So assuming the technology has been developed, and it is commercialized, you now have to contend with intellectual property issues. In the US, the Bayh-Dole Act made it possible for federally funded research to be commercialized by the grant recipient institution. Locally, a Technology Transfer Act is being pushed to allow the same to happen here. But you have culture issues to contend with. Some private schools for example, like Ateneo and DLSU, seem to have developed a culture of entrepreneurship that goes well with their science training. For schools like UP, although there have been successful technopreneurs like the late Peter Valdes (co-founder of the Austin, Texas based Tivoli Systems that was acquired by IBM), the culture of technopreneurship is just starting to take root. Then you of course have the issues with business training and finance, which are not often taught to science and engineering majors. Complicating issues further is the fact that the business schools and the science/engineering schools do not really mingle well together. So you have the typical “toyo and patis” business ideas from the business schools, while just a few meters away the science and engineering majors try to figure out what business they can build out of the technology products that they have developed. Sometimes all it takes is for people to talk and build relationships and teams, but sometimes that is the hardest thing to do, especially if the business majors feel that the engineers and scientists are all geeks, and the other party feels that the other side knows nothing. That kind of mentality doesn’t really help get us forward. Although I heard that in UP Diliman, they are now starting to try to break these barriers. Let’s see how far they can go with that. Some people claim that you need fancy incubators to launch technology startups. They can help, but some really famous startups like Apple and Microsoft didn’t start from incubators. They got launched in garages, and in whatever place where people could setup shop and start developing and selling their products. It also helps if you can get experienced people to mentor you. After all, where would Apple be if the young Steve Jobs and Steven Wozniak never met the experienced Intel marketing executive Mark Markulla. This tradition of mentorship, of experienced technopreneurs and venture capitalists helping out young people with bright ideas, has been taken to the fore in Silicon Valley. Can it work here? We need to build the culture to do that. Of course we can’t leave out the lawyers. We need people who can help our local innovators protect their patents, but at the same time we have to be careful that we do not stifle legitimate innovation because everyone is suing everybody for patent infringement. Some people talk about angel and venture capital, and concepts like technology s-curves, adoption-diffusion, crossing the chasm, and other fancy terms used by technopreneurs and venture capitalists. But let’s start with the basics. If we want to start our own little Silicon Valley here, for lack of space maybe here is a quick menu how we can do it: 1) Fund the schools and staff them with really bright young faculty, and try to pay them well if they do well. Reward innovation; 2) Try to get the business majors and the engineering/science majors to spend time together, maybe in joint classes on innovation. Have the business majors take up some basic science subjects and have the science/engineering majors take up some basic finance and accounting subjects. Have them work together on joint projects. For example, the science/engineering majors can develop the product and manufacturing strategy, and the business majors can develop the business strategy for the technology product. Right now, they all work separately; 3) Invite some local experienced technology entrepreneurs and investors to sit in, and perhaps judge the ideas. Maybe if they like what the teams are proposing, they will step in with their checkbooks and their advice; Obviously the way to do it is a bit more complicated that what I’ve spelled out in this oped, but I’ve laid out the basics. We all need to start somewhere. The important learning is that it starts with brilliant minds interacting with experienced people in business and investors. Maybe all it takes is a little creativity in bringing all these people and their ideas together. Dennis Posadas is the author of Jump Start: A Technopreneurship Fable (Singapore: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2009) and Rice & Chips: Technopreneurship and Innovation in Asia (Singapore: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2007)

Agence France-Presse SAN FRANCISCO--TED on Monday began hunting for heroes in hard-pressed lands. The Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) group famous for attracting outstanding entrepreneurs, scientists, and celebrities is opening its arms to embrace promising visionaries with life-changing dreams but meager budgets. The door to apply, or nominate people, to be TEDGlobal fellows was opened on Monday and will close on April 3. Those chosen for fellowships will take part in this year's TED conference in Britain at the expense of organizers. Fellowship application information is available online. "You can be from a small village in China or two hours outside of Dakar; if you are doing something amazing we want you to apply," TED community director Tom Rielly said while announcing the fellowships in February. "The alchemy of TED is the inter-connectness of all disciplines. It's that mix of bringing unbelievably cool people, regardless of ability to pay, from different parts of the world that will be remarkably fertile." The fellowship program is focused especially on attracting "remarkable thinkers and doers" from Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, and the Caribbean. TED Fellows attend annual conferences in either California or Britain. Some will go on to senior fellowships that last three years. TED will also provide 100 one-time fellowship opportunities in India at a conference in November in Bangalore.

On Tuesday morning, news of hundreds of dolphins stucked in the shallow waters in Bataan baffled scientists from the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR). What could have driven these animals to shore at the risk of drowning. According to one Filipino scientist, the dolphins could be reacting to a "heat wave or disturbance at sea" such as a possible major underwater earthquake. Some interesting details from the Izah Morales' story on INQUIRER.net:

Dolphins, which are mammals, have ears that are sensitive to large changes in pressure underwater, he said. "If their eardrums are damaged they become disorientated and they float up to the surface." ...smaller schools of dolphins numbering "in the tens and twenties" had beached themselves elsewhere in the Philippines previously, but this was the first time so many had done so at the same time and place.

This story was eventually picked up by foreign media, including the Daily Mail, which collated photos of the phenomenon. What drove those animals to swim to shallow waters? (Photo courtesy of AFP)

By Anna Valmero INQUIRER.net GOVERNMENT agencies and state universities and colleges (SUCs) must align their research and development (R&D) funding efforts, a lawmaker said. Senator Edgardo Angara said this year is a tough time and requires the country's R&D policymakers to limit research priorities to extend the value of limited resources. "We are in the midst of a recession this 2009 and we have a limited R&D budget. Given this, we must spend it wisely and ensure R&D efforts benefit the industry and create jobs," Angara said. This year, the focus of researches include solar and wind energy and vaccine research. In 2007, the country spent $81 million for R&D, or  0.14 percent of GDP, U.S. magazine Science has reported. For this year, Angara said the Congress plans to increase the current budget for R&D. But he did not give details on how much money will be allocated. COMSTE reported at the National R&D Conference in December that Filipino scientists pick their areas of research without coordination with other scientists and institutions. Thus redundant researches were seen during the conference, where many researches focused on biofuel crops, such as sweet sorghum and jathropa. To streamline the allocation of the R&D budget and reduce the occurrence of redundant researches, Angara said a group would soon monitor and integrate all budget spending across departments, agencies and SUCs. Currently, the Department of Science and Technology monitors the national R&D budget. “The challenge is how Filipino scientists and researchers can break cultural roadblocks and be able to coordinate with others on their researches. We know this is not easy but it can be done,” said Angara. “This undertaking requires commitment of all R&D stakeholders to report data accurately and a good IT system in place to analyze data.” Angara also announced during a conference the formation of two R&D institutes. One will focus on the renewable energy with budget coming from fossil fuel levies and another patterned after Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI). Angara said they are still studying if the ITRI model can succeed in the country. ITRI is a contract R&D institute, which acts like a private company and gets contracts from both the government and private sector.

By Jennifer Gonzalez Agence France-Presse CLEVELAND -- Doctors hailed a groundbreaking transplant to replace 80 percent of a woman's face, saying Wednesday it is a means for the severely disfigured to "face the world" without humiliation. It was the world's first near-total facial transplant and the fourth known facial transplant to have been successfully performed to date. "We need the face to face the world," said lead surgeon and researcher Maria Siemionow of the Cleveland Clinic. "There are so many patients there, in their houses, where they are hiding from the society because they are afraid to walk to the grocery stores. They are afraid to go to the streets, because they're called names, and they are humiliated. "So we very much hope that for this very special group of patients, there is a hope that one day they will be able to go comfortably from their houses and enjoy the things which we take for granted." Doctors released few details about the patient, save to say that she had been disfigured to the point where she could not eat or breathe on her own as a result of a traumatic injury several years ago which left her without a nose, right eye and upper jaw. The hospital said the woman, who did not wish to be identified, had exhausted all conventional reconstructive surgery. They hoped the operation would allow her to regain her sense of smell and ability to smile and said she had a "clear understanding" of the risks involved. The woman is doing well and showing no signs her body is rejecting the new face, doctors said. Facial transplants are controversial because they carry heavy risks and are performed to improve a patient's quality of life rather than as a life-saving operation. There are also concerns that the operation could eventually be used for purely cosmetic purposes or as a means of altering someone's identity. Doctors at the Cleveland Clinic stressed that such operations should be limited to a medical context in order to free severely disfigured people from the suffering associated with social isolation. "The relief of suffering is at the core of medical ethics, and provides abundant moral justification for this procedure," said the clinic's chair of bioethics Eric Kodish. "A person who has sustained trauma or other devastation to the face is generally isolated and suffers tremendously. The damage to the quality of life cannot even be put into words." Leading medical ethicist Arthur Caplan agreed that this suffering was sufficient to "risk possibly killing someone to improve their appearance for a better quality of life." "If there is nothing else to be done, it actually makes sense for them to take a risk that involves death," Caplan, the director of the center for bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania, told AFP. "It's ethically justifiable." Doctors in France performed the first partial face transplant in 2005 on a 38-year-old woman, Isabelle Dinoire, who was disfigured in a dog attack. In 2006, a Chinese man underwent a facial transplant including the connection of arteries and veins, and repair of the nose, lip and sinuses. A bear had mauled the 30-year-old farmer as he looked for stray sheep. A 29-year-old French man underwent surgery in 2007. He had a facial tumor called a neurofibroma caused by a genetic disorder. The tumor was so massive that the man couldn't eat or speak properly. The Cleveland Clinic became the first US hospital to approve the procedure four years ago. The latest operation was the first facial transplant known to have included bones, along with muscle, skin, blood vessels and nerves. "Multiple layers of tissue from the bone to the skin to the muscle, this all had to be - kind of like a jigsaw puzzle - fit into the appropriate position and put in," said plastic surgeon Daniel Alam. The woman received a nose, most of the sinuses around the nose, the upper jaw and even some teeth from a brain-dead donor. Doctors paid special attention to maintaining arteries, veins, and nerves, as well as soft tissue and bony structures, as they recovered the donor's facial tissue. The surgeons then connected facial graft vessels to the patient's blood vessels in order to restore blood circulation in the reconstructed face before connecting arteries, veins and nerves in the 22-hour procedure.

THE prestigious scientific publication Science Magazine has featured the Philippines' establishment of strong science, research and development programs through coordination among government offices, science and engineering firms. The story, "Philippines Plans Research Revival" written by Dennis Normile also cited the activities of the Congressional Commission on Science and Technology and Engineering (COMSTE) in its December issue. COMSTE is part of major initiative of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and members of Congress under Senator Edgardo Angara and Cavite Representative Joseph Abaya. The Science Magazine article highlighted the “Balik Scientist” program of the DOST, which encourages repatriation of Filipino scientists and engineers by offering them positions in the country's science and technology communities. The article also featured heads of science and engineering departments, such as DOST Secretary Estrella Alabastro, COMSTE Executive Director Fortunato de la Peña and Mapua Institute of Technology President Reynaldo Vea. Returnee Filipino doctor Edsel Salvana was also cited in the article. Salvana graduated from the University of the Philippines but worked abroad, particularly in the Medical College of Wisconsin and Case Western Reserve University.

By Anna Valmero Exposing the youth to interactive exhibits can inspire their curiosity in science and some concepts work. “Learning can take place with just 2 minutes of exposure to science exhibits,” says Philippine Foundation for Science and Technology (PFST) executive director May Pagsinohin. The Philippine Science Centrum is a flagship program of the PFST. By interacting with the exhibits, students and adults can play with the devices and explore how they work, Pagsinohin says. The Science Centrum houses about 150 interactive and integrative exhibits that students can explore to discover the science behind them. Now four years after moving from UP Manila, the 18-year old Science Centrum is now located at the Riverbanks Center in Marikina. It occupies a warehouse with a floor area of about 2,500 square meters. Before the year ends, there are plans to open a space and biotechnology galleries, she says. For the space gallery, the Department of Science and Technology has recently released P1.5 million, according to Pagsinohin. This would be allotted for the in-house development of exhibits, such as the human gyroscope and constellation display as well as the plan to order a spacesuit from NASA. As I toured the science museum, it was like reviving vague memories of childhood awe in exploring several of the classic displays. During my tour, two exhibits caught my eye: the Van de Graaff generator and the Tesla Coil. Invented in 1931, the Van de Graaff generator has a sphere that when touched by the hands supplies positive charges to the body and makes the hair stand on end due to positive charges on the strands repelling each other. The Tesla Coil is a resonant transformer that generates high voltage, low current alternating current that looks like lightning. Other exhibits feature how natural phenomenon like the cyclones, tsunami and whirlpools are formed. Favorite exhibits of students include the classics anti-gravity mirror, symmetroscope, ring bubbles, floating head, frozen hand, finger tingler and Archimedes’ screw (a machine for raising water). Fore less than a hundred bucks, anyone can access the center’s 10 exhibit galleries: lights, vision and perception, water, earth science, electricity and magnetism, children’s gallery, bodyworks and mechanics. The price is comparatively cheap compared to what you can learn and discover after a one-and-a-half hour tour. The center also offers traveling exhibits such as Adventures in Discovery, Sci-Fun Caravan and Science on the Move, which feature 40 replicas of PSC’s interactive exhibits. The moving exhibits tours the countryside - reaching 86 locations in the country -- to reach various individuals, communities and organizations who cannot visit Manila. All exhibits were developed by six Filipino designers under the PSC Fabrication Inc. The in-house team designs, builds and repairs the science exhibits using local materials. Every month, the maintenance cost allotted for repair of exhibits at the centrum and the traveling exhibits reaches P50,000, says Pagsinohin. Having an in-house team also allows for cheaper exhibit development. The team has created a Van de Graaff generator way for half of its total market cost, says Pagsinohin. The team also fabricates replicas of science centrum exhibits for shipment in local and overseas. International clients include Australia, Brunei, Singapore and Nepal. This provides the Science Centrum an alternative source for operating expenses aside from foundation grants, she adds. About 95 percent of visits at the Philippine Science Centrum are from school field trips, family visits account for the remaining 5 percent. Since 1990, the science museum has attracted close to 3 million visitors. Department of Education Secretary Jesli Lapus in a recent memo encouraged visits to the center for educational field trips. However, Pagsinohin says students on field trips often visit less educational institutions today as itineraries more often include amusement parks. She said if students and teachers are exposed to educational exhibits, it could help spark their curiosity to study science more and in the long run, help freshen up the local talent pool of scientists. “Through exhibits, students both the young and old, can learn things through hands-on discovery,” she says.

DO you love science? If so, who instilled a love for science in you? Which scientist is your hero, who inspired you to learn more about science or even become a scientist yourself. I didn't become a scientist, but I do have two heroes: Albert Einstein, for his brilliance and compassion for humanity, and Carl Sagan, for sharing his vision for science and making more people aware of its importance. Who's your hero?

WHEN I was a kid, I always thought I would become a scientist when I grew up. That was actually my original dream, though my paternal grandfather Lolo Nardo and my Ninang Lulu (the elder sister of my dad) thought I’d become a lawyer. Mainly because Lolo Nardo was a lawyer (he went to the UP College of Law and joined Sigma Rho), and Ninang Lulu also became a lawyer. Heck, I almost enrolled after passing the UP Law Aptitude Examination, heh But science was my first love. I actually find it somewhat ironic that I became a journalist, because while I was always an avid reader, I didn’t start writing outside school work till third year high school — and that was mainly because I had a crush on our English teacher Miss Natalie Nebit haha. I loved the young scientist’s encyclopedia collection my parents bought me and the “scientific experiments” I conducted. And in 1980, I learned to love science even more when Carl Sagan’s Cosmos started airing on TV. If you can find a DVD, get it, and get a copy of the book that accompanied the TV series while you’re at it if you don’t have one. In 2005, The Science Channel aired “Cosmos” with updated computer graphics and footage for the 25th anniversary of the series. This was truly a groundbreaking documentary in 1980, and the special effects were simply amazing. Sagan was able to make people feel the same passion for science he had. I looked forward to every episode and watched all 13 of them when they were first shown. To me, the most memorable parts would be the Library of Alexandria and the tragic fate of Hypatia; Johannes Kepler and what to me as a kid was the jarring appearance of Tycho Brahe and his artificial nose made from an alloy of silver and gold; the Ionians and the speculation on whether they would have achieved space flight sooner; Tunguska; the Voyager flight and the golden record that contains the message of the human race to extraterrestrials; and Albert Einstein and that biker in an Italian town who travelled at near-light speed and returned minutes later (in his frame of reference), only to find his friends and most people in the town dead and his younger brother now an old man. And of course, who can forget Episode XIII, "Who Speaks for Earth?" from which the video clip above was taken. You could get a transcript of that whole message from Sagan here. Over two decades later, his message is more apt than ever. You have to remember that when "Cosmos" first came out, the Cold War was in full swing, and we were basically living with the specter of World War III and nuclear annihilation. We are now supposed to be living in more enlightened times, yet it seems we’re repeating the cycle, with a looming energy crisis and, maybe, another Vietnam in the form of Iraq. It’s strange how the more things change, the more they stay the same. This blog is a reflection of this love for science I share with the other members of the Inside Science team. We hope, in our own small way, to make more Filipinos learn to love science too.

TODAY’S world revolves around information and communications technology (ICT), with many people becoming dependent on their computers, the Internet, mobile phones and portable devices. Students are taking up computer-related courses in college after seeing the promise of fat paychecks and traveling abroad. Not since the early 70s have we seen this kind of surge in enrollment in computer-related courses, largely due to the increase in ICT requirements across industries and nations. But what few young people know or even understand is that all underlying principles behind ICT hardware and software are rooted in the most basic of all developments -- and that is science and technology and mathematics. It is the laboratory scientists and researchers who toiled long and hard to find the best type of materials and best processes to make any equipment work. Metallurgists and chemists find the right raw materials for any hardware. Electrical and electronics engineers come up with the integrated chips. Mathematicians develop the software embedded in these chips. Even environmental scientists are part of the growing ICT industry as they come up with strategic routes where huge fiber optic cables will be laid across land and sea. These are the men and women who work behind the scenes to make ICT come to life. But ICT is just one industry that benefits from researches in science. Agriculture, education, energy, medicine, earth sciences, and meteorology are just a few of the many areas where scientific research can have full effect. The list could just go on and on but the basic argument is that science and technology is a huge, integral part of society. The Philippines only has a few science and technology reporters, some of whom work for daily newspapers, trade magazines and radio. But because of the nature of science and technology as being too technical, the few articles that do come out have to be toned down to ensure they are understood not only by scientists but also by ordinary people. However, a few stories that do come out have a significant impact on many people who value the application of science in their respective industries. The Department of Science and Technology is among the most important organizations in government. Despite its relatively small budget, the DOST has been able to maintain the various projects of its almost two dozen sub-agencies. But apart from the DOST, colleges and universities are also involved in the field of research, either on their own or in partnership with the DOST. Their involvement has a particular importance in that students get to apply what they learn in school to actual practice, even as the scientific community is assured of the availability of future scientists who will continue working. There are dozens of colleges and universities, both public and private, that have a teeming population of students who want to get involved in scientific endeavors. These schools also deserve the space to showcase their work. Inside Science is here to promote developments in science and technology. It is here to encourage young scientists to be part of the community and contribute their work for the benefit of many. It is also here to ensure scientists that their work is not unappreciated. It is here to ensure that Filipinos will know that many things in their lives were made thanks to science and technology.