CTU Agri-Aqua Technology Business Incubator (ATBI) were among the delegates coming from the 22 State Universities and Colleges ATBIs in the country who joined the 2nd ATBI National Conference and the 1st Incubatee Summit in Baguio City, Philippines on November 23-25, 2022. The CTU ATBI team was headed by the project leader, Dr. Adrian P. Ybañez, and project staff members Dr. Mario Rebucas, Jr, Engr. Maria Elena Aparente, Mr. Siegfried D. Mendoza, and science research assistants Elmie Delan and Jerylyn Navarro.
The ATBI, a joint project between CTU and DOST PCAARRD, is a facility that aims to support agri-aqua startups (from CTU faculty, employees and students, and outsiders) by providing business incubation program which includes the use of ATBI workspaces, access to university experts through business and technical mentoring, access to university shared and research facilities, and access to adopt the university’s mature technologies for commercialization.
The 3-day event, which was hosted by Benguet State University, brought all the DOST PCAARRD-sponsored ATBIs together for just the second time after over two years of inactivity due to the pandemic. It also marked CTU-ATBI’s membership to the Agri-Aqua Business Incubators Network of the Philippines (AABINPHIL), an SEC-registered association of ATBIs in the country, which hopes to promote collaboration and harmonization of Agri-Aqua business incubation enablers and other partners.
Words by Siegfried D. Mendoza