Last November 28, 2009 the IsangConcepts team performed an ARK (Acts of Random Kindness) around Ayala Heights because. yeah Because hahaha

ARK (Acts of Random Kindness) is actually a clothing company in the United Kingdom, Ireland to be precise. visit them at www.arkhq.com and add them to facebook. Most importantly spread some love around !

Here are some pictures:

a bad idea*

All you need is some old board, spray pain, a few packs of marshmallows and maybe an hour of free time and BAM ! you can now go ARKing !

Sometimes ……

We also noticed that Matthew Cua goes crazy upon smelling spray paint, must be some kind of chemist thingy.

Drive-by Marshmallow ATTACK !!!

Slide-by MarshMallow Attack !

We just attacked people walking around, giving them marshmallows. Most enjoyed it, quite a few decided that accepting marshmallows from strangers is evil XD It is also too random too for them.

Finally Free Marshmallows may mean Free Parking. hehehe

ARK ON !

-Squirrel (Matt), Barney (Kylo), Squared (JB)

www.arkhq.com

Every year multitudes of Filipinos line up in front of airplanes to go and work abroad, most of them not to come back for years or even not come back at all. Most of them are domestic helpers, but a large portion of them are knowledge workers, doctors and engineers lured by greener pastures beyond the small archipelago nation. Numerous stories of doctors leaving to become nurses in the United States and Ph.D Engineers leaving to become construction works in the Middle East circulate our country. Our media portrays it as the great brain drain and that our nation would never prosper because the best are leaving us. But we should we ask, are they really leaving us ?

Ateneo Innovation Center Logo

I’m lucky to work in the Ateneo Innovation Center, and what surprises me is that Filipino Inventors, Engineers and Businessmen who left the country decades ago are emailing, calling or even dropping by to visit us, asking how they could help or offering help. It begs the question, you can remove a Filipino from the Philippines but can you remove the Filipio from them ?

Innovation in Design

Dr. Greg Tangonan studied in Ateneo de Manila and went off to California Institute of Technology to gain his Ph.D. specializing in fiber optics and spent 30 or so years of his life in the United States of America before returning to the Philippines. With him back he is now the Director of the Ateneo Innovation Center and the Executive Director of the Congressional Commission on Science, Technology & Engineering. With his training and experience he is helping build the Innovation Center and the Science, Technology and Engineering prowess of the Philippines.

During his recent plenary to Science 10 students (the science and technology course required to all students of the Ateneo) on two occasions he was what he thinks on engineers leaving the country and should we stop them from leaving the country. What he replied was that “It would be unfair and unwise to stop Filipinos from going abroad because sooner or later some of them will come back and when they do come back, they bring in more things than money”.

Around the world there are numerous engineers, scientists and technologists who are Filipino, some come back to the Philippines often and some haven’t returned home for decades but the simple fact remains, they are still Filipinos and this is still the Philippines. When they do return they return with knowledge and experience our country so desperately needs and they are more than willing to share it.

Top Global Taiwan Brands

Taiwan and China started with a brain drain, they sent all their best and brightest abroad to learn, some came back and other haven’t and look where they are now ? Korean companies such as Samsung actually have people in high tech and innovative companies like IDEO to learn.

So 10 years, 20 years down the line when these Filipino Engineers, Scientists and Technologists returns, what do we have ?

So truly are we experiencing a brain gain or a brain drain sending all these young and bright people aboard ? Should we send even more bright and young students to Japan, Australia, Singapore, Germany and other countries who are in need of more students ? I truly believe we should because once they come back, we may not need to send the next generation away.

Philippine Innovation – 1,260,000 Hits

Innovation in the Philippines - 4,110,000 Hits

Compare this against

Korean Innovation – 2,880,000 Hits / Innovation in Korea – 7,480,000 Hits

Thai Innovation – 1,490,000 Hits/ Innovation in Thailand – 4,510,000 Hits

Indonesian Innovation – 2,290,000 Hits/ Innovation in Indonesia – 5,570,000 Hits

Taiwan Innovation - 4,530,000 Hits / Innovation in Thailand – 1,910,000 Hits

From this alone, it seems that the Philippines is a bit behind compared to other countries in Asia on innovation. Ask about Philippine Innovation or Innovation in the Philippines and you’ll get responses like “Wishful Thinking” and “Hopefully it would happen” but what people are missing is that the Philippine Innovation Avalanche has begun and it is getting larger and larger every moment.

Some Examples of the Avalanche:

Logo © Inovent Designs

1.) Inovent - (www.inoventdesign.com) – The only Industrial Design firm in the Philippines and recently even large and supposed to be “invincible” marketing/advertising firms have bowed down to Inovent. And with their launch of the Ilumina iTV (http://inoventrevolution.wordpress.com), with the aim to launch the Philippine’s first consumer technology brand like Samsung and Apple.

Logo © Rags2Riches, Jacinto Y Lirio and Hapinoy

2.) Rise of Social Entrepreneurship – with  Hapinoy/Microventures (www.hapinoy.com) and Rags2Riches (www.rags2riches.ph) lead by Mark Ruiz, Reese Fernandez, Bam Aquino, Rajo Laurel and many more and they act as the vanguards and trail blazers of Philippine Social Entrepreneurship. Now small social enterprises tackling the problem of water lilies to waterless toilet concepts are spawning in the country bringing about change in the way business is done in the country in a new and radical way where the bottom line is not profit but changing the world into a better place.

Logo © Ateneo Innovation Center

3.) Centers of Innovation – with centers of Innovation such as the Ateneo Innovation Center (http://innovation.ateneo.edu/bin/view/Main/WebHome) encouraging students to do innovation and reactivate the creativity that traditional school has beaten out of the students. The Ateneo Innovation Center has for example launched the Philippine’s first SMS Quality of Service Experiments and is currently conducting Algae for Oil experiments that has recently gotten the attention of the Japanese. Although such centers today are still relatively unknown, the more innovation these centers crank out the more known and appreciated they would be. These are the places where the real action is really happening.

The Ateneo Innovation Center is headed by Greg Tangonan Ph.D.

©Aumio Shahriar via Facebook

4.) Innovative Filipino Teams entering International Competitions and winning – Rags2Riches (www.rags2riches.ph) has set the mood when they won the Business in Development (BiD) Challange in the Netherlands. Recently the Philippine Team “Beleavers” (Tim Huelva, Karl Satintigan and Kim Samson) won the HSBC Regional Awards with their ‘Arekal Leaf Tableware’. High School Students of the Philippine Science High School that make up  “Team Lagablab” also won the First Robotics Competition 2009 in Hawaii .

As technologies become cheaper and more available thanks to Social Enterprises, Corporations and NGOs the Philippine Innovation Avalanche will only grow stronger and move faster.

But innovation is not only confined in the business world, also in the world of NGOs and even in the classroom, new brave people are doing things differently, thinking new thoughts and doing amazing things.

Photo Credits Why Not? Forum

Why Not ? Forum (www.whynotforum.com) the TED.com of the Philippines has been inspiring people to Think new thoughts, Share big dreams and do brave things. With the recent Why Not ? Forum 6 as one of the most successful Why Not? Forums to date. As Why Not ? Forum nudges people to ask Why Not ? the avalanche of innovation will only grow faster and stronger.

©Greenpeace/Rap Rios

I could go on forever talking about innovation everywhere in the Philippines like these students in Mindanao creating a CNN like newscast (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYHYR7svEHo) and the Philippine Electric Jeepney and Tricycles.

As technology becomes more and more democratized and easy to use the effects are spectacular. The only and biggest challenge and obstacle for the Philippine Innovation Avalanche is paradigm. We, Filipinos, still think that we are not good enough, that we could never reach the status of awesomeness. But the thing is that we can, we can be awesome ! but awesome in our own way.

As Floy Quintos said in Why Not ? Forum 6 Let’s be world-class in our own way because no matter what we do we will always be Filipinos, and as Entrepbuff (www.entrepbuff.com) asked in Why Not ? Forum 6 : ” Why Not rebuild a nation doing what they love to do ? ”

Logo © Entrepbuff.com

Right now, most of the nation’s resources are tied up to the old men and women of this country and people who would like the status quo to remain. If only these resources where available to the multitude of entrepreneurs and innovators the Philippines will be on the path to awesome growth and possibly even to 1st world status. But the lack of capital and resources has always been a trivial obstacle to entrepreneurs and innovators, they will always find a way because as Mark Ruiz teaches, it is “Innovate or Die” and if you remember Sun Tzu’s Art of War, on death ground people will fight like caged animals. Right now it is Innovate or Die, we are on death ground and when we are in this mindset the only way is up !

Welcome to the Philippine Innovation Avalanche, and we here at IsangConcepts plan to watch, document and even add more momentum to this Philippine Innovation Avalanche and we hope you would to.

There is no where to hide, running is futile, this avalanche will get to you …it is just a matter of time. So why not ride it instead ?

Oh just in case you are interested the IsangConcepts is planning to get into this Innovation xD

If you have any tips on Philippine Innovation just email us @ Team[at]isangisla.com and we will feature it here in this blog. Help us continue the Philippine Innovation Avalanche

- Matthew Cua

“Because the people who are crazy enough to think
they can change the world,
are the ones who do.”

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