The University of the Philippines Mindanao Growing and Developing Enterprises (UPGRADE) conducted the first-ever Innovative Startups Knowledge Optimizer (or ISKO) Bootcamp on March 9-10, 2020 at UP Mindanao Campus, Davao City.
ISKO Program is the screening of startup-applicants who submitted their concept note to get a slot in UPGRADE’s incubation program. The program is comprised of two major events, namely, the Bootcamp and pitching day/demo day
Participating teams undergo a two-day Bootcamp where lectures and intensive workers on ideation, financial management, prototyping, marketing, and pitching take place.
After the Bootcamp, teams are task to come up with a presentation of their startup idea and present it to a panel of judges during the demo day.
ISKO’s main purpose is to gather potential startups that shall undergo UPGRADE’s incubation program and later be launched to the public as a Startup Company. UP Technology Transfer and Business Development Office will also help qualified startups to protect the intellectual property of their technology or innovations.
Day 1
ISKO Bootcamp day 1 features talks and workshops on Design Thinking and Startup 101 that was discussed by ADDU-ITSO Director, Engr. Jason Te Occidental, and Basic Finance Management for Start-ups by Prof. Lemuel Calatrava of UP Mindanao School of Management.
The event was full-housed by students (Senior High and Tertiary), professionals, innovators, researchers and business enthusiasts who are working on how to make their start-up ideas scalable, market-responsive, and socially relevant.
Local community leaders also graced the activity in the person of Mr. Dreb Bitanghol of WordPress Davao and Ms. Marjorie Alawi of ConnectedWomen Davao.
Day 2
On the 2nd day of the Bootcamp, the TBI held lectures and workshops on Prototyping, Marketing, and Pitching.
As the Bootcamp culminates, Mr. Richard Day, Project Development Officer of UPGRADE, took the stage to thank all participants and resource persons for making the ISKO Program a success. He also announced that the demo day of all participants, which is the final stage of the screening, is scheduled for 27 March 2020 to provide ample time for the teams to prepare.
