COMSTE ENHANCES TIES WITH ACADEME IN SCIENCE, ENGINEERING

The Congressional Commission on Science Technology and Engineering (COMSTE) enhanced its ties with the Ateneo de Manila's school of science and engineering during the Interlinks 7.0 held this week.

Interlinks is a yearly event held by Ateneo to present the latest graduate and undergraduate research projects to industry, business leaders, government as well non-government organizations.

Senator Edgardo J. Angara, Chair of COSMTE, said that this type activity will help create, "an innovation engine for the country, where industry, academe, and government work closely together in R&D to target specific, economic goals."

COMSTE is a supporter of developing Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) in order to spur innovation and increase the competitiveness level of the country.

"Our country cannot hope to catch up with our highly competitive neighbors and galloping population unless we leapfrog development through science and technology," said Angara.

COMSTE has identified a number of projects from Interlinks that could be tied up with the commissions flagship projects for 2011, which are Telehealth for remote areas and Digital Medical Records, Remote-Sensing for Agriculture, Electronic Vehicles and Green Transport and Disaster Science, Biotechnology for Health and food security, and Renewable Energy Systems.

For disaster science, COMSTE noted that there is a project that capitalizes on the use of the internet and SMS to request and send relief goods and donations. There is a system that can monitor rain in real-time, as well as a low-cost wave monitoring system that automatically sends an alarm when there is an indication of vertical acceleration.

COMSTE identified a project for monitoring Photovoltaic (PV) systems, which are used in solar energy, and a system for electric vehicle battery monitoring, which would be used in developing the growing E vehicle industry of the country.

Angara said that COMSTE will continue to develop close ties with universities and link them with industry partners and enable a more collaborative environment where the government and private sector are all on the same page when it comes to making the country more competitive.(