ZAMBOANGA CITY, Feb 28 (PIA) -- Promoting technology and innovation, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) in collaboration with the Ateneo de Zamboanga University (AdZU) has inaugurated the DOST-AdZU Azul Hub at the Lantaka Campus on Monday, February 27, 2023.

The DOST-AdZU Azul Hub is the first-ever Technology Business Incubator (TBI) in the city which aims to support young Mindanaoan innovators with their technology-based start-ups that are expected to contribute to the development of the region.

This hub is a space for technology start-ups, young professionals, entrepreneurs, innovators, development workers, students, faculty, and researchers in Zamboanga City, Zamboanga Peninsula, and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) are interested in participating in technology-based and innovation-driven businesses that have the potential to impact all sectors of society.

The TBI is established under the two-year HIHEIRITPAMORE program of the DOST- Philippine Council for Industry, Energy, and Emerging Technology Research and Development (PCIEERD).

In his message, DOST-PCIEERD Executive Director Dr. Enrico Paringit said: “We, in the DOST have high hopes that through this facility, a culture of innovation with strong collaboration between industries, the academe, and the community will foster the development of technology-based and innovation-driven businesses to boost the local community, the region, and the country.”

Along with the hub’s inauguration, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) also officially sets off a soft launching of the first physical Regional Inclusive Innovation Center (RIIC) in the Philippines and Fabrication Laboratory which will also provide state-of-the-art facilities for budding idea-makers and project creators charging up the quest for more advanced, sustainable, and competitive research and innovation landscape.

The Ateneo Learning and Teacher Excellence Center (ALTEC) also conduct a naming ceremony to christen their Learning Center after Benjamin Lim Go and another naming ceremony for the buildings of the AdZU Lantaka Campus which now officially adopt the names of the University’s most generous donors – the Walstrom family.  (NBE/CCP/PIA9 with photos from Ateneo de Zamboanga University)