DOST rolls out iSTART Summit

For 3-day 2024 NSTW in Bohol

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol April 6 (PIA) – The use of science and technology for provincial growth kicks off next week here in Bohol as the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) sets its Innovation, Science, and Technology for Accelerating Regional Technology-Based Development (iSTART) Summit at the Metro Centre Hotel, April 18, 2024.

The ISTART Summit aims to bring out the 8 local government units in Bohol who are piloted for DOST’s support in their accelerated development through science, technology, and innovation, shares Bohol Provincial Science and Technology Center chief Vina Antopina.

The 8 local government units piloted for the iSTART are Inabanga, Tagbilaran, Dimiao, San Miguel, Candijay, Danao, Buenavista and Carlos P. Garcia.

"Science is not just a subject you learn in school. Science is for the people—a fundamental part of our everyday lives," says Antopina, an iSTART champion in Bohol.

LGUs need help in responding to the diverse challenges, ranging from resource constraints, the lack of technical know-how in science and technology, issues of people-engagements, and service delivery flaws.

With science and technology, DOST offers a promising solution to these problems by maximizing the existing potential in the municipality, extensive training and collaboration with researchers, scientists, and engineers, and attracting new technology-based investments, the lady DOST head bared over a radio guesting at PIA.

In the iSTART, the DOST sends an LGU-partner-expert to help the LGU devise solutions based on the resource availability and enhancement of the crafted and legislated local development plans.

Set as one of the major highlights in the 2024 National Science and Technology Week celebration in Central Visayas, the Summit presents to the pilot LGUs the dropdown menu of DOST support to local government units, Antopina, who single-handedly orchestrates the four-day event stringed on the banner theme Science, Technology and Innovation: providing solutions, opening opportunities, also brings out the technologies available for LGUS.

These include the Barangay eSystem on the eBarangayPH: an pandemic-era Online Barangay Information System which uses cloud-infrastructure to share, collaborate with other Barangay information management specifically on Resident Information, Document Issuance, Crisis, and Disaster Mitigation programs.

Coupled with the Barangay eSystem Tools (BeST) and Starlink to establish a dependable and sustainable internet connection, eBarangay is aimed at leveraging science and technology to empower the barangays and improve their capabilities, the provincial DOST head added.

Another technology which LGUS can implement is the Front Line Operations System (FLOS) and the Local Access Cloud System (LACS).

FLOS is an innovative Japanese technology which uses portable local ICT system to automatically handle disaster information at the front-line level, while LACS is a portable server system which comprises of compact server, access point, battery and peripheral devices, that when operational, delivers cloud service anytime anywhere and in any network environment even in the devastated disaster situation.

With features like hands-free acquisition, semi-automatic collection of disaster information through cameras and speech recognition, and intelligent sharing capabilities, FLOS is revolutionizing on-site decision-making in disaster scenarios, experts at the Central Visayas Information Network bared.

On the other hand, LACS acts as a local communication tool even if your ICT devices like smartphones don’t have the Internet connectivity. It uses a smartphones with Wi-Fi functions as access tools to LACS services where basic services like information delivery from public organizations, information sharing as a social networking service, and bi-directional

Communication as a messaging service is possible.

For LGUS with water issues, the Summit also presents the freshwater lens concepts and how LGUS can maintain their aquifers for more sustainable water use.

And as the country transitions into digitalization, for LGUs, the DOST, through the Summit brings to LGUS the idea of securing their data storage systems from cyberattack and hacking through the iTECHub to presented by Guardians PH.

The DOST through its ISTART project with Advanced Science and Technology Institute, LGUS can also check on the Smart City Suite where the DOST can share guides on becoming smart cities using science, technology and innovation, Meteorological data Acquisition Stations for Information Dissemination (MASID), Resilient Education Information Infrastructure for the New Normal (REIINN), Automated Labeling Machine (ALaM). (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)

SOLD OUT. San Miguel through Mayor Ian Gil Mendez is tapping science, technology and innovation in their portable water and power solutions , and with the I-START program, the town which has got a legislated Science and Technology Committee looks at sustaining their development through this innovations at hand. (PIABohol/DOST Bohol)

TAPPING UNUSED POWER. Dimiao, under Mayor Randolph Ang is looking at using Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) in making local processes efficient and using STI to leverage for more investments. Dimiao, is one of the 8 Bohol LGUS piloted for the IStart project in Bohol. (PIABohol/DOSTBohol)