Filipinnovation Awards 2025

“Create innovation environment,”

Aris calls at sub-natl competition

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol (PIA)—Bohol Governor Erico Aristotle Aumentado, rallies for the creation of an environment for innovation to prosper in Central Visayas and allow in Subohol the enabling atmosphere for new ideas that are translated into new products, programs and services, that drive the region up the economic ladder.

Speaking during the Filipinnovation Awards 2025 for the Visayas cluster, July 17, 2025 at the Marco Polo Hotel, Cebu City, the re-elected governor said as leaders, “it is our role to foster innovation and to strengthen linkages and partnerships that transform concepts into products and bring these products to the market.”

Speaking as Chairperson of the Visayas Sub National Committee for the Filipinnovation Awards, Aumentado emphasized the need for the promotion of a culture of innovation, connecting innovators with stakeholders and investors that offer creative and ingenious solutions to community problems especially in food and agribusiness, learning and education as well as health and well-being.

Opened as a whole-of-nation call and commitment to accelerate Philippine progress through innovation focusing on the National Innovation Agenda and Strategy Document (NIASD), Filipinnovation Awards in 2025 is funded under Republic Act 11293 (Philippine Innovation Act), which establishes an innovation fund strengthening entrepreneurship and enterprises engaged in developing innovative solutions benefiting the poorest of the poor.

The law also provides grants to National Government Agencies (NGA), Government Owned Corporations (GOCCs), Local Government Units (LGUs), and State Universities and Colleges (SUCs), as providers of research and support to innovation start-ups in the early stages of their product commercialization.

During the recent full council meeting of the Regional Development Council (RDC) for Central Visayas held in Bohol, Department of Economy, Planning and Development (Depdev) formerly NEDA Assistant Regional Director Evelyn Nacario-Castro announced, “this year, there are 181 entries submitted nationwide, and 51 of them are from the Visayas.

And as the Filipinnovation Awards 2025 aim to promote and recognize a culture of innovation across the country, she believes citing the innovators and helping them, further motivates the culture for innovation.

“Recognize them and at the same time really provide some degree of support. This will then allow inspiration for others to look at and explore possibilities to develop solutions that are needed in our various communities,” Nacario-Castro was quoted in regional papers..

Of the 51 here, 11 have been shortlisted for the July 17-18 Visayas sub-national competition, with Aumentado as key attending official.

For the Filipinnovation Awards, the country is divided into four clusters: Luzon, National Capital Region, Visayas, and Mindanao, and cluster selects 3 innovations to advance to the national competitions in October.

By then, 15 finalists: 12 from the four clusters and 3 wild card entries selected from across the four sub-national competitions vie for the 5 Filipinnovators who will get P3.5 million each, in government support for the full scale implementation of the innovation, as well as national recognition.

The rest of the finalists get PHP 250,000, to further develop their innovations.

Before that, the 15 sub-national finalists get coaching and mentoring to make the final pitch in the national competitions in October.

“Through the awards program, we highlight Filipino creativity, ingenuity, talent, and entrepreneurship. The awards program is a tool and platform for change. It is not just a competition. It is a manifestation of our growing resolve to advance progress that connects science and technology with enterprise development and commerce,” Aumentado said.

In Bohol, Aumentado has also pushed for innovations in governance to speed up the economy and provide solutions to problems that slacken the dash to regional development.

In our region of SugBohol and the wider Visayas, we believe that innovation is for everyone - as champions and instruments of change and as users and patrons of the results of such change, he said. (PIABohol)

INNOVATE. Bohol Governor Erico Aristotle Aumentado has challenged leaders in Central Visayas to help create environment for innovation and support start-ups that sought to perfect solutions to everyday problems that bog down productivity. Speaking at the Visayas Awards, Aumentado is happy that 1/3 of the national entries in innovation comes from the Visayas, where he is RDC chair.