BAGO CITY, Negros Occidental – The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Region VI together with the Bago City local government unit on May 23-24, 2024 conducted a stakeholders’ consultation to identify the different science, technology, and innovation (STI) actors in the city and provide an avenue for them to gather and discuss their issues and needs.

The consultation is one of the activities under the Innovation, Science and Technology for Accelerating Regional Technology-based Development (iSTART) project which aims to support balanced geographical development and regional growth through STI.

The activity engaged various stakeholders and provided them an avenue to share their needs, mostly around the lack of IT infrastructure and capacity among personnel in different organizations and offices and access to the Internet. Engr. Edwin V. De Nicolas, the City Planning and Development Coordinator also presented the city’s Comprehensive Development Plan. Other issues identified included data management, disaster risk reduction and management, climate change, and funding.

The city’s STI initiatives include composting facilities, internship opportunities, government service applications, pharmaceuticals, and solar irrigation systems. Aside from this, the workshop also included a data-gathering session for the creation of the LGU innovation ecosystem map. The workshop concluded with a sharing of the participants’ insights for the two-day activity.

The iSTART project’s Stakeholders’ Consultation workshop is one of the initial activities of the project to create science, technology, and innovation plans for LGUs.

#DOST6 #iSTART #OneDOST4U