IdeaSpace Declares the Best Tech Startup Concept Finalists

Finalists of the nationwide search for the best tech business concepts have already been announced by IdeaSpace Foundation Inc., an industry-leader-guided business incubator company based in the Philippines.

The following are the twenty finalists who made it to the most coveted slots: Pinoy Travel, Date Cola, FindmyDok, Lost and Found, miCab, Mirand, AgriCulture Technology, WeGen, CornerData, DepEd Smart Cloud, Nambal.com, PGRS, Prodigo, PortfolioMNL, SafeCab, Summarize and Notify, Tech4Health, TimeFree, Tudlo, and Armtech.

The finalists will be vying for the coveted Final 10 slots, their incubation of which will be financed with up to Php 5 M or USD 120k per team. IdeaSpace on the other hand will guide each teams all through out the way, until their business will be promoted on a massive scale to the general public.

Groups who live outside of Metro Manila will be given housing support which will enable them to concentrate on working with their startup ideas. IdeaSpace Foundation Inc. is the only company of its kind in the country to provide this kind of service. April 5 is the appointed date for the final judging.

“The diversity of both the ideas and geographic locations prove to us that there are a great number of innovations in the Philippines. Through our national competition, we hope that we are indeed helping level the startup playing field for these very early stage technology business ideas.” shares IdeaSpace president, Mr. Earl Martin Valencia.

A record-breaking total of 700 entries were accepted from various parts of the country, 8 of which are from Metro Manila, 6 from the Visayas region, 3 from Mindanao region, 2 from Central Luzon, and 1 from Bicol region. This is indicative of the public’s increasing hunger for science and technology innovations as well as technopreneurship advancement platform.

Mobile and software solutions make up the greater part of the finalists and they cater to various enterprises such as healthcare, agriculture, transportation, and energy. The aim of IdeaSpace is to hunt for ideas that are still on the prototype stage with striving technopreneurs who need assistance in mobilizing their ideas to commercial level.

March 2012 was when IdeaSpace was started and its competition was initiated after they did the national road show. Submission of entries were stopped earlier this January. Panels of judges from various fields were present in every stage.

IdeaSpace is a non-profit organization which is supported by the following companies: Meralco, Metro Pacific Tollways Corporation (MPTC), TV5, Digitel, MPIC hospital group, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT), First Pacific, Metro Pacific Investments Corporation (MPIC), Maynilad, Indofood, SPI Global, MediaQuest, First Pacific Leadership Academy, Smart Communications, Inc (Smart), Philex Mining, Sun Cellular, and ePLDT.

IdeaSpace is currently nurturing 3 start-ups backed by the leading wireless services provider in the country, Smart. IdeaSpace has a Php 500 million 5 year funding, the biggest of its kind in the Philippine private sector.

This is the complete list of 20 IdeaSpace Finalists:

• AgriCultureTechnology (Metro Manila) – oversees growth of aquatic livestock
• Armtech (Angeles City) – budget-friendly water purification machine for households
• CornerData (Metro Manila)– simplified data gathering for agriculture and disaster preparedness using electronic sensors
• DateCola (Davao) – natural date enriched beverages
• DepEd Smart Cloud (Angeles City) – enterprise solution for public school system
• FindmyDok (Davao) – a solution for seeking doctors
• Lost Meets Found (Cebu) – an online solution for lost and found items
• miCab (Cebu) – smartphone unravelment for getting a cab with or without mobile Internet
• Mirand (Metro Manila) – Lower cost and high quality total joint implants for the Asian bazaar
• Nambal.com (Cebu) – online healthcare system with ambulatory features
• PGRS (Metro Manila) – generates electricity via rumble strips on high traffic roads
• PinoyTravel (Metro Manila) – provincial bus seat reservation using mobile technical knowlege
• PortfolioMNL (Metro Manila) – online agora for creative professionals
• Prodigo (Manila) – a solution for targeted promotions and analytics
• SafeCab (Cebu) – a solution that providing assessment for commuters riding cabs
• Summarize and Notify (Leyte) – enables web searches, summarizes information and notifies users
• Tech4Health (Metro Manila) – solution for health tracking of chronic conditions including diabetes
• TimeFree (Zamboanga) – SMS-based automated line up system
• Tudlo (Cebu) – a method that teaches, guides and points during a disaster and emergency situation
• WeGen (Sorsogon) – new blueprint of wind turbine that is more efficient than current technology

To know more about IdeaSpace, you can visit their official website or Facebook page.