Thomasian researchers bagged the top prizes in the Department of Science and Technology’s Innovation Pitching Challenge, during the Innovation.Venta 2025 event held on October 24, 2025 (Friday) at Batangas State University.
The research team of Prof. Karen S. Santiago, PhD and Engr. Jhon Vic Ramos won the top prize for their Smart Mobile Sniffer, an Internet of Things-based portable wireless multi-sensor array for gas monitoring. Santiago and Balitaan are both academic researchers of the Department of Chemistry and of the Research Center for the Natural and Applied Sciences (RCNAS).
The project is funded by the Department of Science and Technology – Philippine Council for Industry, Energy, and Emerging Technology Research and Development. Joining Santiago and Bardos are Assoc. Prof. Jolleen Natalie Balitaan (Product Specialist) and Engr. Celso Noel Aban, who’s handling the entrepreneurship, marketing, and sales concerns.
Meanwhile, the second prize went to the team POWER (Plastic Off-grid Waste to Electric Revolution) led by Prof. Myla R. Santiago-Bautista, PhD, whose team worked on a microbial fuel cell system for the generation of bioelectricity and degradation of polyethylene terephthalate (PET). Santiago-Bautista teaches at the Department of Biochemistry and is also a researcher of RCNAS.
POWER was founded by Yzabel Anjela So, Rein Louis Caringal, Kate Cristal Ventura, Asst. Prof. Maria Salvacion A. Esmalla, Dr. Paolo Robert P. Bueno, Dr. Kristan Bryan C. Simbulan, and Santiago-Bautista, along with Assoc. Prof. Cristina E. Tiangoco, PhD, and Dr. Geraldine B. Dayrit. The team is a mix of UST and UP Manila researchers.
The two teams bested forty-eight other applicants, including twelve who pitched during the event. The challenge was a venue to showcase market-ready technologies and scalable solutions to potential investors, industry leaders, and government agencies. The presented outputs fall within Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) 4 to 7, or those that have undergone laboratory validation to pilot-scale demonstration. The technologies are now ready for licensing, incubation, or commercialization.
Both teams are supported by UST’s research and innovation efforts. Their mentors and consultants include Tomasinno Innovation Center Manager Aban and Assistant Manager Prof. Michael Francis D. Benjamin, PhD and Innovation Technology Support Office Manager Assoc. Prof. Michael Jorge N. Peralta, MSPT.