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This summer, get a taste of refreshing business ideas that can be profitable all year round at the Department of Science and Technology’s Technology Resource Center (DOST-TRC) with its training courses for aspiring entrepreneurs.

With the summer vacation now on its final stretch this May, it isn’t too late to put up a small business perfect for beating the heat.


One such business is ice cream production. For a minimal training fee, one can enroll in TRC’s two-day training on commercial ice cream production to learn about the basic technology, material and equipment requirements, product formulation, and costing. Trainees will also get the chance to have a hands-on experience in ice cream making and a field trip to an ice cream plant.


One can also opt to put up a buko juice/shake kiosk TRC’s two-day training includes lectures on plain and flavored buko juice product formulation, processing guidelines, sanitation procedures, packaging and cost requirements. As in the ice cream production training seminar, enrollees will similarly have a hands-on experience in the preparation of buko shake/juice.


TRC also offers livelihood trainings for other business enterprises perfect for the whole year . These include food business, services, agriculture and other small-scale industries that cater to the varied interests of aspiring entrepreneurs.


Providing affordable livelihood trainings is just one of TRC’s ways of creating opportunities for the public. “We expect to create not just more livelihood opportunities for more individuals; we also look forward to developing better and more relevant programs, efficiently and with higher success rate,” says Dennis Cunanan, TRC director general.


The TRC office is located at Jacinta Bldg. 2, Guadalupe Nuevo, EDSA, Makati City. For more details on the schedule and fees please contact 8225087, or visit trc.dost.gov.ph or like its facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/trc.dost. ###

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Tapuy, a local rice wine very popular in the Cordillera Province may soon sit side-by-side with Japanese sake, Malaysian tapai, Chinese chao chingchu, and the likes in international wine cellars. This international market prospect is made clearer by researchers at the Department of Science and Technology’s Industrial Technology Development Institute (DOST-ITDI) who found the key to better quality tapuy by improving the process of producing the starter.

 

The exquisite taste of tapuy oozes from bubod , a wine starter that can consistently produce quality tapuy with improved yield and appealing taste. Tapuy is prepared by fermenting glutinous rice using bubod. After fermentation, the glutinous rice becomes soft, with liquid forming on top of the mixture. This liquid is tapuy, known for its acidic but sweet alcoholic flavor and a pleasant aroma.

 

DOST-ITDI standardizes wine starter to improve tapuy quality

The secret behind making good tapuy is good quality bubod. As part of DOST-ITDI’s continuing quest to help improve the competitiveness of the local industries, ITDI-based experts finally standardized the process of making good quality bubod.

 

Traditionally, bubod comes in the form of flattened and rounded balls of various sizes and are compact and dry.

 

According to Michelle Evaristo, Science Research Specialist II at ITDI’s Food Processing Division and also the project leader, the improved bubod is made from powdered NFA rice and cassava flour, both cheaper than the traditionally used glutinous rice.

 

The researchers mix pure cultures of the mold called Rhizopus oryzae and the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae to the rice-flour. Then they add water, form it into dough, granulate the mixture, and then incubate it to allow the growth of organisms.


The dough is oven-dried until the moisture content dips to 9-12 percent. The mold produces enzymes that will break down the starch into simple sugars, which will then be used by the yeast to produce alcohol.


DOST-ITDI standardizes wine starter to improve tapuy quality

“What makes this newly improved bubod different from the traditional one is that it is now granular in form, allowing more surface area for faster drying, as well as making organisms grow better,“ Evaristo emphasized. Hence, incubation takes only overnight instead of the traditional 48 hours. Growth of more beneficial organisms is also achieved using the granular form resulting to a pure culture that gives better quality wine. “All in all, this developed bubod has good microbial quality and is quicker to prepare,” she said. The bubod also increased rice wine yield with higher alcohol content.


In terms of shelf life, she said that the bubod can last up to 12 months and still be capable of producing good quality rice wine.


“And with the improved bubod’s good performance, starting this month, we are working on standardizing the whole process of rice wine production and we are now conducting upscale trial production and further evaluation,” she told.


This innovation has also solved a lot of problems encountered by tapuy producers, such as short shelf life, low yield, higher production cost, adulteration, inconsistency in the quality of bubod, and packaging-related problems, she added.


DOST-CAR (Cordillera Autonomous Region) with ITCI are currently poised for a dry run in preparation for the eventual commercialization of the technology. (Del-Delica Gotis, April 18, 2013)

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Smarter technologies are beginning to move into Filipino households as the Department of Science and Technology ushers in its Smarter Philippines program. In fact, local experts are busying themselves developing technologies for smarter living.


So how about a recently-developed paint that makes your house bright and even rids out dirt and other microbial elements?


Put your brush up to the DOST - Industrial Technology Development Institute’s (DOST-ITDI) self-cleaning paint. The polymer paint is acrylic based and has the ability to prevent water and dirt from seeping into its surface. When applied on a concrete surface, it repels water and dirt, effectively “cleaning” itself.


The self-cleaning paint has titanium oxide and locally sourced silica which when exposed to ultraviolet ray exhibits its photocatalytic property. This means it breaks molecules of emission gases on its surface. This protects the paint from any discoloration due to organic microbes from gas emissions and oils.


It also repels water and lets liquid just flow on its surface without seeping into the paint, consequently carrying dirt such as dust particles, lipophilic dirts, and others.


The paint technology mimics the lotus and gabi plant leaves that have complex structures such that water droplets that land on the surface pick up particles as they flow out, minimizing adhesion of dirt on the leaves. Such characteristic is called the lotus effect.


Through nanotechnology, DOST-ITDI enhances this functional capability as it develops said environment-friendly paint. This innovation also prolongs the luster of the paint. This emerging paint technology is already in the market for some time in some countries. However, the premium price makes it unaffordable to most people.


According to Dr. Araceli Monzada of the Materials Science Division of DOST-ITDI, the locally developed self-cleaning paint will be more affordable than the commercially available paints when it reaches its commercial stage as it uses locally available additives.


The paint technology is expected to cut down annual maintenance costs significantly in buildings which will no longer require annual washing and periodic repainting to retain its luster. In Singapore, the cost of washing a building once a year is at SGD10,000 to SGD50,000 (P330,000 to P1.65M) and in some malls, washing is normally done quarterly. Because of the long retention of the paint’s luster, users save water to be used in washing. The less frequent washing will also minimize surface damages on the buildings caused mainly by strong detergents and high water pressure from water jets.


Currently, the paint is available only in white, but DOST-ITDI is set to develop other colors. Dr. Monzada also added that with the importance of this innovation, the institute plans to design the paint for use in the automotive industry.

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Over 40 high school students from different provinces had a fun S&T summer at the Department of Science and Technology’s Geo –Marine science camp held on April 27 –May 5, 2013 at Puerto Galera, Mindoro Oriental .


With the theme ”Rock the Ridge, Reach the Reef”, the said summer science camp was organized by DOST’s Science and Education Institute (SEI) in cooperation with University of the Philippines-Marine Science Institute and University of the Philippines –National Institute of Geological Sciences.


Throughout the nine-day exposure, campers attended classes that included problem solving, research, critical thinking and communication skills incorporated with Biology, Meteorology, Geology and Marine Science facilitated by some UP-MSI and UP-NIGS staff.


Also embedded in the camp were significant activities such as coral reef exposures at Muelle Bay San Antonio Island, trekking, and community interaction in a Mangyan village.


The science camp aimed to encourage high school students explore geo and marine sciences and stress the value of pursuing degrees and careers in these fields while developing skills to achieve success in their chosen fields. At the same time, it aimed to promote the culture of research and its importance in addressing challenges in the environment and society.


Started in 2009, DOST-SEI’s science camp had encouraged skilled and gifted students in science and mathematics to consider S&T careers. Science camps held annually focused on various fields of S&T such as biology, mathematics, engineering. Boosted by its successful outcome, the camp extensively trained students from the Philippine Science High School campuses nationwide and selected science high schools in Metro Manila.