THE second edition of Unlocked, the highly anticipated national competition designed to promote integrated circuit (IC) design and semiconductor innovation, concluded recently (September 20) with the announcement of this year’s champions and runners-up and the conferment of lifetime achievement awards to Diosdado Banatao and Dr. Teresita Fortuna.
Unlocked, hosted by Xinyx Design at the Tanghalang Haribon in Insular Life Corporate Center, Alabang, brought together the brightest undergraduate engineering minds from universities across the Philippines to showcase cutting-edge ideas aimed at revolutionizing the tech industry.
The event, with the theme “From Problems to Possibilities: Building Tomorrow’s Cities Today,” emphasized the capability of homegrown innovation to address urban challenges and drive the future of the high-technology industry.
Keynote speaker was newly appointed Education Undersecretary Peter Irving Corvera, who represented Education Secretary Juan Edgardo Angara.
“In education, it is essential that we integrate technology into our basic education system,” said Corvera in his address. “We must ensure that our learners have access to digital tools and resources, no matter where they are, to fully equip them for the future.”
Named 2024 Champion in the Unlocked Innovation Challenge was the Technological University of the Philippines (Manila) for their entry “LiverScan+: An Automated Detection and Diagnosis of Focal Liver Lesions through AutoML-Based Triphasic Contrast-Enhanced CT Image Analysis Using Jetson Nano.” The proposal won P70,000 for the five students who worked on it.
First runner-up was Colegio de Muntinlupa for their “Texto: Real-Time Audio-Visual Speech Recognition and Transcription using Multimodal Deep Learning Algorithm for the Hearing Impaired” entry, which won P20,000.
Second runner-up and winning P10,000 was the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila for their “Unmanned Amphibious Robot in Aiding Post-Typhoon Heavy Flooding Response Using LoRa-based Communication and YOLOv5” entry.
In the IC Design Olympics competition, which had different sets of participants, Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT) was named the 2024 Overall Champion, securing victories in two categories: Custom Layout and Digital Design.
The Technological University of the Philippines (TUP) Manila claimed the top spot in the Analog Circuit Design category.
While Unlocked seeks to bridge the gap between academia and industry, a whole-of-nation approach is crucial for achieving the Philippines’ semiconductor goals.
Xinyx Design called on the government to reinforce the efforts of industry and academia by implementing policies that support workforce development, research funding and talent retention.
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