BCB Blockchain Pledges $300,000 to Philippine Startups

Singapore-based BCB Blockchain has pledged to provide $300,000 to incubators and startup accelerators in the Philippines under government control, the company announced in a press release.

The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the firm through one of its agencies, namely the Philippine Council for Industry, Energy, and Emerging Technology Research and Development (PCIEETRD).

The document expresses the commitment of BCB Blockchain to partner with the Philippine government in facilitating the creation and development of local startups. The company will provide both financing and its blockchain technology protocol in order to build smart city projects and applications.

“We hope that this partnership will ignite the next wave of applications and innovations for the development of sustainable and smart cities,” said Dr. Enrico C. Paringit, Executive Director, PCIEETRD.

BCB Blockchain further signed agreements with several universities and start-up tech incubators in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao to underline its promise to work closely with educational partners in important areas, such as co-incubation of projects, research and development, seminars and training, promotional activities, competitions, hackathons, and collaborative endeavors for smart city or blockchain development.

The project partnership involves joint promotional activities, growing the tech community, providing mentorship and project support, and exposure to global markets across a range of sectors after successful project marketing.

The partners include Far Eastern University, De La Salle University-Manila, Technological Institute of the Philippines, Adamson University, Holy Angel University, Batangas State University, Technological University of the Philippines – Visayas, University of Southeastern Philippines, Caraga State University, Mindanao State University – Iligan Institute of Technology, Siliman University, and QBO Innovation hub.

The goal of this collaboration is reaching out to academics, developers and community members and making them engage with the Building Cities Beyond (BCB) Blockchain system and the opportunities it gives to build smart city solutions.

“By providing DOST, universities, and TBIs the resources and technical knowledge that BCB Blockchain has, we expect them to deepen their competencies in the area of designing and developing applications and projects for smart cities. We will guide and provide them the access to hands-on workshops, funding, materials, events and technical support,” said Douglas Gan, Chief Executive Officer of BCB Blockchain.

Competitions, Bug Bounty programs, and hackathons will be organized in 2020 as part of the program. The winners of these competitions will earn prize money of up to US$ 15,000.

Few selected projects will have the chance to engage in advertising, promotional and fundraising incubation programs.