KABACAN, Cotabato Province (PIA) – The state-run University of Southern Mindanao (USM) has gathered young innovators in Region 12 for a two-day event known as the Mentoring Aspiring Technopreneurs Collaborative Hackathon, or MATCH Hackathon, which was scheduled for April 3-4, 2025, at USM.
The event, in partnership with the Department of Science and Technology (DOST)-funded USMart Technology Business Incubator (TBI), aimed to equip students and budding entrepreneurs with the skills and resources needed to advance their startups and optimize technologies for future commercialization.
USMart-TBI project leader Jalaloden B. Marohom highlighted the event’s holistic approach to fostering innovation.
“The MATCH Hackathon not only inspires young minds but also serves as a platform for creating opportunities, networks, and connections within the ecosystem,” he stated.
Hackathons are 24- to 48-hour competitions in which skilled teams collaborate to tackle real-world challenges, focusing on ideas, technologies, prototypes, plans, or processes for specific institutions, companies, or sectors at local, national, or international levels.
Day one featured a series of presentations by resource speakers from the provincial government of Cotabato, along with representatives from national line agencies, including the National Economic Development Authority, the Department of Information and Communications Technology, the Department of Trade and Industry, and the DOST.
“With partners from LGUs and various agencies, the USM-TBI truly aims to create a startup ecosystem, not just within the province but across the entire region,” Marohom added.
Highlighting regional collaboration, the MATCH Hackathon has welcomed participants from various schools in Soccsksargen, including the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
Innovators from these institutions have come together to showcase their ideas and solutions, emphasizing the shared vision of technological progress and regional development.
The second day of the competition brought participants together to engage in a pitching showdown, where they showcased their innovations for awards such as Best Sketch, Best Innovative Idea, and Best Pitcher.
These awards included cash prizes, providing not only recognition but also support for their projects.
Abdul Aziz S. Day-yo, a third-year BS Business Advertisement student at USM and the chief marketing officer of ScanCADE, believes this event will offer valuable insights and learning for student entrepreneurs like him.
“The USMart-TBI and this event gave us the opportunity to transform our ideas, hindi lang magiging idea itong aming product, and to share or be able to produce to actual consumers and users,” he pointed out.
USMart-TBI will integrate promising hackathon entries into its six-month incubation program, providing mentorship, prototype development, validation, and technology optimization to ensure commercially viable products. (SZT, PIA Region 12)
