By Philippine News Agency The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Calabarzon Regional Office and the Technology Application and Promotion Institute (TAPI) have intensified engagements with students and the academe, through the “Invent School Program”, in a bid to spark interest among the millennial coeds and the young generation, who are groomed to be the country’s future scientists, investors and innovators. Dr. Alexander R. Madrigal, DOST-Calabarzon Regional Director on Thursday said the regional Science and Technology (S&T) office and TAPI’s “Invent School Program” (ISP) hosted S&T activities at the regional office from July 3 to 4, as a prelude to the “National Science and Technology Week” (NSTW) observance this month. Madrigal has earlier underscored that S & T engagements with students, public-private sector groups and the communities were part of the regional office’s roadmap in transforming Calabarzon - comprising Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon - into a regional S & T ecosystem in sync with the DOST’s “Science for the People” thrusts. He welcomed some 52 senior high school students and teachers from 17 Laguna schools, who participated in the two-day gathering; and explained the importance of Science and Technology in pursuit of the coeds’ success. The DOST-TAPI “Invent School Program” (ISP) is a seminar-workshop for high school and college students and out-of-school youths (OSYs) to stimulate their creativity and inventiveness, and create awareness on Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and Protection. It provides an opportunity for students/OSY to develop their creativity and potentials as well as to awaken their true ingenuity, leading to the development of devices and processes that will become their enterprises. The ISP has become a starting ground for training and inspiring young Filipinos to explore the marvels of S&T in the field of invention and entrepreneurship. Another S&T program involving students is the DOST-Academe Technology-Based Enterprise Development (DATBED) Program, which develops entrepreneurial competencies among students in selected academic institutions. During the two-day seminar-workshop, Dr. Lydia S. Manguiat, DOST Calabarzon Assistant Regional Director for Technical Operations also inspired students that regardless of age, they have the potentials to contribute to the country’s development. DOST-TAPI lecture-workshop facilitators Robert R. Verzosa and Anna Liza B. Saet guided students and teachers during the two-day event, which included Ideation Tools and Techniques, Creative Problem Solving, Intention Development, Intellectual Property Rights, Prototyping and Commercialization, Prior Arts Search, and Basic in Patent Drafting. Students were grouped randomly into five groups to engage them to collaborate more on the hands-on activities, which culminated in the students’ crafting their own inventions and prototypes. Teachers served as judges and panel during the critique sessions as the students presented their outputs, capped by the awarding ceremony. According to the DOST-Calabarzon Public Affairs, Relations and Communications Unit (PARCU), the student participants were overwhelmed during the two-day sessions that drew positive responses. Tricia Paunon, Philippine Women’s University-Columba student expressed amazement on how the technical topics were delivered in a very interesting manner. “The seminar-workshop inspired me to create an innovation,” she said. Meanwhile, Bernadeth Panganiban from this town’s Barangay Lalakay Senior High School shared that “the seminar workshop made me realize the importance of patenting and inventing, and how an inventor’s mind can help solve the problems of mankind.”