TWO groups of students representing the Mariano Marcos State University emerged victorious in a national competition organized by Smart Communications, Inc.

The team composed of Electronics and Communications Engineering students Humphrey John Balanay, Jose Angelo Pascua, Conrado Galang Jr., Reynard Manantan, and John Ryan Santiago bagged the ‘Real MVP Award’ for having demonstrated working Minimum Viable Project with their innovation application called MICAH.

According to the team, project is an application that converts gestures to text or voice, and was among the Giga 25 that made it to the third phase of the program.

Meanwhile, the group composed of Information Technology students John Eliezer Galano, Zachary Cyrius, Domingo and Love Joy Butac, developed a virtual learning application that can be used on both Android and iOS devices called MVLE.

“The two teams emerged as top participants, having hurdled the three phases of the Smart Communications-sponsored activity,” MMSU said.

“They received P30,000 each, and enjoyed mentorship and lecture sessions with industry experts in the third stage (Giga Phase),” it said.

“Another financial grant worth P25,000 will be given to each finalist for the implementation of their respective programs,” it added.

Out of the 79 projects from the first stage (Kilo Phase) in August 2021, the MMSU teams qualified for the second stage (Mega Phase) along with other 48 projects, receiving a P10,000 connectivity grant and participated in capacity building lectures, workshops, and mentorship sessions.

Other groups that made it to the final phase of the competition were Adamson University, Ateneo De Naga University, Batangas State University, Biliran Province State University, Bulacan State University, Davao Central College, Polytechnic University of the Philippines, University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos, University of San Jose-Recoletos, and Wesleyan University.

Smart Innovation Generation aims to empower the youth in developing and using technology as it takes an active role in nation-building and rebuilding.

Technologies developed through the program are expected to help communities recover from the Covid19 pandemic.