hack2HATCH reunion (feat. highlights from the very first h2H!)

There is always something about being in a room full of tech developers that makes you feel completely at ease and inexplicably excited. It may be because of all the mental machinery working double time, churning out and testing ideas constantly (even if they appear to be drinking or just standing around). The word ‘energy’ always comes to mind when thinking back on the very first hack2HATCH in October, and it’s no different for the hack2HATCH reunion that happened last Thursday.

Tied up with Startup PH: Real Talk, the h2H reunion had the alumni from the very first h2H in Cebu, as well as other groups in the budding Philippine startup community. The guest speaker was Ricky Baizas, who is the Head of Digital Marketing for Nestle Asia Pacific. He shared much insight on digital marketing, recommended essential reading for marketing, and gave some fashion advice as well (invest in a nice suit and a good pair of shoes, our dear startup friends).

The evening was capped with h2H Founder Winston Damarillo going around the room asking the startups for some marketing tips/experience they’d like to share.

For some highlights from the very first hack2HATCH and to get a feel of how that weekend went, feel free to watch the video below:

 

You can also check out the h2H website and the new h2H blog.

We are looking forward to more exciting news and updates from the Filipino startup community!

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PhilDev

We live in a society exquisitely dependent on science and technology, in which hardly anyone knows anything about science and technology. -Carl Sagan

Welcome to the PhilDev Blog, where we hope to make science and technology (S&T) less strange, less intimidating, and more engaging, exciting, and relevant to all of us here in the Philippines, and for Filipinos and other individuals elsewhere. Here, we will share more information on PhilDev’s projects and activities – the rationale and inspiration behind them, explore and explain S&T concepts that drive many of our programs, and feature the various personalities who are committed to the mission and vision of PhilDev.

But before we delve into anything else, what exactly is PhilDev anyway? What does it do? What is it for?

PhilDev, as stated in our mission, works to create an ecosystem of science and technology in the Philippines for long-term economic development. More plainly put, we are trying to build the infrastructures, systems, networks, and even help shape the culture needed for science and technology to thrive in our country, for Filipinos to truly appreciate S&T and realize how it could make our lives better, consequently making our country more competitive in the global market. Just as much as the aim of this blog is to make S&T topics more approachable and more interesting, PhilDev also aims to make the field of S&T more dynamic and more competitive by involving everyone who can contribute to the field’s growth and advancement. PhilDev aims to be a catalyst in this field, and spur different agencies – including government, industry, academe, and other institutions – into action, and more so, into collaborative efforts. We are focusing on education, innovation, and entrepreneurship as our strategy in realizing our vision.

Most recently, PhilDev, together with Developers Connect or DevCon, hosted Silicon Valley Comes to the Philippines, or SVC2PH, which brought hack2HATCH (h2H) to Cebu and the PhilDev Economic Forum to Manila. Both events were very successful, thanks to the support and participation of the budding startup community in the Philippines, the observers and attendees, the media, the government and the academe, and the mentors and speakers – both Filipino and foreign, from Silicon Valley and elsewhere. The energy throughout this 4-day series of events was amazingly dynamic and “palpable,” as Luis Buenaventura, Co-Founder of infinite.ly and h2H organizer, tweeted; you could really feel the energy bouncing around the room. Stay tuned for the full video coverage of both events; we will post the links here in the next two weeks.

In the weeks, months, and years to come, we hope to bring you more stories and updates on PhilDev’s other initiatives in agriculture, cloud computing, S&T education and research, and other areas of impact. Let us know what you want to hear about in the comments section, or feel free to e-mail us at info@phildev.org. You can also follow us on Twitter, on Tumblr, and like us on Facebook.