BALANGA CITY— “Silicon Valley innovations have affected the entire world considering it was not planned; the only thing planned about Silicon Valley is excellence”, Bataan Peninsula State University (BPSU) President Delfin Magpantay can clearly recall these words uttered by renowned Silicon Valley-based Filipino innovator Dado Banatao.
Magpantay was with Balanga City Mayor Joet Garcia and Barangay Tortugas Captain Jovic Baluyot in a Smart Communications sponsored Silicon Valley educational tour as part of the award of the BPSU team for winning the 10th Smart Wireless Engineering Education Program (SWEEP) with their entry “Coin Saver: A New and Innovative Way to Save”.
“Silicon Valley is a ‘state of mind’. There is a culture of suicidal risk-taking—you know you are going to fail, but you still do it, and money comes rolling in. Failure is like a badge of honor—when you fail at something, it means you learned something, and for that, companies want to work with you”, Banatao was quoted saying.
“Innovation is the tool for economic development. To change an entire industry is very rewarding. Universities need to fund infrastructures in order to thrive”, the US-based innovator added.
“Silicon Valley began in the 1800s when Stanford and Berkeley started. The schools focused on education first, with engineering as a major approach. Rich families then wanted to fund an engineering school and first went to Harvard but they were turned down, so they went to Stanford. These families made sure to fund the engineering school with huge property. They wanted to make sure that there is an engineering school that was properly funded and operated; they brought in the best minds to teach. As such, Silicon Valley is Stanford property”, Banatao shared.
BPSU was also the grand winner of the 8th SWEEP with the entry Android-based Palay Quality Checker. University Instructor, Engr. Faye Baret, and senior ECE students Mark Anthony Colentaya and Lawrence Arguelles also joined the Silicon Valley tour.
