Eastern Visayas Uses rSCENE 2025 to Push Startup Commercialization
At rSCENE 2025 in Catbalogan, DOST officials urged Eastern Visayas universities, LGUs, and startups to focus on commercialization, tech exposure, and smart-community innovation.
Source-backed regional brief from Philippine Information Agency
Eastern Visayas used the inaugural Regional Smart Communities Exposition and Networking Engagement, or rSCENE 2025, to make a direct case for startup commercialization and smarter local innovation systems.
At the event in Catbalogan City, DOST Secretary Renato Solidum Jr. emphasized that startups, enterprises, and research institutions in Region 8 need stronger exposure to technology so they can improve products, commercialize research, and scale into larger markets.
The Philippine Information Agency report also highlighted a second theme that matters for founders: local government units were encouraged to build business innovation hubs that can help startups and enterprises with technology access, commercialization, and licensing support.
Universities were given a clear role as well. Solidum said research should be built with market relevance in mind, and he pointed to DOST-backed incubation efforts and commercialization work - including Samar State University's Project TANAW - as examples of how research can be turned into real solutions.
rSCENE 2025 was also tied to broader smart-community planning. The event included the launch of smart and sustainable roadmaps for nine LGUs in Region 8, showing that Eastern Visayas is connecting startup thinking with digital governance, resilience, and local economic development.
For the wider Visayas ecosystem, that makes rSCENE more than a conference. It is a signal that Eastern Visayas wants to develop founders, institutions, and local governments together - a model that can produce stronger commercialization outcomes over time.