Building a Country Through Drones

Wazzup Pilipinas!
Here are the highlights of the Closing Ceremony of Impact Hub Fellowship on Innovation in Mobility in Partnership with LBC Express:

After over a year, the very first Fellowship incubation program of Impact Hub Manila in partnership with LBC Express (LBC) has come to an end with an closing ceremony in LBCx's new office located in Allegro Center, Chino Roces Avenue Extension, Makati. The Impact Hub Fellowship program with LBC focused on addressing issues related to mobility or logistics in the Philippines through innovative and business solutions.

Over 45 applicants sent their innovative proposals but only three finalists namely SkyEye, Food Planner, and RideWave were selected to go through the Cohort stage and receive training and mentorship. SkyEye proved to be victorious and received the grand prize worth P750,000, which includes seed funding of P320,000. SkyEye, led by Matthew Cua, developed the SkyProspecting service: an end to end service that utilizes drones, survey equipment and their own IT technology to determine the value of land and be able to easily plan, decide and audit that piece of land. Their main vision is to contribute to the economic development of the Philippines by understanding and studying the land.

According to Ces Rondario, co-founder of Impact Hub Manila, "The Fellowship was launched with a goal to match corporations with start-ups and entrepreneurs who can can shine a light on innovation and create solutions for pressing problems in the country.” Following Rondario’s opening remarks, Dino Araneta, Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer of LBC, expressed his gratitude to Impact Hub Manila, SkyEye, and the finalists. "I hope the program helped everyone with their projects. It has been a productive year filled with innovative solutions for the better development of the country." 

Cua was then invited to share SkyEye's journey and experience after the Fellowship program with Impact Hub Manila and LBC. In his speech, Cua emphasized the domino-effect that the Fellowship award has started for SkyEye. “We found ourselves trying to catch our breaths… Before the Fellowship, there was no mention of us at all. After the Fellowship, the momentum was really fast.”. They were able to make a bigger impact in society through the support of the Fellowship program. He further shared that last year was their biggest year in terms of overall growth of the business. “Drones are not just for building a city but also a country. [We are the] first country in the world to use drones for land titling. And that's a major milestone and completion for us when we won… Where we are today is because of Impact Hub Manila and LBC choosing us as the winner in the Fellowship program.”

LBC and Impact Hub Manila will continue its collaboration in finding more innovative solutions through the launch of AccelerateX, a corporate innovation program for LBC employees on how to think and innovate like entrepreneurs.