Two incubatees from TOMASInno Center (TIC), the technology business incubator of the University of Santo Tomas (UST), have successfully completed the incubation program and are now certified DoST (Department of Science and Technology)-TIC Incubation graduates.
The first incubatee is Cerebro, an education technology (edtech) startup that helps solve teachers’ workload issues with ready-to-use digital lessons and curriculum-aligned test banks. Having been implemented as an e-learning tool in 20+ schools during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, Cerebro has also been in the Top 2 of the Department of Trade and Industry’s Venture Pilipinas Startup Pitch Competition — People’s Choice Awards in 2021.
Cerebro was founded by its Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jonald Justine Itugot, a licensed professional teacher, who gained over 10 years of classroom teaching and school administration experience in different private institutions before devoting his full attention to e-learning. He is an alumnus of the UST College of Education Class of 2011.
The second incubatee is PainFree (Pain Management and Consulting, Inc.), which helps people with musculoskeletal pain. Its products and services include biomechanical tape and the fasciocutaneous release techniques. It mitigates and lessens the pain of those who suffer from debilitating musculoskeletal conditions. The company has also put up a “Go PainFree” telerehabilitation platform.
Prof. Valentin Dones III (left) receives his certificate from Assoc. Prof. Michael Jorge N. Peralta and Rev. Fr. Jannel N. Abogado.
PainFree is founded by its CEO, the UST Center for Health Research and Movement Science Research Supervisor and College of Rehabilitation Sciences academic staff Prof. Valentin Dones III, Ph.D.
Messrs. Itugot and Dones joined the graduation ceremony previously held at the Dr. Robert Sy Grand Ballroom of the Blessed Buenaventura Garcia Paredes, O.P. Building last Dec. 1, 2022.
During the graduation ceremony, the keynote address was delivered by Engr. Edward Paul H. Apigo, Sr., science research specialist at the Research Information and Technology Transfer Division of the DoST’s Philippine Council for Industry, Energy, and Emerging Technology Research and Development (PCIEERD).
TIC Assistant Manager Prof. Michael Francis D. Benjamin, Ph.D. proudly presented the graduates, while Assoc. Prof. Michael Jorge N. Peralta, MS, MSPT, Ll. M., executive assistant for intellectual property and research of UST’s Office of the Vice-Rector for Research and Innovation, and Rev. Fr. Jannel N. Abogado, O.P., UST’s vice-rector for research and innovation, awarded the certificates.
Under the supervision of the Office of the Vice-Rector for Research and Innovation and in partnership with the DoST, TIC was established in August 2019 to assist startups and to promote innovation and technopreneurship. Since its establishment, it has conducted two batches of the Incubation Program with the guidance of TIC mentors from the academe and UST alumni.
