The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) formally unveiled on Monday, February 9, eight newly approved data analytics projects that will receive a grant of up to P1 million each.
The DOST, through the Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development (PCIEERD), made the announcement as it declared that “digital data is becoming more ubiquitous” in the daily lives of Filipinos.
“The next important challenge therefore for us is to be able to bring this digital technology or digital data into a world where it becomes useful to us,” said Dr. Enrico Paringit, DOST-PCIEERD executive director.
The projects are under PCIEERD’s Good Governance through Data Science and Decision Support System (GODDESS) program. The systems and technologies are developed to boost local government units (LGU) and national government agencies (NGAs) for data-driven governance and evidence-based management.
“The techniques or technologies or systems to be developed are expected to utilize vast data available in LGUs or NGAs,” said Rowena Cristina Guevara, DOST undersecretary for research and development.
“As we endeavour to make change happen, DOST will constantly deliver game changing innovations and solutions that will benefit Filipinos.”
The approved projects come from teams all over the Philippines and cover areas such as senior citizens’ SWS support, rice farming and research, job seeking and employment, flood disaster risk reduction, smart tourism, traffic monitoring, waste management, and tariff collection.
- Butuan City Seniors SWS Information System
Utilizing a combination of data analytics and system development, the project intends to generate a centralized, real-time information system that can profile and track registered senior citizens in Butuan City, Agusan del Norte.
The city’s LGUs can use this system to efficiently deliver services and support decision-making. An accompanying mobile app will also be developed for citizens to report complaints and concerns as part of this project. It has a timeline of two years.
- Philrice Data Analytics Initiative
Under this project, a data analytics website called Ricelytics will be produced to address the lack of comprehensive and easily understandable information about the country’s rice situation. It will contain updated information about the country’s rice farmers and rice value chain.
Government agencies, researchers, and the general public can take advantage of this online dashboard to access historical, current, and predictive information about the nation’s rice situation. The website will be launched on April 2021.
- Iloilo Employment Portal and Services
The Iloilo Province Employment Portal and Services (IPEPS) is a website that will employ data analytics to benefit the decision-making of LGUs and Iloilo job-seekers. It will forecast based on real time data and furnish users with modules for a job seekers registry, an employers registry, and an employment registry among others.
This site will improve on the current, Excel-based system that is limited to encoding data. IPEPS will be available for job seekers and concerned LGUs by 2022.
- Cagayan Valley Covid-19 Decision Support System for Flood Disaster Risk
This project is a decision-support system on pre-emptive evacuation that will help Cagayan Valley LGUs determine safe, unsafe, and alternative evacuation areas in the event of extreme flooding during the Covid-19 pandemic. This system will be accessible through an online portal and uses a predictive model generated based on flood extent maps, preemptive evacuation plans, and Covid-19 zoning data.
The spark for this project came when a spike of 1794 Covid-19 cases in Cagayan Valley was observed 14 days after Typhoon Ulysses evacuation and relief operations. Pilot-testing for the decision support system will begin six months from now.
- Hundred Islands National Park Management System
Located in Alaminos City, Pangasinan, the Hundred Islands National Park is currently managed manually by the Alaminos Tourist Office (ATO). This project aims to collate information regarding tourist activities, transactions, and feedback to generate itineraries for tourists, anticipate tourist volume, and support ATO’s policy and decision making.
It makes use of prescriptive, predictive, as well as sentiment and diagnostic analysis to produce these outputs. The management system is expected to be implemented six months from now.
- San Fernando Vision-based Traffic Monitoring
San Fernando City, La Union has experienced heavier traffic volume in recent years due to its increasing population. This project will develop software that takes advantage of real time traffic conditions gathered by the city’s CCTV cameras to prescribe alternative routes and predict which areas will have heavy traffic congestion.
This software will be accessible to the traffic administrators for improved traffic management. This project is slated for release six months from now.
- Dagupan City Smart Garbage Collection and Monitoring System
Dagupan City, Pangasinan has limited area designated for landfills. As a result, it is paramount that the city has an efficient solid waste management system. This project aims to create a system with integrated data analytics that monitors waste management in Dagupan City to support the current waste management system.
Among the factors to be monitored include the quantity of waste generated, waste categories, waste generation rate, and waste sources. This smart monitoring system will be implemented six months from now.
- Bagsakan Market Automated Tariff Collection System
This projects strives to streamline manual process and eliminate fraudulent practices in Urdaneta City, Pangasinan’s Bagsakan Market through an information system and an Android app.
Accessible through an online dashboard, the information system allows market administrators to monitor day to day transactions. It also uses predictive data analytics to provide forecasts. Traders can use the mobile application to pay their tariffs and view the market’s products prices. This project will be ready to roll-out by August or September this year.
