20th National Biotechnology Week Highlights Education, Innovation, and Commercialization
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Every year, ISAAA Inc. participates in the week-long celebration of National Biotechnology Week (NBW) featuring a series of events and activities highlighting various innovations in biotechnology in the country. The 20th National Biotechnology Week was held from November 25 to 29, 2024 at the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) Copeland Gymnasium, with the theme #experienceBIOTECH: Expand the Future of Biotechnology through Education, Innovation, and Commercialization.
What is National Biotechnology Week?
According to the Presidential Proclamation No. 1414 s. 2007, the National Biotechnology Week aims to “promote safe and responsible use of modern biotechnology and its products as one of the several means to achieve and sustain food security, equitable access to health services, sustainable and safe environment, and industry development.”
As stated in this Proclamation, the National Biotechnology Week will be held every last week of November, spearheaded by the Interagency Steering Committee composed of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Department of Health (DOH), Department of Education (DepEd), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), and Commission on Higher Education (CHED).
This year, the National Biotechnology Week is spearheaded by CHED, with UPLB as the host institution. This year’s theme highlights innovation, education, and commercialization as common grounds of collaboration that will drive the future of biotechnology in the Philippines. Two major activities were held this year: #experienceBIOTECH and Biotechnology Fiesta.
- #experienceBIOTECH served as the main event featuring exhibits, panel discussions, and inter-high school and inter-collegiate competitions at the UPLB Copeland Gymnasium.
- The Biotechnology Fiesta featured an immersive guided tour for different stakeholders in various research centers in UPLB’s Science and Technology Park.
Why participate in National Biotechnology Week?
ISAAA joined the NBW exhibit to showcase the latest information resources on biotechnology and encourage visitors to be continuously briefed on updates of the technology through free subscriptions to the ISAAA e-newsletter Biotech Updates. The exhibit provides visual, interactive, and face-to-face activities to captivate more audiences toward biotechnology.
ISAAA also prepared a game Battle of Biotech Brains with biotech trivia questions to engage the exhibit visitors. Every participant received ISAAA Inc. merchandise (i.e., round fans, ballpens, and tote bags), stickers, and publications. The stickers have the text “Feeding the world with knowledge”, “Gene editing tools”, “Biotech is fun!”, “Pinoy Biotek na tayo!”, “Ask questions, know the science!”, to feature projects of ISAAA in collaboration with the Philippine Agriculture and Fisheries Biotechnology Program of the Department of Agriculture (DA Biotech Program).
Several publication materials developed by ISAAA Inc. and partners were also distributed during the exhibit. These publications were Double Helix Magazine Volume 1 - 4, Pinoy Biotek Magazine Volume 1 - 4, Farmers First: Feedback from the Farm, Farmer Speak: Stories from the Fields, Inside the Biotech Lab, Filipino Faces of Biotechnology, Klima, Biotech sQuizBox: All About Gene Editing. Infographics, such as Bt talong, Global Regulatory Landscape for Gene Edited Crops, Do you know where biotech crops are grown in the world?, and Biotech Facts & Trends: Philippines, were also given to the visitors of ISAAA’s booth.
The exhibit visitors, especially the students, were enthusiastic about answering the questions prepared by the ISAAA. Some of them even requested to try answering two to three more sets of questions to test their knowledge about biotechnology. This shows that exhibit visitors are eager to improve their understanding of biotechnology and the concepts related to it.
Over 800 exhibit visitors have interacted with the activities prepared by ISAAA. A large number of the visitors are from the academe, mostly high school and college students from various schools and universities nationwide. More than 5,000 stickers, 600 ISAAA Inc. merchandise, and 7,900 publication materials were distributed during the NBW.
In 2025, ISAAA is committed to continuing the advancement of information dissemination about biotechnology to foster greater understanding and acceptance among various stakeholders. ISAAA will maintain its efforts to continue bridging knowledge gaps and empowering farmers, researchers, and the general public through science-based public awareness campaigns and collaborations with biotech champions.
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