It has been a challenging year for many Filipinos. Across the country, communities continued to face healthcare gaps, recurring floods, and political and economic uncertainties. Yet despite these realities, people continue to push forward and work on solutions within their communities.
As the year draws to a close and families begin gathering for the holidays, UNLEASH Philippines 2025 brings visibility to these ongoing efforts. The program brought together individuals driving change in different sectors, giving them space to exchange ideas and harness solutions that are already in motion.
Held at the University of Santo Tomas (UST), the week-long Innovation Lab gathered 150 participants from across the country. Through workshops, field visits, and co-creating sessions, the teams refined solutions across three thematic tracks: Health Equity & Biomedical Innovation, Resilient Agriculture & Food Systems, and Sustainable Cities &
Communities through Engineering Innovation. The program is part of the global UNLEASH initiative and has been developed in partnership with the Royal Academy of Engineering’s Leaders in Innovation Fellowships (LIF).
Innovation rooted in real community needs
For many participants, their motivation to join stemmed from direct experiences with the problems they sought to solve.
Erica Urquiaga, who joined the agriculture track, grew up in a farming family in Bukidnon. Crop loss was not just a statistic she studied — it shaped her childhood. “When harvests fail, it affects everything — income, meals, school. Innovation doesn’t need to look big to be meaningful. Sometimes it just solves something people deal with every day,” she shared.
Her team is working on a low-cost soil monitoring tool to help small farmers make better decisions during shifting weather patterns.
Designing cities with people in mind
For RJ Gatchalian, the program was a reminder to balance technical frameworks with community realities. “We often design cities from policy documents and data models. UNLEASH reminded us to sit down with actual communities,” he said.
His team’s project focuses on helping essential workers navigate mobility disruptions during flooding, an issue he observed while working with different labor groups.
Technology rooted in healing
For Robert Anlocotan, innovation became personal after losing an uncle to a preventable heart condition in 2022. His team’s wearable device, Art Sense, detects early signs of cardiovascular irregularities.
“The idea started as a technical solution. But after working with health workers in Navotas and hearing stories just like ours, it stopped being a project and became a responsibility,” he said.
After the program, teams progress to the UNLEASH Prototyping Program, where they receive mentorship, access to technical expertise, and support as they move toward implementation.
This year may have brought significant challenges for many communities, but efforts like UNLEASH show that collaborative work continues at many different levels. As the holiday season begins, it offers a useful moment to take stock of this ongoing work and the people behind it.
