Three micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Negros Occidental received financial assistance to adopt technological innovations through the Small Enterprise Technology Upgrading Program Innovation-Enabling Fund (SETUP iFund) of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST). SETUP is a DOST flagship program that aims to assist the MSMEs to produce quality products, increase productivity, and sustain marketability through technology and equipment upgrading and strengthening of innovation capability. The SETUP iFund, in particular, is provided to selected and qualified enterprises so that they can upgrade their production facilities, upgrade their products even go into a simple R&D for additional product variance, among others. According to DOST VI Regional Director Rowen R. Gelonga, “The DOST financial assistance through SETUP iFUND is one of the cornerstones of DOST’s major program for assisting MSMEs.

Salazar, S. (2020, October 2). Neg. Occ. MSMEs avail DOST fund assistance for production efficiency, product development. Daily Guardian, p. 6.