For the second consecutive year, the Technological Institute of the Philippines (TIP) Quezon City has won the “Best Project of the Year” award in the prestigious BPI-DOST Innovation Awards.

The team of 3rd year and 4th year electronics engineering students clinched the award with “Project Cacaotect,” a machine learning model that utilizes radio frequency to assist farmers in predicting the date of their cacao harvest. The portable device has the potential to revolutionize the cacao farming industry by providing farmers with insights that can optimize their harvest time. 

Project Cacaotect, which was developed by students Julius Rafael Ele, Carl Vincent Reyno, and Sherie Paleracio under the guidance of Dr. John Joel Martinez of the TIP QC Electronics Engineering department, won over the entries of other schools including Ateneo de Manila University and West Visayas State University.

The BPI-DOST Innovation Awards is an annual competition that challenges the country’s brightest young minds to find solutions to pressing issues in local communities. This year’s edition was held last Dec. 11 at the Makati Diamond Residences. The Project Cacaotect team received P150,000 in cash prizes, as well as plaques and medals.

This is the second time that the TIP Quezon City Electronics Engineering department won the “Best Project of the Year” title in the BPI-DOST competition. In 2023, electronics engineering alumni Joanna Keith Ildefonso, Orwell Orit, Liezl Lalaine Patrimonio, and Keanu Reodava got the award with their hand rehabilitation device called “HandMATE.” 

TIP’s continued success further underlines its commitment to fostering young minds toward technological innovation.

For more information about TIP, visit tip.edu.ph or follow @TIP1962official on Facebook and Instagram.