The Technological Institute of the Philippines (TIP) recently secured funding from the Department of Science and Technology – Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development (DOST-PCIEERD) for its Automated Emergency Ventilator Prototype. With the grant, TIP is set to produce five units of the prototype design that shall undergo further calibration and testing in government-recognized testing facilities before it get approval for use from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
“We of course would like our prototype design to pass all necessary testing and eventually gain FDA approval so that it may truly be used by medical frontliners in the field. Having DOST support greatly increases our chances of progressing all the way to FDA approval,” said Angelo Lahoz, Vice President, TIP.
Multi-stakeholder collaboration greatly benefits rapid design projects such as this, especially when varied expertise are required to bring a design to fruition. TIP allied itself with numerous like-minded individuals and groups from the inception of the project. One such collaborator is Vents for PHL, a multi-disciplinary and collaborative network composed of private individuals, medical practitioners, and companies who banded together with the primary objective of saving lives.
Working together with TIP’s original set of collaborators and Vents for PHL, project engineers gained access to a broad set of resources enabling the prototype design work to progress quickly, enabling TIP and its collaborators to respond to the DOST-PCIEERD’s call for emergency ventilator proposals.
“With the varied people and organizations we have met, and the new friends and allies we have gained, TIP remains inspired and looks forward to further enhancing the prototype design and seeing it through to FDA approval,” Lahoz adds.