DOST Ilocos Region, together with DOST La Union and the Project SARAI unit, opened a public exhibit booth on March 6, 2026 at the City Plaza in San Fernando City, La Union, as part of the city's 28th Foundation Day Agri-Tourism and Community Fair — Pista ti Panagtaon, Panagkalap ken Pannanganan Tayo. The booth runs through March 10, open daily from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, and is free to the public.

For anyone in the Region I area this week, it's worth a visit — not as a government showcase, but as a working inventory of what DOST-supported enterprises and technologies actually look like on the ground.

What's on Display

The booth brings together several distinct programs under one roof. Products from the Community Empowerment through Science and Technology (CEST) program and the Small Enterprise Technology Upgrading Program (SETUP) represent businesses in Region I that have received direct technical assistance from DOST. Alongside these are products from incubatees of the Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University Agri-Aqua Technology Business Incubator (DMMMSU ATBI) — ventures that have gone through a structured incubation process and are now market-facing.

The exhibit also features disaster risk reduction materials, including the SOLIDO DRRM Knowledge Hub, and a Dual Purpose Grater co-developed by DOST-MIRDC and the DMMMSU Metals and Engineering Innovation Center. The mix is deliberate: agri-innovation and community resilience side by side, which reflects how most communities in Northern Luzon actually experience development — not as separate sectors but as overlapping daily realities.

DOST La Union Provincial Director Jonathan M. Viernes led the coordination and was present at the opening, which included a boodle fight featuring food products assisted by DOST Ilocos Region — a practical demonstration that worked better than any brochure.

Why This Kind of Visibility Matters

Public fairs don't always register as significant ecosystem moments, but they serve a function that conferences and pitch competitions don't: they put technology-assisted products in front of ordinary buyers, local government officials, and potential partners who would never attend a startup event. For an ATBI incubatee, a booth at a well-attended city fair can produce more direct market feedback in three days than months of program activities. For DOST, it's a proof-of-concept moment — showing that the enterprises it has supported are real, sellable, and worth investing in further.

For founders and MSMEs in Ilocos and the broader Northern Luzon region, DOST Ilocos Region's presence at events like this is a useful reminder that CEST and SETUP are active, accessible programs — not just acronyms in a government document. If you're running a small enterprise and haven't explored what SETUP assistance looks like in practice, the booth is a low-barrier first step.

What to Do

The DOST Ilocos Region booth at the San Fernando City Plaza is open today and through March 10, 2026, from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. For founders and MSMEs interested in CEST, SETUP, or the DMMMSU ATBI program, visiting the booth — or reaching out to DOST La Union directly — is a concrete next step. Ilocos Region's agritech and food innovation pipeline is more developed than it often gets credit for, and the institutions supporting it are actively looking for enterprises to work with.

Source: DOST Region 1