UP SikLab Convened Baguio's Innovators, Farmers, Technologists, and Government in One Room. They Left With More Than a Handshake.
The Innovation Cluster Caravan at Soto Grande Hotel on April 29, 2026 moved past dialogue and into commitments — with cacao, indigenous textiles, smart city technology, and youth innovation all on the table.
Not every convening produces something after it ends. The UP Innovation Cluster Caravan that took place in Baguio City on April 29, 2026 was designed specifically to be one that does.
Organized by UP SikLab in strategic partnership with the UP System Technology Transfer and Business Development Office (TTBDO) and UP Baguio, the caravan gathered a curated delegation of government officials, industry leaders, academic researchers, and ecosystem enablers at Soto Grande Hotel. The agenda was not general discussion. It was sector-specific, action-oriented, and built around one goal: moving Cordilleran innovation from conversation to implementation.
What Was on the Table
The proceedings were anchored by cluster discussions across sectors of direct strategic importance to the region.
Ms. Eva Ritchelle Padua of Dulche Chocolates opened the discourse with a compelling presentation on empowering the Cordilleran cacao industry through sustainable practices — drawing from her direct experience building a supply chain for over 2,500 farmers across Benguet, Apayao, and Mountain Province, and the hard-won knowledge of what it takes to connect smallholder farmers to a viable, consistent market.
Dr. Czar Jakiri Sarmiento of the UP Department of Geodetic Engineering — and recipient of the Gawad Pangulo para sa Natatanging Inobasyon — presented the "Lungsod" platform, now rebranded as Smart Metro. His session detailed how geospatial technology and citizen-centered design can be integrated to build smarter, more responsive urban centers — a framework with direct application to Baguio's ongoing challenges around traffic, land use, tourism management, and public service delivery.
These anchor presentations fed into deep-dive cluster sessions covering:
Indigenous Textiles and Weaving Innovation — how traditional craft knowledge can be structured into viable enterprises and connected to broader markets
E-Governance and Smart City Frameworks — advancing the infrastructure for responsive, data-driven local governance
Coffee and Cacao Industry Development — strengthening Cordillera's position in the specialty coffee and bean-to-bar chocolate value chains
Ecosystem Support and Funding Partnerships — mapping the institutions, mechanisms, and capital available to innovators in the region
From Discussion to Commitment
What distinguished the Innovation Cluster Caravan from a standard forum was its methodology. The session was structured to produce tangible outcomes — not takeaways for future consideration, but funded opportunities and formalized pilot projects before participants left the room.
SIGLAT – Baguio Youth Innovation Hub and Circle Works led by Mr. Gabe Mercado were among the initiatives that walked away with matched institutional partnerships and concrete next steps. The event's approach — matching institutional needs with available solutions, then formalizing the connection on the spot — is what ecosystem convening is supposed to look like when it is done well.
Who Made It Happen
The caravan was made possible by a broad coalition of institutions whose presence reflected the cross-sector ambition of the initiative: SIGLAT – Baguio Youth Innovation Hub, City Budget Office, DOST-CAR, DA-CAR, DTI-CAR, Dulche Chocolates, Smart Metro, TASARAP Ecobites, Circle Works by VIVITA, SLU RISE, SLU SAMCIS, UC InTTO, WINACA Eco Park, Coffee and Cacao Farms of Tublay Benguet, Cacao Growers and Processors of Tublay Association, Itogon Cacao Growers, InV8 Studio, and the ICT Council.
The range of institutions in that list — from university technology transfer offices to youth innovation hubs, from national government agencies to community cacao growers — is itself the story. Cordilleran innovation is not happening in one place or through one channel. It is happening across a distributed network of actors who, on April 29, sat in the same room and left with shared commitments.
What Comes Next
UP SikLab described the caravan's mandate as establishing institutional alignment, fortifying professional networks, and securing concrete commitments that will define the trajectory of regional innovation. By those measures, the event delivered.
What follows now is the harder part: translating those commitments into action, those pilot projects into running programmes, and those one-day relationships into sustained partnerships. The Innovation Cluster Caravan built the foundation. The work that comes after it will determine what gets built on top.
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