Research and development studies undertaken through the Philippine-California Advanced Research Institutes (PCARI) Project of the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) are yielding significant results, especially in the field of health innovation and translational medicine (HITM) and information infrastructure development (IID).

Approved in 2013, the PCARI Project is a new approach to enhance the skills and expertise of faculty, students, and staff of higher education institutions in the Philippines. Through scholarships, training, and research partnerships with leading research universities in California, USA, the Project builds the capacity of Philippine colleges and universities for research that translates to technological innovations, strategic policies and concrete solutions to vital societal issues in health, food security, energy, environmental quality, disaster mitigation and others.
The Project has so far supported 29 collaborative research and development initiatives and 142 scholars including 10 pursuing graduate studies in University of California (UC). It now involves 16 Philippine higher education institutions and five (5) UC campuses. These collaborative projects focus on two priority research areas

• Health Innovation and Translational Medicine (HITM) – the bench- to- bedside translation of basic scientific research to practical diagnostic procedures and therapies, and
• Information Infrastructure Development (IID) – the development of technological and human components, networks, systems and processes that contribute to the creation, flow or exchange, processing and management of electronic information.

In the area of HITM, two of the most important findings to date are:
• Ten (10) pure compounds from plants and marine organisms with potential to treat drug resistant (artemisinin-resistant) malaria, and
• Low-cost portable diagnostic kit that can detect dengue as early as two (2) days of the onset of fever that can be used by rural health workers in far flung areas of the country.

In the area of IID, PCARI research has found:
• Customized, low cost, low power and compact community cellular network extending the reach of mobile phones to hitherto unserved remote rural areas. With isolated communities in Aurora, Quezon, as pilot test sites, it could be replicated in rural communities with no access to cellular communications;
• Early warning system for plant diseases affecting banana plantations, and
• Inks and tools for fabricating low-cost printed electronic devices, the usability of which was demonstrated in the design and development of a portable solar collector and power storage system that could effectively operate even when solar lighting is uneven such as during cloudy days. The solar module could provide supplemental energy to households in remote areas off the grid or energy solutions during disasters and emergencies.

For 2017, PCARI has announced a new cycle of Request for Proposals for funding this year. Proposals must address significant societal problems and have the potential to bring about and sustain technology transfer or commercialization activities. For this cycle, proposals are encouraged in Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Agriculture, Food Processing, Nutrition, Marine and Aquatic Sciences related to Health Innovation & Translational Medicine, and Information Infrastructure Development.

Research project proposals must be jointly developed and, if approved, jointly implemented by a Philippine-based HEI and a university located in the State of California, USA. At present, only the University of California Berkeley (UCB), University of California Merced (UCM), University of California San Francisco (UCSF), University of California Davis (UC Davis), and University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) have ongoing research engagements with the PCARI Project. Submissions must be received electronically by the PCARI Secretariat at proposals.pcariproject@ched.gov.ph on or before 31 July 2017, 11:59 PM, Manila time (31 July 2017, 08:59 AM, PDT).