CALIFORNIA: Inventor Aisa Mijeno and her brother Raphael successfully represented the Philippines and the whole of Asia at the recent Global Grand Challenge Awards held in California, USA.
The event is a venue for talented scientists, technologists, designers and other passionate-change agents with the potential to tackle the Global Grand Challenge and present innovative solutions that impact billions of lives, The Standard reported.
Aisa is the inventor of the Sustainable Alternative Lighting (SALt) lamp, an LED light powered by salt water, a cheap and convenient source of energy for indigent communities in coastal areas, the report said.
Aisa reportedly founded the Sustainable Alternative Lighting (SALt), a social movement with Raphael to provide alternative lighting solutions. Aisa was commended by President Barack Obama during the APEC CEO Summit in Manila last year.
The two were chosen by Silicon Valley’s Singularity University from a number of applicants worldwide to participate in the Energy Track of the Global Grand Challenge Awards, said the news portal.
Beside presenting their social enterprise, they were also selected to participate in the Sci-Fi Design Intelligence Workshop in the Singularity University Labs in NASA Ames Research Center where they had an opportunity to explore the NASA facility with select participants from different parts of the world for future synergy and collaboration.
“We would like to extend our deepest gratitude to Philippine Airlines for supporting us to represent the country to participate in the Global Grand Challenge Awards. Philippines was the only Asian country at SU Global Summit. This opened so many doors for us,” Aisa was quoted as saying.
Now on its 75th year and in line with its vision to become a source of pride of the Philippines, PAL launched its flagship corporate social responsibility program, Represent Pinoy, to support exceptional individuals chosen to represent the country in global competitions, reported The Standard.
The Grand Global Challenges’ perspectives include assurance that basic needs are met for all people, quality of life is sustained and continuously improving, and mitigating future risks, and skills to unlock their creative potential and build innovative, sustainable solutions to positively impact billions of lives, the report said.
