Mark Kennedy E. Bantugon (a son of a local farmer here in the Philippines) is a solo inventor on his Pili Seal invention who wants to introduce and exhibit a new perspective that a specific waste material can give new function and usage which is beneficial to our community. He is a degree holder of Bachelor of Science in Aeronautical Engineering from Philippine State College of Aeronautics and graduated last 2020. Also, he is currently pursuing a master's degree program (specifically Master of Science in Materials Science and Engineering by Research) at Mapúa University as DOST ERDT Scholar to continue the study, development and growth of his Pili Seal invention. This invention helped him to clinch the landing as the GRAND WINNER-Ambassador Alfredo M. Yao Intellectual Property Awards 2020, GRAND CHAMPION (Cardinal Innovator)-Cardinal Challenge 2021: Mapúa Design and Innovation Competition and SECOND RUNNER-UP, Dongbu Group- Seoul National University (DB-SNU) Global Startup Challenge 2021. Moreover, it also bagged the recent prestigious James Dyson Award (an international design competition) as the Philippines National Winner last August 25, 2021. He also represented the Philippines last October 13,2021 in the International Stage of this James Dyson Award Competition, where 84 national representatives and entries competed all over the world; and 15 Dyson engineers and designers have narrowed down the search to the 20 very best entrants. With that, Pili Seal is now part of that International Top 20 Finalists and will advance and compete again for the last round of the International Stage of the James Dyson Award 2021 Competition where Mr. James Dyson will personally hand-pick his International Winner, Global Sustainability Winner and 2 International Runners-Up this November 17.
