Davao del Sur State College took part in the 28th Davao Agri-Trade Expo and the 1st ASEAN Innovation Summit, held simultaneously from September 17 to 19, 2026, at the SMX Convention Center in SM Lanang, Davao City. Both events were organized by the Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc.
The college was represented by the Business Enterprise Office’s Marketing and Promotion Division, with Dr. Felomino P. Alba, Dean of the College of Information and Digital Science and Project Manager, leading the delegation. Joining him were BEO Marketing and Promotion Officer Jelly L. Remolleno, BEO Staff Emie Rose Tabac, and CIDS Faculty members Jean Nikolai P. Roxas and Mark Jude Noval. The college brought DigiGov to the expo floor, its income-generating digital governance solution built around the commercialization of the Electronic Human Resource Management Information System, putting the technology in front of a regional and ASEAN audience.
On September 18, Dr. Regie D. Patagoc, Director of the DSSC Regional Coffee Innovation Center, took the stage as a resource speaker during Plenary Session No. 4, titled “Scaling Coffee Enterprises: Quality, Branding, and Innovation.” He shared the floor with Department of Agriculture Undersecretary Jerome V. Oliveros and Ms. Joji Pantoja, Chair of Coffee for Peace, Inc., among other speakers from government, the private sector, and the agriculture industry.
Dr. Patagoc’s presentation made a case that scaling coffee enterprises is not simply about growing more. It is about building more value at every point of the chain. He walked through how quality is shaped from variety selection and crop nutrition to harvesting, postharvest handling, and traceability, and how branding moves coffee from a raw product into something buyers can trust and identify with.
He also laid out the RCIC’s role in that chain: quality assessment, cupping, and technical guidance on one side; training, applied research, and technology validation on another; and product development, facility access, and market linkage rounding it out. On innovation, he pointed to its role in addressing real constraints in production, processing, and market engagement. He closed with a point that grounded everything else: no single actor scales coffee alone, and the work requires government, RCIC, farmers, and small enterprises moving together toward shared value.
The participation supports SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) through the college’s work in sustainable and inclusive coffee value chain development, SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure) through DigiGov and RCIC’s enterprise development work, SDG 4 (Quality Education) by demonstrating the practical output of the college’s research and technology programs, and SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals) through engagement with industry, government, and ASEAN-level stakeholders.
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