Pinoy exec to judge grand awards at Intel science and eng’g fair in US

A Filipino engineer turned executive and advocate for technology entrepreneurship is set to judge at the coming Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Arizona, USA next week.

Earl Martin Valencia, president of IdeaSpace Foundation Inc. and head for corporate development and strategic innovation at Smart Communications Inc. will join other science and technology leaders as one of the judges of the world’s largest international pre-college science competition.

The annual event provides a forum for more than 1,500 high school students from around the world to showcase their independent research.

The Intel ISEF targets students from Grades 9 to 12 and millions compete each year in local science fairs. Winners participate in regional fairs of which the best gets the chance to attend the international competition.

More than US $3 million in prizes and scholarships are at stake in this year’s competition.

Judges are mostly scientists and international technology leaders. Prior to joining Smart, Valencia worked in business development under Cisco’s Emerging Technology Group, responsible for finding, filtering and growing Cisco’s future billion-dollar business.

Valencia obtained a B.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering, Summa Cum Laude, from Boston University, an M.Eng. in Systems Engineering from Cornell University in New York, and an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business in California, with certificates in Global and Public Management.

In 2007, he was awarded as one of the New Faces in Engineering in the US. Recently, Valencia was recognized by DevEx as one of the 40 under 40 International Development Leaders in Manila.

Believing that the world’s next big innovation can come from the Philippines, Valencia left Cisco — and Silicon Valley — to co-found IdeaSpace, find the best science and technology ideas in the country and create one of the biggest business incubators in the Philippines for technology startups.

IdeaSpace is the business incubator backed by industry leaders from companies under the First Pacific Company Ltd., Metro Pacific Investments and the PLDT group.