PH, Brunei firms sign deal to boost startups, innovators

Philippines and Brunei firms have signed a deal to boost startups and innovation companies in the country.

Through a memorandum of understanding, TechShake and Brunei Innovation Lab (BIL) will collaborate on publicity, joint promotion, sharing market and investment insights, and project-based initiatives such as innovation tours, market-entry programs, and knowledge-sharing platforms.

“We are giving Bruneian founders structured access to that gateway and giving Philippine startups a new corridor into Brunei and the BIMP-EAGA (Brunei–Indonesia–Malaysia–Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area) region," said Kotaro Adachi, chief executive officer and co-founder of TechShake.

“This MOU turns months of dialogue into committed, two-way infrastructure for cross-border innovation,” he added.

With operations in the Philippines and Japan, TechShake was founded in 2016 and has connected founders, corporations, and investors across Japan and Southeast Asia.

Meanwhile, BIL is a national platform that nurtures digital innovators and technopreneurs to support Brunei’s sustainable economy.

The partnership agreement was signed in the presence of the Department of Science and Technology–Technology Application and Promotion Institute (DOST-TAPI), which acts as TechShake’s strategic partner.

“DOST-TAPI envisions this milestone as a vehicle to expand the reach of Filipino innovators beyond local markets and to position the Philippines as an active contributor to the ASEAN startup and digital innovation landscape,” said Pierre Sonia Dela Corte, DOST-TAPI supervising science research specialist.

DOST-TAPI is a DOST attached agency that promotes and markets DOST-developed technologies and services, supporting Filipino startups and innovators.

The agreement formalized a cross-border partnership to support the growth of startups and innovation ecosystems in Brunei and the Philippines.

It will also serve as a foundation for future regional capacity-building and acceleration initiatives that will offer entry points into regional networks and scalability pathways

As of May 2026, there are over 14,759 startups across the country, DOST-TAPI said, citing data from market intelligence platform Tracxn. — Mariel Celine Serquiña/BM, GMA News