By Edg Adrian A. Eva, Reporter
THE Department of Science and Technology’s (DoST) artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot is helping Filipino micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) find government funding, meet compliance requirements and develop products, offering a low-cost way for smaller firms to adopt AI.
“Users can simply ask JuanaKNOW whether there are available government funding programs, and it will direct them to the relevant resources,” Joven Paolo D. Angeles, senior AI engineer for JuanaKNOW, told BusinessWorld on the sidelines of a tech convention on Tuesday. “It’s mainly about eliminating these barriers to make the process easier.”
JuanaKNOW, launched in June 2025, is part of the DoST’s PROPEL program, an initiative designed to help Filipino startups and MSMEs expand their market reach.
Mr. Angeles said many entrepreneurs struggle to identify government support programs or complete the paperwork needed to access them.
“The problem with developing countries like the Philippines is that most people don’t know about these government programs or how to access them,” he said.
Unlike general-purpose AI chatbots, JuanaKNOW has direct access to government documents, particularly those from the DoST, letting users retrieve and download application forms from the chat interface.
The agency is also working with other government offices to expand the chatbot’s database, Mr. Angeles said. If information is unavailable in its internal system, the platform can search the internet for answers.
Beyond compliance and funding, the chatbot supports product ideation and development by refining business concepts and checking for existing patents.
It can also assess a company’s technology and market readiness to help determine whether an innovation is ready for patenting or commercialization.
Mr. Angeles said the platform allows MSMEs to apply AI to practical business tasks without making big investments, lowering the cost of adopting digital tools.
AI adoption among Philippine businesses remains limited, particularly for smaller firms. A study by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies found that only 14.9% of local companies use AI tools, with adoption concentrated among large enterprises.
The development team plans to add voice input and output features over the next few years to improve accessibility.
It is also developing a smart form-filling function that would let entrepreneurs upload documents such as a curriculum vitae and automatically populate government application forms.
The longer-term goal is to build an end-to-end platform capable of handling more complex business tasks, including drafting business proposals and estimating market size, Mr. Angeles said.
DoST AI chatbot helps MSMEs access funding, meet rules
Philippines Pandemic
Post a Comment