The ISU Business Intelligence and Research and Development Center (BIRD-C) was launched on March 30, 2021 at the ISU Cauayan Campus with Dr. Betchie Aguinaldo as the Center Director.

The center analyzes data and develops apps to help LGUs make confident and appropriate responses in a crisis, in order to become more proactive. It is hoped that through the BIRD-C, our LGUs will become more active in finding solutions and innovations to further improve the lives of the people through the data they analyze.

The Center has developed the HealthGuard application for contact tracing and border control. The app was institutionalized in the provinces of Isabela and Quirino to protect the health, safety, and well-being of everyone who lives there and travels to or through the province.

One of the center’s biggest projects was working with the Provincial Government of Isabela to use information and communication technology for data collection, data engineering, data analysis, and data reporting. This was done in order to create a data-driven business decision support system that the center will manage and lead for operational activities of target agencies and other offices of the Parties.

Numerous projects have been established with the LGU of Cauayan City. The iCITY: DIGITAL BUSINESS LOCATOR is one of them. iCITY is one of the realizations of BIRD-C Advisory Board Committee, DOST, LGU Cauayan City, and ISU to utilize Science, Technology, and Innovation (STI) integrating data science analytics as well as establish an entrepreneurial platform for faculty, researchers, and alumni of educational institutions in the Cagayan Valley Region and create an innovative way of strengthening MSMEs, which will help inclusive and sustainable growth of the economy for the community and respond to SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth. Another major agreement was inked with the city government on the development and implementation of the project titled “Optimization of a decision support system for effective e-governance (ODeSSEE). It is aligned with the smarter city of Cauayan City in disaster risk reduction management (DRRM), focusing on generating a data-driven decision support system for the community.

The University, the City Government of Cauayan and DOST have agreed to cooperate and support the development and implementation of Project Optimization of Decision Support System for Effective e-Governance (ODeSSEE) which aims to develop a decision-support system on preemptive-on-preemptive evacuation for flood disasters, integrating Covid-19 zoning in the Cagayan Valley. The project is set to be completed within a period of nine (9) months, with the implementation covering the period from 1 December 2020 to 31 August 2021. Parties have agreed to cooperate and support the development and implementation of a project which is aligned to the Smarter City Project of Cauayan City in Disaster Risk Reduction Management (DRRM), focusing on generating a data-driven decision support system for the community.