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IT all started with a leak. Not in an aircraft hangar, but under the humble roof of a childhood home in Batangas, where a young boy once patched holes with chewing gum, trying instinctively to hold things together.
That simple act of improvisation stayed with Mark Kennedy Bantugon. Two decades later, it would come full circle not with gum, but with his own innovation: Pili Seal, a biodegradable aircraft sealant made from the resin of a native Philippine tree.
FILIPINO PRIDE Filipino aeronautical engineer Mark Kennedy Bantugon is the only Filipino and Southeast Asian winner of this year’s Young Inventors Prize, awarded by the European Patent Office (EPO). PHOTO FROM EPO
Bantugon, who is now a 26-year-old aeronautical engineer, is among the 10 global honorees of the 2025 Young Inventors Prize, awarded by the European Patent Office in Iceland. Out of 450 nominees worldwide, he is the only one from the Philippines and from all of Southeast Asia who was selected by an independent jury.
The prestigious award celebrates the world’s innovators 30 and under, who use technology to address global challenges, posed by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
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“I always wanted to build something that doesn’t just benefit the industry but uplifts the community too,” Bantugon shares.
What began as a university thesis is now a full-fledged startup, Pili AdheSeal Inc., which Bantugon founded in 2024.
Pili Seal is now being evaluated for use in military-grade adhesives, including bullet assembly, with the Department of National Defense as one of its partners. And while commercial-scale production is still underway, global interest is growing.
