IPOPHL  Embarks  on Joint Project for Cagayan Valley to Hit 1,000 IP Filings

August 28, 2020

The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) has  joined the Department of Science and Technology, together with various critical partners in the innovation ecosystem, in  launching a project that will significantly heighten the Cagayan Valley Region’s use of the intellectual property (IP) system to support the rapid rise of its innovation scene.

The “Engaging Innovation by Nurturing Significance of a Thousand Excellent Ideas in the North” or the EINSTEIN 1K Project, is a collaboration among IPOPHL, the DOST Region 2, Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) Region 2, and various universities and colleges in the region, that aims to log a total of 1,000 IP filings from Cagayan provinces in the next two years.

To officially kick start the implementation of the project, IPOPHL signed August 27 a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with DOST Region 2, PCCI Region 2 Batanes State College, Cagayan State University, St. Paul University Philippines, University of Saint Louis, Isabela State University, University of La Salette, Inc., Quirino State University, Nueva Vizcaya State University, and St. Mary’s University. 

Under the MOA, IPOPHL is primarily tasked to formulate and implement plans and policies to strengthen the protection of IP rights in Cagayan Valley while also ensuring its efficient delivery in the area of quality, and reliable services.

“IPOPHL commits to promote innovation and encourage the creation, utilization, protection of and respect for IP in the region by aggressively providing Cagayan’s innovators and creators with more capacity-building activities like IP seminars, patent writing and search workshops, and coordinated activities with the PCCI Region 2 that will set opportunities for technology matching and commercialization,” IPOPHL Director General Rowel S. Barba said.

The PCCI Region 2 ’s role in the MOA is to assist member universities and colleges in looking for potential investors of their generated technologies. The regional business group will also promote generated matured technologies in public and private sectors;

Meanwhile, universities and colleges, as prominent factories of innovative solutions, will focus on enabling researchers and inventors to file patents, utility models, industrial designs, copyrights, and trademarks and succeed in securing registration or grant.

For its part, the DOST Region 2, will provide technical and financial assistance; closely monitor and evaluate the project’s implementation and progress, including identifying problems and remedies to avoid delays in achieving its objective; and provide administrative and managerial support necessary for the smooth implementation of the project;

Cagayan’s potential contribution to PH recovery

DG Barba underscored the timeliness of the launch of the EINSTEIN Project, given society’s increased needs to cope and deal with the COVID-19 crisis and the ensuing economic havoc.

“I am confident that the Cagayan Valley can make impactful contributions in helping the world advance toward its critical goals of today. Today’s MOA signing is one strong indication as it shows that the crisis did not dampen the spirit of its people to pursue a goal that will bring significant change to the innovation, technological and economic landscapes of the Cagayan Valley,” DG Barba said. 

“This sheer will to push for stronger collaboration with IPOPHL under the EINSTEIN Project is demonstrative of Cagayanos’ desire to transform the region — the kind of transformation that is driven by its proven record in innovation and creativity,” the IPOPHL chief added.

In the seven years to 2019, applications for patent inventions, utility models and industrial designs impressively rose year-on-year by an average of 77%. In 2019, a total of 122 filings were recorded. 

On trademarks, the average year-on-year growth from 2013 to 2019 stood at 31%, with last year’s applications ending at 129. 

Meanwhile, on copyright, the Tuguegarao IP Satellite Office, which services the region, registered an annual average increase of 31% in deposits of works from 2014 to 2019. The IPSO received 54 copyright deposits in 2019.

IPOPHL  hopes that DOST’s EINSTEIN Project will be replicated throughout budding innovation hotspots in other regions of the country to drastically heighten the commercialization of socially-beneficial Philippine innovations. ### (Janina Lim, Media Relations Officer)