IPOPHL shares gains in establishing innovation-friendly environment

Published on December 31, 2019

The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL), at a high-level meeting held in October, shared with Asian peers the Office’s winning strategies in scaling up local technologies to be market-ready, emphasizing the need for government to have constant coordination with industry and academe to hear out their needs and address them accordingly. 

IPOPHL Deputy Director General (DDG) Teodoro C. Pascua gave considerable highlight on IPOPHL’s collaborative project with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) which provided the regular conduct of national workshops linking academe and industry; the regular mentorship of innovators; its relatively new but promising Mind2Market program; and the mainstreaming of IP in the local educational curriculum.

“In all these efforts, IPOPHL take the lead to find partners from the different government agencies and the private sector, finding ways to collaborate in capacity-building programs in support of creating an enabling environment for innovation and technology development,” DDG Pascua said. 

The IPOPHL-WIPO project, dubbed the “Enabling Innovation Environment (EIE) for IP and Technology Project,” has provided annual workshops and monthly mentorship programs through which lectures on commercialization strategies per technology are provided. The mentorship program has so far rounded up 15 technologies from various educational institutions. 

To increase its capacity in its mission to forward an innovation-fostering environment, IPOPHL signed a memorandum of understanding with WIPO at the latter's General Assembly held last Oct. 2 in Geneva, Switzerland. 

DDG Pascua also elaborated on IPOPHL’s Mind2Market program, which has successfully tied up with three relevant partners in government: the Philippine Rice Research Institute, for the development of the rice sector; the Department of Trade and Industry's (DTI) Board of Investments, to spur the growth of incoming and existing investment projects; and the DTI's Bureau of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise (MSMEs) Development for the promotion of IP utilization among MSMEs.

IP in the education framework is also expected to gain ground in local colleges and universities following IPOPHL's signing in September 2019 of a memorandum of agreement with the Commission on Higher Education. 

DDG Pascua also put focus on the recent innovation laws that encourage IP use. 

"The Innovative Startup and the Philippine Innovation Laws are seen to drive the utilization of the different IP tools. The Philippine Innovation Law, particularly, has assigned IPOPHL to be part of the 25-member interagency Innovation Council which the law has created to develop long-term innovation goals for the country and ensure its effective implementation," the IPOPHL official added. 

The “Regional High-Level Summit for University Presidents and Senior Policy Makers on Creating an EIE for Intellectual Property and Technology,” held in Osaka in November 25 to 27, 2019, was organized by WIPO in cooperation with the Osaka School of International Public Policy of the Osaka University; and the National Center for Industrial Property Information and Training of the KANSAI office, with the assistance of the Japan Patent Office.

Other participants from Asia who also provided updates on their efforts on establishing innovation-fostering environments were Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Sri Lanka.