THE Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST-PCAARRD) recently held a Memorandum of Agreement signing with 30 participating state universities and colleges (SUCs) under the program dubbed “Support to the University’s Strategies in Technology Acceleration Initiatives by Nurturing the Intellectual Property and Technology Business Management Offices of the Consortia Member Agencies – Phase 2 or SUSTAIN IP-TBM.”
Held at the DOST-PCAARRD Innovation and Technology Center (DPITC), the signing reinforces the Council’s aim to intensify technology commercialization activities by strengthening the capacities of selected SUCs under the IP-TBM program Batches 1 and 2.
SUSTAIN IP-TBM involves five mentor-agencies and 25 mentee-agencies across the Ilocos, Southern Tagalog, Bicol, Western Visayas, and Southern Mindanao regions with Cavite State University as the overall program coordinator.
The program will also collaborate with the Association of PAQE Professionals and the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines.
“Sustaining our initiatives on intellectual property and technology business management is imperative as the program hopes to further contribute in sustaining our upward trend in the commercialization of agri-aqua innovations in the Philippines,” said PCAARRD executive director Dr. Reynaldo V. Ebora.
This undertaking is among the clear examples of PCAARRD’s battle cry during last year’s anniversary – PCAARRD in the Regions: addressing regional needs through sustained partnership.
Launched in 2017, IP-TBMs are technology transfer offices that are envisioned to mirror the initiatives of the DPITC, which serves as a one-stop hub for technology owners and generators, investors, end-users, and other stakeholders within the agriculture, aquatic, and natural resources innovation system.
The first batch of this program started with a total of 10 agencies and was followed by another batch composed of 16 agencies.
The combined accomplishments of the IP-TBM program Batches 1 and 2 (2018-2019) resulted in 121 trained technology transfer officers under the 12-module DOST-PCAARRD Intellectual Property Master Class and Technology Commercialization Mentorship Series.
With the skills gained from the program, both batches exceeded their targeted outputs and have so far facilitated the following intellectual property (IP) applications: 90 patents, 348 utility models, 43 industrial designs, 31 trademarks, and 433 copyrights.
The first and second DOST-PCAARRD Technology Pitch Days conducted in 2018 and 2019 have pitched 54 agri-aqua technologies and attended by almost 200 officials, technology generators, technology transfer officers, potential collaborators and industry partners from SUCs and Research and Development Institutes.
The IP-TBM program has also conducted IP audits and reviews wherein 10 out of the 26 revised institutional IP policies and technology transfer protocols have already been approved by the respective Board of Regents of the SUCs.
The MOA signing was attended by SUC presidents, consortium directors, officials, and staff of participating agencies under the six project components of the program, which include among others: Capiz State University; Aklan State University; University of Antique; Guimaras State College; Northern Iloilo Polytechnic State College, and the Central Philippines State University, which are covered by the Western Visayas Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development Consortium under Project 5. (jaypeeyap@ymail.com/PN)
