The University of Santo Tomas hosted the coordination meeting of the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL), the Asia-Pacific Affairs Representative of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), and representatives of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) tapped for training as possible hosts of IP hubs and SPOKE in the Philippines. The meeting was held last November 11, 2016.
The meeting, an offshoot of the February 29, 2016 workshop on the IP Hub and SPOKE, will help WIPO and IPOPHL identify which among the HEIs will be tapped for intensive training on the IP Hub and SPOKE. With WIPO Director for Asia-Pacific Affairs Andrew Michael Ong as leader, the meeting discussed the critical needs and challenges faced by spokes in terms of technology development, management, and commercialization in order to address these in 2017 and beyond; the past achievements of previous initiatives; and the readiness of the spokes to commit to the IP Hub project.
Represented were WIPO, IPOPHL, UST, Adamson University, Bataan Peninsula State University, Bicol University, Capiz State University, Negros Oriental State University, Palawan State University, University of the Philippines – Diliman, Manila, and Los Baños, University of San Carlos, and the University of Southeastern Philippines.
UST’s Innovation and Technology Support Office (ITSO) Manager Michael Jorge N. Peralta, MS, MSPT, LL. M., said that the meeting will provide a venue for stronger awareness about IP among Philippine HEIs. “This will help WIPO and IPOPHL establish greater connections with HEIs.”
Vice-Rector for Research and Innovation Maribel G. Nonato, PhD, under whose office ITSO is housed, said that the establishment of an IP hub and SPOKE in UST will “expand the functions and responsibilities of the office” in order to better deliver its services.
The IP hub is a mechanism by which IP practitioners can come together as a community and hasten the process of recognizing innovations and technologies and promote these later on to a wider audience.
