The Department of Science and Technology in region II – Cagayan Valley, Philippines launched Einstein 1K (Engaging Innovation by Nurturing Significance Thousand Excellent Ideas in the North) via Facebook Live Streaming.
Einstein 1k has gained recognition for its timeliness as it gives hope and endless possibilities while coping with the health crisis. DOST Regional Office II Director, Engineer Sancho Mabborang said that the project is designed to put Region II in the innovation arena. They want to do this by creating sustainable synergy among the project partners, nurturing the research and development ecosystem in the country.
The project aims to register 1,000 patents that will include Utility Model, Industrial Design, Copyright, and Trademark, with the goal of attracting researchers and inventors to become Career Scientists. They are looking to establishing a reward system for approved Intellectual Property (IP) policies and create spin-off companies by mainstreaming Industry 4.0 and SETUP 2.0.
The signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between DOST-II and the Property Office of the Philippines, Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), Cagayan State University (CSU), Batanes State Colleges (BSC), Nueva Vizcaya State University (NVSU), University of La Salette – Santiago City, Saint Mary’s University, Saint Paul University of the Philippines, University of Saint Louis (USL) and Quirino State University (QSU) was done virtually.
The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines’ contribution will be to formulate and implement plans and policies to strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights in Cagayan Valley while also ensuring its efficient delivery in the area of quality and reliable services.
IPOPHL Director General Rowel S. Barba highlighted the role of the organisation – to promote innovation and encourage the creation, utilisation, 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 commercialisation.
The PCCI Region 2’s role will be to assist member universities and colleges in looking for potential investors for their generated technologies. The regional business group will also promote the new technologies in both the public and private sectors.
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.
Data shows rapid increase in the seven consecutive years till 2019. Applications for patent inventions, utility models and industrial designs impressively rose by an average of 77%. Last year, a total of 122 filings were recorded.
For trademarks, the average yearly growth from 2013 to 2019 stood at 31%, with last year’s applications ending at 129. The Philippine government hopes that the trend will double in the years to come to drastically heighten the commercialisation of these beneficial Philippine innovations.
