We are creating some awesome events for you. Kindly bear with us.

Internship to Strengthen Competence in Commercialisation of Tech

Philippines Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Internship Program for Technology Transfer Officers

The Philippines’ Department of Science and Technology (DOST), through the Technology Application and Promotion Institute (DOST-TAPI), has officially launched the country’s first internship program for its Technology Transfer Officers.

About the Initiative

As reported, the program will strengthen their skills, network, and industry competence in commercialising government-funded technologies.

Project Hirang, which stands for Honing Innovations, Research Agreements and Negotiations of Government-funded Technologies, was designed for DOST Research and Development Institutes (RDI).

The Department presented the interns from seven RDIs, together with their industry mentors in a formal ceremony held recently.

The interns shall undergo an intensive six-month, one-on-one mentoring that includes hands-on coaching on the fields of Intellectual Property protection, valuation, and management.

Actual negotiations with industry partners and potential investors are expected to result in signed licensing deals and collaborative contracts.

Dr Rowena Cristina L. Guevara, DOST Undersecretary for Research and Development, explained that the work of Tech-Transfer Officers is considered to be very difficult since their task is considered the last mile.

Expected Outcomes

They are expected to translate to smiles with signed agreements.

The Department’s commercialisation experience needs building-up and Project Hirang is the perfect opportunity to close the remaining gap.

The Undersecretary shared that “Hirang” translates to chosen ones and as part of handpicked few, the expectations are high.

The RDIs are expected to score licensing contracts amounting to at least 1% of their agency’s Grants-in-Aid.

Everyone was challenged to be part of the movement towards better commercialisation landscape.

The Project Hirang is under the umbrella of the InventED package of DOST-TAPI, which capacitate inventors and innovators in the country.

The project runs in partnership with the Balik Scientist Program and Visiting Consultancy Program of the Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development (DOST-PCIEERD).

Balik Scientist Program

OpenGov Asia earlier reported on the Philippines’ signing of Republic Act No. 11035 or the “Act Institutionalising the Balik Scientist Program”.

The Balik Scientist Law would provide benefits and grants that would entice Filipino experts, scientists, inventors, and engineers to return to the Philippines so that they can share their knowledge in the country.

Various compensations can also be enjoyed by Balik Scientists. They can have tax and duty exemptions on the importation of professional equipment and materials.

They will also receive free medical and accident insurance benefits, which would cover the award period.

Commercialisation Initiatives

Commercialisation is significant, particularly for research and development as well as technology. As such, countries have, in one way or another, developed initiatives.

New Zealand, for instance, boosts Technology Incubators to promote commercialisation of innovation.

The Government is committed to building a modern economy that supports innovators in the early phases of their business development.

New Zealand Research, Science and Innovation Minister Megan Woods shared that Technology Incubators will be receiving an extra NZ$ 9 million in Government funding to support businesses to scale up and commercialise their ideas.

The funding announcement is on top of the NZ$ 25.5 million support allocated in Budget 2019 for initiatives to promote the commercialisation of innovation.

The Government has already introduced the 15% R&D tax incentive through Budget 2018. In addition, the refundability measures were announced more recently.

This means that pre-profit business will be able to get cash back, which is of more use to them than a credit.

Meanwhile, The Indian Government launched a series of challenges with the aim of harnessing innovation from companies, primarily Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) and start-ups as well as individual innovators in 2018.

These innovations should solve problems, improve the lives of citizens and generate employment.

The aim is to incentivise innovation in areas critical to India’s growth. This includes health, housing, hygiene, energy and water.

It also aims to address the second ‘Commercialisation Valley of Death’, in which innovators are unable to access resources for piloting, testing, and market creation by helping new deep-tech products find markets and early customers in the context of India.

PARTNER

Qlik’s vision is a data-literate world, where everyone can use data and analytics to improve decision-making and solve their most challenging problems. A private company, Qlik offers real-time data integration and analytics solutions, powered by Qlik Cloud, to close the gaps between data, insights and action. By transforming data into Active Intelligence, businesses can drive better decisions, improve revenue and profitability, and optimize customer relationships. Qlik serves more than 38,000 active customers in over 100 countries.

PARTNER

CTC Global Singapore, a premier end-to-end IT solutions provider, is a fully owned subsidiary of ITOCHU Techno-Solutions Corporation (CTC) and ITOCHU Corporation.

Since 1972, CTC has established itself as one of the country’s top IT solutions providers. With 50 years of experience, headed by an experienced management team and staffed by over 200 qualified IT professionals, we support organizations with integrated IT solutions expertise in Autonomous IT, Cyber Security, Digital Transformation, Enterprise Cloud Infrastructure, Workplace Modernization and Professional Services.

Well-known for our strengths in system integration and consultation, CTC Global proves to be the preferred IT outsourcing destination for organizations all over Singapore today.

PARTNER

Planview has one mission: to build the future of connected work. Our solutions enable organizations to connect the business from ideas to impact, empowering companies to accelerate the achievement of what matters most. Planview’s full spectrum of Portfolio Management and Work Management solutions creates an organizational focus on the strategic outcomes that matter and empowers teams to deliver their best work, no matter how they work. The comprehensive Planview platform and enterprise success model enables customers to deliver innovative, competitive products, services, and customer experiences. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, with locations around the world, Planview has more than 1,300 employees supporting 4,500 customers and 2.6 million users worldwide. For more information, visit www.planview.com.

SUPPORTING ORGANISATION

SIRIM is a premier industrial research and technology organisation in Malaysia, wholly-owned by the Minister​ of Finance Incorporated. With over forty years of experience and expertise, SIRIM is mandated as the machinery for research and technology development, and the national champion of quality. SIRIM has always played a major role in the development of the country’s private sector. By tapping into our expertise and knowledge base, we focus on developing new technologies and improvements in the manufacturing, technology and services sectors. We nurture Small Medium Enterprises (SME) growth with solutions for technology penetration and upgrading, making it an ideal technology partner for SMEs.

PARTNER

HashiCorp provides infrastructure automation software for multi-cloud environments, enabling enterprises to unlock a common cloud operating model to provision, secure, connect, and run any application on any infrastructure. HashiCorp tools allow organizations to deliver applications faster by helping enterprises transition from manual processes and ITIL practices to self-service automation and DevOps practices. 

PARTNER

IBM is a leading global hybrid cloud and AI, and business services provider. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. Nearly 3,000 government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM’s hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM’s breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and business services deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM’s legendary commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service.

Send this to a friend