MANILA, Philippines — The Filipino Inventors Society Producers Cooperative (FISPC), in collaboration with the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), will spearhead the celebration of National Inventors Week (NIW) in Cauayan City, Isabela on Nov. 20 to 24.
Francisco Pagayon, FISPC president and chairman, said that the NIW 2017 will be the first time for the DOST to partner closely with the FISPC for a joint effort at celebrating the week in a bid to recognize, showcase and honor the efforts of Filipino inventor-entrepreneurs or whom they call as inventrepreneurs.
“This is basically the fruit of our very successful partnership in vigorously building FISPC-DOST Onestore Hubs. Though we just started last January, we already have three hubs in Quezon City; in Cauayan City, Isabela, and in Urdaneta, Pangasinan,” Pagayon told The STAR.
Also coming in as partners for NIW 2017 are the Cauayan City government led by Mayor Bernard Dy, Isabela State University headed by president Dr. Ricmar Aquino, and DOST Region 2 led by engineer Sancho Mabborang, who also heads the DOST onestore.ph program.
Aside from the OneStore Hubs, FISPC had also tapped the onestore.ph e-commerce portal set up by the DOST which allowed the FISPC members to sell their products to a global audience via the internet.
Pagayon thanked Science Secretary Fortunato dela Peña for encouraging the FISPC to tap the onestore.ph e-commerce website as well as to jointly open and operate so-called traditional “brick-and-mortar” OneStore Hub stores to provide their inventrepreneurs more avenues for selling their products.
Mabborang said that also coming in as major private sector partners in the celebration of the NIW 2017 are logistics giant Air21, which will provide FISPC member-inventrepreneurs as well as other inventor-entrepreneurs all over the country the logistical support they need to bring their products to Cauayan City.