IP marketing pushed to aid local traders

CEBU, Philippines - The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) is set to lobby for the commercialization of Intellectual Property (IP) to help local traders and inventors expand their businesses throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

 The plan will be presented to over 40 intellectual property (IP) experts and policy makers from 21 economies in Asia Pacific during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Intellectual Property Rights Experts’ Group (APEC-IPEG) this weekend.

 Lawyer Allan Gepty, Deputy Director-General of IPOPHL, said this is in line with the country’s aim to foster SMEs participation in regional and global markets.

 “Priority of the national government is to promote IP commercialization. While we are promoting the use of IP, we create a platform that these intellectual properties-the inventions, trademarks, the designs will be commercialized and brought into market,” he said in a press conference yesterday.

 During the APEC, IPOPHL has two proposals aimed at promoting effective utilization of IP by SMEs, such as the Brand Development Project; and Enhancing Competitive Capacity of SMEs through IP Valuation and Commercialization.

 The IPO is tasked to administer and implement policies to protect the exclusive rights of scientists, inventors, artists and other gifted Filipinos of their intellectual property and creations, particularly if beneficial to the people.

 To back their initiative, he said they will be showcasing a local successful IP initiative to other APEC economies, which is a bio-refinery plant for wastes from Cebu’s flourishing dried mango industry.

 He said the bio-refinery plant, which is owned and operated by the University of San Carlos, is a showcase of an academic institution that has successfully generated added income and new jobs from its IP asset.

 The plant converts the dried mango wastes into useful products such as mango flour, butter and tea, and ingredients such as pectin and polyphenol for the cosmetic industry. With a production that grows each year, the plant now employs more than 50 full-time employees.

 USC is one of the partner universities of IPOPHL in its Innovation and Technology Support Office (ITSO) program. ITSO aims to provide universities and research institutions access to available IPs and empowering their IP utilization and commercialization capacities through trainings.

 “The USC plant is one of our ITSO success stories, which illustrates the very best of government and private sector partnership in the area of IP. We plan to replicate this model at scale to benefit more universities and research institutions across the country,” Gepty said.

 Gepty hopes that APEC-IPEG will result in stronger policy support for IP commercialization for academic institutions, as well as for local businesses to thrive in the global market arena. (FREEMAN)