Mapua signs deal strengthening ‘technopreneurship’

MANILA, Philippines - Mapúa Institute of Technology recently entered a tripartite agreement with Philippine Development Foundation (PhilDev) and Dr. Gary Wnek of Case Western Reserve University to develop its students’ entrepreneurial mindset.

The memorandum of understanding (MOU), signed by Mapúa President and Chief Executive Officer Dr. Reynaldo B. Vea, PhilDev Executive Vice Chairman Jones M. Castro, Jr., and Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) professor Dr. Gary Wnek, aims to develop more entrepreneurs in the fields of science and engineering or “technopreneurs.”

“The MOU is basically about Dr. Gary Wnek, as a visiting US professor, mentoring us on the integration of innovation and entrepreneurship in the engineering and science curricula of Mapúa. It also lays the groundwork for exchange of ‘entrepreneurship in engineering’ material, publications, and information and for joint lecture, research, or other activities that are within the range of interest of both universities,” said Dr. Vea.

The Visiting US Professors Program (VPP) is part of PhilDev and United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) three-year Innovative Development through Entrepreneurship Acceleration (IDEA) program, which aims to marry science and technology with entrepreneurship through three different channels, namely, symposium, workshop, and VPP. It is spearheaded by Mapúa alumnus and Silicon Valley venture capitalist Engr. Diosdado Banatao.

“In the studies that we have researched, we have seen that countries emerge and accelerate faster if they have a big base of technologists, engineers, and scientists, and part of that leads to entrepreneurship or innovation. There are not many engineering schools that offer entrepreneurship; while not all engineers become entrepreneurs, many entrepreneurs are engineers.  It takes a different psyche to be an entrepreneur. It takes a person who is driven and who learns from his failures,” Castro said.

The IDEA VPP in Mapúa, spearheaded by Dr. Wnek, ran for a week. Together with Mapúa’s academic officials, the visiting professor identified the issues and concerns in the different departments relative to the curriculum enhancement the program entails.

In line with the MOU, Mapúa will add another student outcome to its current engineering and science curricula to incorporate appreciation of innovation and “technopreneurship.”

Currently, Mapúa offers an undergraduate degree in entrepreneurship, which is designed to enable the students to have an entrepreneurial mindset and develop their entrepreneurial research interest. For other undergraduate and graduate degree programs, elements of technopreneurship are incorporated in the respective curricula.

Mapúa will also formulate performance indices to measure the degree of attainment of the new outcome, which is in line with the outcomes-based education approach the Institute has adopted.

The three institutions are hopeful that the results of the program will be sustainable enough to create scientists and engineers who will steer both the local and global economies.