by: Danilo Largo Director | USC Office of Research

1. Innovation in Universities
USC experience
Danilo Largo
University of San Carlos
Cebu City
®

2. Generally, universities are where:
 New knowledge are generated
 R&D activities are found
 In dedicated units, research facilities/institutes
 Dissemination of knowledge and information are formally conducted
 Talents and expertise are developed
 Students doing their thesis
 Faculty doing research supported by grants or privately commissioned
Innovations are hatched, developed, refined and commercialized, mainly in
partnership with industry

3. Most Philippine universities are challenged in
terms of resources to engage in meaningful
research
 Lack of facilities and equipment to do cutting edge research
 Few faculty have graduate degrees (at least a masters), hence wanting in critical
mass of qualified personnel to lead in research
 S&T that leads in innovation works is not usually a priority program
 Publish-or-perish is still the prevailing mindset and not on Patenting inventions
 Enabling policies are not sufficient to encourage research
 Lack of incentives

4. Research in universities ALONE rarely results in
innovative technologies and products that are
marketable
 INDUSTRY and UNIVERSITY are the two most powerful
engines that can generate innovation.

5. Government support to R&D and
Innovation
 Increase funding on R&D in S&T (e.g. DOST- PCHRD, PCIEERD, PCAARRD, CHED)
 Policy initiatives that promote innovation, e.g.:
 IP Code of the Philippines
 Technology Transfer Act of 2009
 Establishment of Innovation & Technology Support Offices (I.T.S.O.) in universities
 External support to Philippine innovation movement, e.g.:
 WIPO: IP Hub-Spoke
 USAID STRIDE: KTTO Development

6.  Launched in March 22, 2012, I.T.S.O. is a project of
the Intellectual Property of the Philippines that
capacitizes the academe to protect intellectual
properties, esp. patents, that are generated from
R&D activities
WIPO Director General Francis Gurry
Innovation capacity of universities is supported
by the Innovation & Technology Support
Office (I.T.S.O.) initiative of IPOPHL

7. Innovation capacity of universities is supported
by the Innovation & Technology Support
Office (I.T.S.O.) initiative of IPOPHL
 It has the skill to determine the
patentability of an invention thru:
 Searching in the Patent Database that
contains almost a 100M patent
documents
 It has the skill to draft patent claims and
prosecute the patent until it is granted
by the state
 Since 2010, IPOPHL, in partnership with
WIPO, has provided countless trainings
to the ITSO members (there are
currently 185 universities with ITSO;
Cebu has 6 ITSOs: USC, USJR, UC, CT-
U, UP Cebu, UV)

8.  ITSO assists researchers in:
 patent searching,
 patent claims drafting,
 filing of patent application, and
 patent prosecution until such
time that the patent is granted (in
3-5 years)
 ITSOs also performs other tasks like
 Conducting IP awareness and
capability-building seminars/training
to its stakeholders
 Giving advice on IP management and
IP commercialization
Innovation capacity of universities is supported
by the Innovation & Technology Support
Office (I.T.S.O.) initiative of IPOPHL

9. Knowledge and Technology Transfer Office
(KTTO) in the University
- simply, Tech Transfer Office, Tech Transfer & Licensing Office
 Established in universities where there is an active research in Science, Technology
and Engineering
 Research in STE often results to new innovations/inventions – in the form of new
technology, process, product, or improvement of an existing technology, process
or product
 Invention – is a technical solution to a problem

10. Knowledge and Technology Transfer Office
(KTTO) in the University
- simply, Tech Transfer Office, Tech Transfer & Licensing Office
 facilitates interaction between university and the private sector;
 it serves as the interface between the talent and technology housed in the
academic institute and the broader community.
 a conduit for connection and collaboration to facilitate new relationships and
partnerships resulting in research and technology development that fuels the local,
regional, and national economies.
 powers the innovation economy; knowledge and technology transfer activities lead
to job creation, life-saving innovations, improved productivity, and new solutions
to local and global challenges that improve the human condition.
BY CONNECTING THE ASSETS OF THE INSTITUTE TO THE PRIVATE SECTOR
AND THEIR COMMUNITY, THEY ARE THE FIRST STEP IN TRANSFORMING
INVENTIONS INTO COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS AND SERVICES, MAKING THE
WORLD A BETTER PLACE IN WHICH TO LIVE.

11. 11

12. I.T.S.O. and K.T.T.O. provide for an efficient
Innovation Ecosystem in the university
 ITSO helps protect intellectual property – i.e. knowledge, creative works,
designs, technology, etc.
 KTTO finds the right partner to bring technology from laboratory to the
market
 KTTO looks for a win-win solution to mutually benefit the industry-
academe partners

13. USC KTTO Structure
Alumni &
Scholarship
VP AdminVPAA
Director for
Basic Educ.
Education
VP Finance
School of
Architecture,
Fine Arts &
Design
Office of
Research
ITS
O
PRESIDENT
BOT
School of
Education
School of
Engineering
School of
HealthCare
Profession
School of
Business &
Economics
School of
Arts &
Sciences
School of
Law &
Governance
USC
KTTO
INDUSTRY/
PUBLIC

14. The role of industry to university
 collaborative benefits to a university include:
 increased opportunities for research funding;
 infrastructure for technological development;
 having more proximity to community needs
 being a potential source for receiving monetary rewards that may go
back to unrestricted R&D;
 providing an industrial connection leading to sponsored research
funds;
 opportunities for consulting;
 assistance in student success via internships and employment
opportunities; and
 provision of PR and prestige to its affiliated university.

15. Patent landscape of RP
(Source: IPO Phil)
Country % Granted to Residents
Year 2005
Japan 90%
U.S. 52%
Taiwan 44%
India 41%
China 39%
Thailand 11%
Singapore 7%
Indonesia 5%
Malaysia 1%
Philippines 0.9%

16. Commercializing a technology
developed from R&D
is a BIG CHALLENGE !2,762
3,038
3,248
3,097
2,825
3,224
2,851
210
223
225
216
172
167
170
2,972
3,261
3,473
3,313
2,997
3,391
3,021
0
2,000
4,000
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
No.offilings
Patent Filings
NON-RESIDENT RESIDENT TOTAL
Patent landscape of RP
(Source: IPO Phil)
2005
Only 210 local patent applications out of total of 2972 applications 7.1%
Only 15*1 local patent granted out of a total of 1653 granted 0.9%
On patents granted - No Universities, 1 RDI (IRRI)*
2006
Only 223 local patent applications out of total of 3261 applications 6.8%
Only 24*1 local patent granted out of a total of 1215 granted 2%
On patents granted - No Universities, 1 RDI (PCHRD-DOST)* on sambong (“gabon”) herbs
2007
Only 225 local patent applications out of total of 3473 applications 6.5%
Only 28*1 local patent granted out of a total of 1814 granted 1.5%
On patents granted - No Universities, 1 RDI (ITDI-DOST)

17. I.T.S.O. services in universities has started to
change the patent landscape of the
Philippines.
As of July 2016, a total of 145 patent
applications have been filed at the Bureau
of Patents of IPOPHL.

18. Why IP is important:
 IP as the oil of the 21st century
 IP in the knowledge-based economy
 IP’s contribution to the national economy
 Technology Transfer Act as an enabling law on IP
use by universities
 ITSO and Tech Transfer Office as important support
units in university - bringing research from
laboratory to the market
18

19. USC’s first startup from research
Turning
waste
into Gold!Seeds into flour
Peels into pectin and
polyphenols

20.  USC has proven that research pays and can
generate local employment.
 TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE for a university that
has a traditional mindset of PUBLISH-OR-
PERISH !
USC is developingits KTTOto manageits IP from
R&D

21. GEMS has become the “poster boy” of
IPOPHL on IP commercialization
South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation, July 27-28, 2016

22. Innovation ecosystem in universities:
4. Partner/investor
2. ITSO & KTTO
in place
1. Research
Champions
3. Supportive
Administration

23. Learning from U.S. Study Visit to universities
with KTTO (Feb.21-Mar. 6, 2015)
 Research universities in the U.S. is an inspiration
of how important a KTTO is, if only TO MAKE
UNIVERSITIES BE MORE RELEVANT TO
SOCIETY THRU THE INVENTIVE
TECHNOLOGIES WE MADE, though not
forgetting our main role as a GENERATOR OF
KNOWLEDGE.
@ Johns Hopkins University

24. Learning from U.S. Study Visit to universities
with KTTO (Feb.21-Mar. 6, 2015)
 U.S. research universities have many things in
common:
1. Strong support by the university’s management for R&D
2. A disclosure mechanism of their inventions
3. An IP Policy delineating IP protection, ownership and
royalty sharing scheme in technology commercialization
4. Strong relationship with industry
5. An entrepreneurial mindset
6. Well-established KTTO

25. Learning from U.S. Study Visit to universities
with KTTO (Feb.21-Mar. 6, 2015)
 Annual meeting of the Association of University Technology Transfer Managers (AUTM), New Orleans,
Feb. 22-24, 2015:
 a vibrant community of university tech transfer managers, ‘technopreneurs’ and researchers/scientists/engineers
which has cultivated the KTTO mechanism of universities in the U.S. and other countries.

26. Innovation Ecosystem in universities
Building the Tech Transfer and Licensing Office
 Philippine universities are in for an exciting development in
technology innovation, if only we develop:
 a strong research culture
 an entrepreneurial mindset
 a strong relationship with industry
Important elements
for a KTTO

27. Thank you for listening.