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| WIPO DDG John Sandage |
The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and the World Economic Forum (WEF) launched its 3rd Inventor Assistance Program (IAP) in the Philippines as part of their globalization strategies on IP collaborations following the success of Colombia and Morocco on their IAP accession. Pioneering companies who sponsored the IAP are Novartis, IFIA, and QUALCOMM, benefitting them as well with global patent prosecution and protection. WIPO Deputy Director General for Patents and Technology Sector, Mr. John Sandage, delivered his speech on behalf of WIPO, emphasized the importance of the 3rd IAP Pilot launch in the Philippines as a developing country with a vibrant local innovations scenario that can be seen by a high number of Innovation and Technology Support Centers nationwide. Mr. Sandage assured that WIPO would continue collaboration with Philippine authorities and the IPOPHL in order to make the IP successful and to help local inventors get Patents.
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| Mr. Marco Aleman, WIPO Director for Patent Law Division |
The launching in the Philippines of the Inventor Assistance Program (IAP) is the culminating event during the National Seminar on Patents and Innovation last 01 March 2016. According to Mr. Marco Aleman, WIPO Acting Director for Patent Law Division, the main objective of the IAP is to spur patenting of inventions by incentivizing local inventors by partnering them with International IP Lawyers and experts for free assistance throughout the patent process/prosecution. IAP as a whole will benefit the inventors, the society in general, Patent Offices, and Patent Attorneys. During the event, various topics related to IAP were presented to more than 300 attendees from the academe, industry associations, government offices, and inventors.
Topic discussions focused on the Patent System as a Tool for Promoting Innovation as well as the latest Trends and Figures on Patent Filings/Grants on Innovation were presented by Mr. Aleman. A briefer on the current situation of Innovation in the Philippines and IPOPHL’s support to Innovators were discussed by Atty. Allan B. Gepty, IPOPHL Deputy Director General for Advocacy, Policy and International Relations.
IAP benefit testimonials from one of the large corporations such as Mr. Corey Salsberg, Novartis International AG Switzerland Head for International IP Policy, attested in giving them more inspiration in providing better medicines, while the role of the Patent Attorney was substantiated by Mr. Alvaro Correa, Partner of Baker‐McKenzie Colombia and is a Member of the IAP Steering Committee.
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| ITSOs Representatives from USC and UP with Director Carmen Paralta |
Experiences from Philippine Universities and Research Centers on Benefits from Patents were presented by Dr. Danilo Largo, Director of Research and ITSO Manager University of San Carlos and Mr. Ace Acosta, Senior Technology Transfer Officer, University Research Associate and ITSO Manager, of the University of the Philippines. Both universities were able to corroborate highly commercialized inventions through technology transfer and joint venture business partnerships between schools and private entities. With the launching of the IAP, the Innovation and Technology Support Offices (ITSOs) nationwide will make the program an additional incentive to boost IP commercialization. The Technology and Innovation Support Centers (TISC), with a local counterpart ITSO, as a global WIPO project was comprehensively discussed by Mr. Andrew Czajkowski, Head, WIPO Innovation and Technology Support Section - Global Infrastructure Sector, stressing the value of the Patent Information to develop new solutions to technical challenges faced in the country, or adapt existing technologies to suit local conditions.
The Innovation and Technology sectors in the Philippines will expect more global support in the coming years from WIPO and other IP Office partners all over the world.
For more Information on Inventor Assistance Program, visit www.wipo.org
