3rd IP Youth Camp in Cebu for the Young IP Advocates

IPOPHL Holds IP Youth Camp In Time For APEC Cebu Hosting 

19 August 2015, Cebu City, Philippines

The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) brings the 3^rd Intellectual Property (IP) Youth Camp to Cebu City in time for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation IP Rights Experts’ Group (APEC-IPEG) meeting from 22 -23 August 2015.

This is the first time that the IP Youth Camp is held outside of Metro Manila and with the majority of the participants coming from science and technology and private secondary schools in the Cebu province. The IPOPHL will also fly select alumni from the previous IP Youth Camps in Metro Manila to Cebu to allow the students to meet, collaborate and share experiences.

The IP Youth Advocates Program IPOPHL began in 2013 with the aim of enabling secondary school students understand the role of IP in nation-building. From the  initial roster of three schools in 2013, the number of participating schools has expanded to seven in Metro Manila alone, producing a total of 25 students in 2014 who are now called IPOPHL’s Young IP Advocates (YIPA) in their respective schools.

“By bringing the IPOPHL’s IP Youth Advocates program to Cebu in time for APEC-IPEG, we are not only expanding the reach of the program, but also sharing one of our most successful IP awareness and education initiatives to our partner APEC economies. The program taps into the creativeness and innovativeness of our youths. Our vision is to make this as an instrument for harnessing creativity, innovation and respect for IP rights among our young people who are the future of our country,” said Atty. Allan B. Gepty, Deputy Director General/Officer-In-Charge of IPOPHL and head of the Philippine APEC-IPEG delegation.

The two-day IP Youth Camp, which starts today, will carry out various exciting activities to demystify IP and will highlight the importance of IP in their daily lives and emphasize the value of respect for IP. Out of the learning experiences, the participants will be directed to come up with a concrete plan of action on how they can share the learnings to their schoolmates. 

After the Youth Camp, the Cebu participants will be presented officially as IP Advocates. They will have the opportunity to take their oath as Young IP Advocates before the APEC-IPEG delegates on 22 August.

IP education and awareness for the youth is one of the priority initiatives of the Philippines at APEC. 

words:  Emmelina Masanque, IPOPHL IDTD

Young IP Advocates

Young IP Advocates Get Louder Voice; Pioneering Program Lauded by IP Stakeholders 

Manila, PHILIPPINES:  Twenty-one high school students who made the 2^nd Batch of the country’s Young Intellectual Property (IP) Advocates were warmly received at the 4^th Philippine Anti- Counterfeiting and Piracy Summit held last 20 October. Local and foreign guests and IP stakeholders who gracedthe Summit lauded the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) for introducing a program that directly involves young Filipinos in IP education and awareness. 

The 21 high school students came from the Philippine Science High School, Makati Science High School, Taguig Science High School, Muntinlupa Science High School, Manila Science High School, Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) Laboratory High School, and University of Sto. Tomas (UST) High School. The students attended the three-day IP Youth Camp last 24-26 September in Baras, Rizal. Each participating science high school sent three participants. 

In the camp, the students were introduced to the basics of IP and the value of creativity and innovation. They were encouraged to help in the IP awareness and IP protection and enforcement initiatives of the government by sharing the knowledge and values gathered from the camp to their friends, classmates and families. 

The 21 Grades 8 and 9 students from different public and private high schools

 composed the 2^nd Batch of IP Young Advocates.

The 21 students were inducted as IP Young Advocates at the Summit.

“This is our way of investing in our youth and in our future. Today’s young IP advocates will be the future patent engineers, IP lawyers, legislators and government officials. The success of the program has encouraged us to reach out to more schools and students,” says Atty. Ricardo R. Blancaflor, IPOPHL Director General. 

The Young IP Advocate program of the IPOPHL seeks to plant the culture of creativity and innovation among young Filipinos. It is designed to help plug the gap in the country’s basic education program. Unlike in other countries, IP is not yet integrated in the primary education curricula. The Young IP Advocate initiativeis now part of the yearly program of the IPOPHL. 

Jose Pablo Castillo of the Makati Science High School delivering his speech

 on Mainstreaming IP in Education.

Jose Pablo Castillo, a Grade 9 participant from the Makati Science High School, delivered a speech on “Strategies for Mainstreaming IP in Education: Investing in the Youth” on behalf of the 2^nd batch of the IPOPHL IP Young Advocates. In his speech, he shared the learnings from the IP Camp and offered insights on how the schools and students can help in propagating the value of respect for IP and the importance of creativity and innovation. 

“A Filipino student spends an average 7.5 hours a day in school or nearly one-fourth of a day. If we would be able to utilize this precious time to teach IP, integrate IP, and value IP, the results would definitely be better,” says Castillo. 

“Introducing IP to the students must be the first step in the process. Each student must know about IP rights and how every student’s IP is protected by it. Truly, awareness is the first step to change and transformation,” adds the young IP advocate. Castillo received a rousing applause for his presentation. 

The Young IP Advocate program was launched in 2013 with just three school participants. The first batch of Young IP Advocates came from the Ateneo High School, Manila Science High School, and the Philippine Science High School.

words:  Emmelina Masanque, IPOPHIL IDTD