MANILA, Philippines — The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) said members of the Innovation and Technology Support Office (ITSO) 2.0 program registered a 53.5 percent increase in intellectual property (IP) applications in 2022, indicating their increased innovative and creative outputs and their remarkable rebound from the pandemic.
In a statement, IPOPHL said the 77 members of the ITSO network, consisting of universities, colleges and research institutions, filed a total of 1,854 IP applications last year.
This is composed of applications for protection for 241 patents (+8.1 percent YOY); 574 utility models (UM) (+1.6 percent); 127 industrial designs (ID) (+89.6 percent); 98 trademarks (+29.0 percent) and 814 copyright registrations (181.7 percent).
“Since 2014, the IP filing performance by the ITSOs registered a consistent increase year-on-year – save for year 2020 which saw a dramatic slump caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This suggests that the ITSOs had rebounded remarkably post-pandemic,” according to the annual ITSO report submitted to the World IP Organization (WIPO).
“Based on 2022 data, it could be said that the ITSOs now tend to be filing more invention patents. This outcome attests to their improved capability to perform quality prior art and patent information searches, as well as draft the specifications of the patent,” the report said.
The top filers were awarded at the 2023 ITSO Presidents’ Summit held on March 28.
Northern Iloilo State University received the award for the most count of patent applications at 19; Cebu Technological University for 219 UMs; Design Center of the Philippines for 46 IDs; the University of San Agustin for 10 trademarks; and the Isabela State University for 247 copyright registrations.
Moreover, the ITSO network hiked commercialization endeavors with 26 members reporting success in bringing their IP to markets mainly through licensing. This compares with the 10 ITSOs in 2021.
In commercializing technologies globally, ITSOs have filed 48 applications through the Patent Cooperation Treaty – international route for patent applications – to date.
IPOPHL director general Rowel Barba encouraged ITSOs to sustain their momentum and continue cultivating a culture for IP research, protection and commercialization.