Tan Caktiong donates UST innovation center

MANILA, Philippines — The University of Santo Tomas (UST) has completed and inaugurated an innovation center named after its donor Jollibee Foods Corp. founder Tony Tan Caktiong.

The UST-Tony Tan Caktiong Innovation Center is located at UST’s 40-hectare campus in Sta. Rosa City, Laguna.

“This state-of-the-art innovation center in the midst of the UST community is intended to champion innovation and entrepreneurship with its end in mind to benefit not only the university, but also the country and society as a whole,” Tan Caktiong said.

Tan Caktiong graduated from UST in 1975 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering. He also received a Doctorate in Business Administration, honoris causa, from UST in 2018.

In his message, Tan Caktiong said he has always been passionate about innovation and continuous learning.

The Jollibee founder and chairman steered the fast-food chain from a single-brand company into one of the world’s largest restaurant companies with 16 brands operating over 6,500 stores across 34 countries.

“I am very thrilled of how this center perfectly aligns with my ardent belief in the incessant thirst for continuous learning and dreaming big, all the more so as the pace of change in the world is increasingly becoming more rapid,” he said.

The center will have laboratories, workshops, and workspaces to support a wide range of research and innovation activities.