The Innovation and Technology Support Office (ITSO) in Caraga State University (CSU) in Butuan City was created under the Office of the President on October 19, 2012 by virtue of Special Order Number 315, series of 2012, signed by Dr. Joanna B. Cuenca, then the University President. The office and its facilities were officially launched on February 4, 2014 with the presence of Director Carmen G. Peralta from the Bureau of Documentation of the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) as the honorary guest. Dr. Cuenca and Dr. Thelma M. Galliguez, former General Manager of ITSO, led all university officials, faculty members and other guests in the launching of the office.
Dr. Anthony M. Penaso, the present University President, continues to provide leadership and guidance of ITSO when Dr. Cuenca retired from government service in March 2014. Dr. Tomas M. Austral, Jr. was appointed as the ITSO Manager after Dr. Galliguez also retired from government service in June 2014. This June 2015, Engr. Jeffrey T. Dellosa took over as the manager of the office when Dr. Austral was transferred to lead the Planning and Development Office of the University.
ITSO is considered to be the youngest office in CSU. While the office is young, it leads in the promotion and communication of Intellectual Property (IP) in Butuan City and in the Caraga Region. This is in support to the IPOPHL’s Vision of An Intellectual Property-conscious Philippines in a demystified, development-oriented, and democratized IP System by 2020 (2020 VISION: 3D IP)” and its Mission which is: “We are a knowledge-driven government organization that works towards economic, technological, and socio-cultural development by communicating, enabling, and ensuring the effective use of the Intellectual Property System in all levels of society for the creation, protection, utilization, and enforcement of Intellectual Property.”
The office primarily leads the IP education program and advocacy in the university and in Caraga Region. Through its technical experts trained by both IPOPHL and the World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO), the ITSO in CSU held both local and regional seminars on Intellectual Property and provided trainings in the university and to different stakeholders in the region. The technical experts were sought by different organizations to provide talks on IP and Patents. The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), and the Electronics Engineering professional’s organization (IECEP) sought ITSO’s technical experts to provide awareness seminar on IP and Patents in the year 2014.
Caraga State University (CSU) pursued and availed of the ITSO franchise in late 2012. CSU’s ITSO belongs to the ITSO Network in the country established by the IPOPHL. ITSO’s were established to “strengthen local institutional capacity to access patent information for use in research, education, idea generation, and general business development” and are envisioned to provide patent drafting services, education and trainings among others.
The year 2014 for ITSO in CSU has primarily focused on its capability-driven activities for all its technical experts, and at the same time providing basic awareness seminars and trainings on Intellectual Property in the university and other stakeholders in the region.
The technical experts capitalized on the Distance Learning (DL) Courses offered by WIPO. The courses from WIPO are considered to be the most authoritative in providing Intellectual Property education. The technical experts greatly enhanced their knowledge on IP especially on patent and the courses had equipped them with better foundation on IP and the needed skills to run the ITSO office.
CSU’s ITSO has actively participated in all endeavors required by the IPOPHL to further advance the understanding of its technical experts on IP. In 2014, CSU’s ITSO participated in the national trainings jointly held by IPOPHL and WIPO as part of the capability development of the managers and technical experts. Among the highlights of this year’s trainings attended by CSU’s ITSO were the “Successful Technology Licensing (STL) for Managers” and the “WIPO Advanced Training Course on Successful Technology Licensing”.
With all capability – driven activities accomplished in 2014, the office will continue to provide technical assistance in the conduct of patent search and patent drafting activities and trainings to faculty members in the university and other stakeholders in the region. It is desired that research outputs that are patentable in nature produced by university researchers will be covered by IP protection in 2015 and beyond through aggressive patent, utility model and industrial design applications among others.