Mapúa University, in the Philippines, has partnered with the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) in order to develop its Technology Licensing Office (TLO).
According to a recent press release, this will be made possible through a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) signed by both parties.
It will be the second office to be created in the University following Mapúa’s Innovation and Technology Support Office (ITSO), which was established in 2011.
It will be geared towards directing the University’s research to value.
The Technology Licensing Office will make the University’s research and development more responsive not only to the internal needs of the University, but also to the needs of society in combating diseases, disasters, and energy issues.
Part of the responsibilities of the Licensing Office is to scan for Intellectual Properties (IPs) in the University.
It will cover inventions and works of literature and arts of its faculty and students.
Moreover, it will be checking the commercialisation potentials of the IPs and will create road maps on how the approved IPs can be brought to the market for commercialisation.
The TLO will be supporting one of the University’s recent projects, the Universal Structural Health Evaluation and Recording System (USHER).
It is a building structure health monitoring system composed of an accelerograph or sensor and web portal.
This project was developed by the University’s scientists and engineers headed by Dr. Francis Aldrine Uy, Dean of the University’s School of Civil, Environmental, and Geological Engineering.
A technology transfer officer has been hired already and has undergone a pre-implementation meeting for the TLO with DOST last 25 January 2019.
The development of this Licensing Office is under DOST’s Technology Transfer Program, which provides funding and assistance to local research and development projects in the country for commercialisation.
The partnership with the Department will be running from January 2019 to January of next year.
However, the Technology Licensing Office will remain to be a part of the University even after its one-year partnership with the Department.
Following the project is the development of the Technology Business Incubator (TBI). The TLO will assist small companies located in the incubator to get on track and put value on their innovations.
The overall plan is to establish three offices, which are the Innovation and Technology Support Office, the Technology Licensing Office, and the Technology Business Incubator.
The establishment of these three offices will make the University’s research more relevant to the country it serves.
These will bring solutions to problems that are socially important and will make knowledge available for dissemination to people.
The TLO will be under the University’s Directed Research for Innovation and Value Enhancement (DRIVE).
DRIVE is the office created to develop the research capability of the Mapúa system in chemical and environmental engineering, materials science, chemistry, electronics, robotics, and information technology.