THE FILIPINO WAY
MINING
INNOVATION:
THE FILIPINO WAY
By Andrew Michael S. Ong
Director, Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific, WIPO
Edited by: Catherine Jewell, Editor, WIPO Magazine Also published by WIPO Magazine, August 2013
As one of the fastest growing economies in the world, with a growth rate in 2012 of 6.6 percent, there is renewed optimism that the Philippines will finally shed its image as the " sick man of Asia ". With robust domestic consumption supporting the momentum for growth and reforms and anti-corruption measures driving improvements in the manufacturing and services sector, the time is ripe for the country to flex its economic muscle. For this to happen, policymakers need to invest in developing a legal framework, institutions and systems to support innovation and technological development; and businesses need to move from being technology consumers to becoming technology creators by leveraging their research and development( R & D) capabilities to produce high-quality, innovative, valueadded products and services.
MAXIMIZING THE BENEFITS OF PATENT INFORMATION
Strategic, development-oriented use of the patent system has a key role to play in supporting innovation and economic growth. Not only do patents act as incentives for continued investment in technological R & D by recognizing and rewarding inventors, they also act as a vehicle to disseminate technological knowledge. All those applying for patent protection are required to explain how their technology works. This so-called " disclosure requirement " makes patents a rich source of technological information.
In addition, patents also transform useful knowledge into tradable property rights, serving as a basis, for example, for establishing technology licensing agreements to facilitate technology transactions among multiple partners and minimize risks of misappropriation or infringement. Many countries use technology licenses to gain access to know-how that exists beyond their borders to enhance industrial and manufacturing capacity at home. There is no reason, in theory at least, why the Philippines cannot leverage the patent system in the same way.
IMPROVING IP AWARENESS: A PRIORITY
In practice, however, Philippine businesses demonstrate little understanding of how strategic use of patents can drive innovation and secure a competitive advantage. Low levels of intellectual property( IP) awareness, even among technology professionals and business executives, are reflected in national patent filing statistics. Since the enactment of the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines( Republic Act No. 8293) in 1984, a consistently low number of patent applications have been filed by residents, accounting for only between 3 and 5 percent of the total number of annual patent filings( see Figure 1). There is clearly huge untapped potential for industry to use patents to strengthen and leverage their R & D activities and create a favorable climate for innovation.
In a move to boost use of the patent system within the Philippine business community and to improve awareness of the strategic value of patents, the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines( IPOPHL- the government agency responsible for promoting the use of IP for national economic development) refocused its activities. Since 2010, the need to explain the benefits of IP and how it can be used to help achieve the country ' s development goals has become its foremost priority.
IPOPHL ' s new vision is capturing the imagination of the national IP community and is also attracting interest in new circles, among groups that had never previously considered IP to be relevant to them. The challenge now is to provide the know-how and the tools these new stakeholders need to use the IP system for their purposes. Developing the knowledge and skills required to research and use patent information seemed an ideal starting point in enabling new users to add value to and leverage their work.
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