Equal IP opportunities

In the past few weeks, several organizations have asked me to discuss environmental and gender parity efforts at the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines or IPOPHL.

Driven by our vision of an intellectual property system that benefits all Filipinos, green IPs and inclusive policies are at the core of several IPOPHL initiatives and partnerships.

As we help protect intellectual property creations in the Philippines, IPOPHL also strives to ensure that we protect the environment in all that we do, from printing less paper to conserving energy in our office.

As part of the National Innovation Council, IPOPHL actively and fully supports the implementation of the National Innovation Act of 2019, which, among others, aims to promote technologies that help create an efficient, clean and sustainable environment by 2032.

Policy considerations under the law include climate change and disaster resilience; secure, clean and reliable energy; and the blue economy for ensuring the sustainable use of marine resources.

At present, IPOPHL is working with the World IP Organization to sign up the Philippines for WIPO Green, which is an online marketplace that supports green tech innovation and diffusion.

At the height of the pandemic, we also launched a pitching competition called Socially Relevant Technologies or SRT Project to highlight technologies that can contribute to the country's economic and sustainable development goals.

Particularly, it promotes the use of patent information for technology transfer as a strategic tool for economic development and global competitiveness. During pitching sessions, we invite not only potential investors but also banks who may provide financing for the inventors.

In 2020, the SRT project focused on technologies that will address the water crisis in Metro Manila. In 2021, the project gave emphasis on sustainable packaging innovations. And this year, we hope to highlight technologies that reduce food wastage.

Women do not only bring a wealth of great ideas and remarkable contributions in the workplace and at home. They also make a mark in the innovation scene.

Recent WIPO data held the Philippines as the second country with the biggest share of women inventors applying through the Patent Cooperation Treaty — the international route for patent protection.

The Philippines had women inventors making up 38 percent of all PCT applications coursed through IPOPHL. This is higher than the 22 percent share in 2020.

However, according to WIPO, progress has been slow in closing the gender gap in innovation, with women's share in international patent application records only growing by 3.8 percentage points over the decade ending in 2020.

WIPO expressed concern that if we don't accelerate our efforts to empower women inventors, it will take us until 2058 to achieve parity.

To address gender parity in the field of innovation and intensify the push to empower our inventive Filipinas, we launched Juana Patent and Juana Design Incentive Program this year during Women's Month. Eligible women inventors and designers will be waived certain fees in their patent and industrial design applications.

The JPIP hopes to replicate the success of its Juana Make A Mark Program, the very inspiration for it.

Recent WIPO data held the Philippines as the second country with the biggest share of women inventors applying for patent protection.

Encouraging women in business by waiving certain application fees, the Juana Program has benefitted about 5,000 women entrepreneurs and women-led MSMEs since its launch in 2017.

Inside the walls of IPOPHL, we have been stepping up efforts to ensure women have equitable opportunities with men in advancing their career and taking up leadership roles, especially as bout 55 percent of our operations is driven by women.

In 2022, we increased our funding in our Gender and Development Program by 133 percent to P97.37 million. With more funds, we are stepping up efforts to upskill members of our GAD committees, sustain discussions on challenges that hinder women's empowerment and support the Philippine Commission on Women's campaign to end Violence Against Women.