The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) will launch next month its Green Technology Incentive Program in a bid to attract innovations, creations and inventions that address climate change issues, according to its director-general Rowel Barba.
In his remarks at the press launch of the National IP Month (NIM) in Taguig City yesterday, Barba said IPOPHL is in the process of finalizing the guidelines and workflow for the program.
He said through the program, the agency hopes to enco urage local inventors to develop green and sustainable technologies in climate change adaptation, alternative energy production, transportation, agriculture, forestry, emission mitigation, energy conversion, solid waste management and water and wastewater management.
IPOPHL will waive filing fees for those participating in the program. They will also get priority examination for eligible patent, utility models and industrial design applications.
Barba said IPOPHL’s annual Socially Relevant Technologies Competition brought to the spotlight various technologies that offer sustainable packaging solutions, reduce waste and help address the water crisis, among others.
The program covers SRTs in the collegiate and professional levels but the creations should be new to qualify for the incentives.
Barba said 90 percent of the patent registrations received by IPOPHL are from abroad and only 10 percent are local. Of the local, only 1 percent are in green technology.
IPOPHL’s initiative is also in conjunction with the NIM’s theme for the year of “IP and Sustainable Development Goals.”
