IPOPHL sustains youth program amid pandemic

August 12, 2021

To IPOPHL, integrating IP education into the secondary school curriculum is essential for sustainably cultivating creativity and innovation within the country. 

The Office's pioneer program in investing in the youth is the Young IP Advocates (YIPA). Since its launch in 2013, the program has been making headway in equipping schools with the educational tools to spread IP knowledge and empowering young generations to appreciate the value of their creations as well as how to respect those of others.

In 2019, in a bid to enhance the YIPA program, IPOPHL developed a seven-year roadmap ending 2025. The revised program included a two-day IP Youth Camp geared toward student leaders who are honed to promote IP within their campuses. 

Although the pandemic has caused setbacks to the implementation of the YIPA roadmap, IPOPHL remained headstrong in its goal to institutionalize IP education. 

In September 2020, a partnership between IPOPHL and the Philippine Science High School (PSHS) system began. The strengthened collaboration will result in the integration of IP modules into relevant subjects within the current school year, providing easily accessible reference materials on IP in the PSHS knowledge hub. This is in line with the development of a full IP academic curriculum for the PSHS System composed of 16 campuses. 

And then last May, IPOPHL commenced its collaboration with the PSHS through the conduct of its first IP Learning Module Track: GRASP IP! which stands for "Get Ready to Acquire Skills and Protect your IP" and helped educate PSHS System Faculty Members on the basics of IP. 

Moving forward, the YIPA program is expected to achieve more gains in bolstering IP education. 

By planting the seeds for greater understanding of IP among the youth, IPOPHL hopes to equip tomorrow’s creators and innovators with the knowledge of properly using IP for the advancement and long-term growth of the country. ###(Isabel Jose, Intern)