IPOPHL to inventors: channel innovativeness for impactful, problem-driven inventions

Photo by Technology Application and Promotion Institute

The most inventive minds from all over the country gathered at the Department of Science and Technology’s (DOST) National Invention Contest and Exhibits (NICE) on Tuesday (August 14), showcasing products and methods competing to be the best in intellectual property categories.

With the brightest minds present,  IPOPHL Director General Josephine R. Santiago underlined the role of the intellectual property system in spurring innovation and introducing new ways of solving problems in society.

“You are being challenged to be creative and innovative thinkers, to be able to solve problems of humanity. Your inventions on exhibit here, under the assistance of the Technology Application and Promotion Institute (TAPI) and DOST, have the potential to bring us collective prosperity, especially now during the fourth industrial revolution,” said Director General Josephine R. Santiago, addressing the qualifiers.

“Who knows one or some of these technologies might be a game-changer in solving a broader, societal problem,” she added.

Atty. Santiago recalled that a decade ago, while she was TAPI director, one of the exhibitors in a similar invention contest, was a group of students whose technology involves a prepaid electric consumption.

Sixty-nine qualifiers featured their inventions, utility models, industrial designs, and creative research in the NICE, with the theme of Science for the People: Innovation for Collective Prosperity.

2 qualifiers vied for the Outstanding Invention, 13 for the Outstanding Utility Model, four for the Outstanding Industrial Design, 18 for Creative Research, 15 for the Creative Research - College, and 17 for the Creative Research - High School.

The featured inventions, UMs, and IDs are registered with the IPOPHL.