UP Diliman Hosts First PHIL-LiDAR 1 and 2 IP Forum

Project leaders and intellectual property (IP) officers from partner universities nationwide gathered at the National Engineering Center, UP Diliman for the Intellectual Property Forum. This is a first of its kind event that brought together units from the PHIL-LiDAR 1 and 2 programs. The forum aims to review IP  policies and guidelines that apply to and govern all concerned parties, identify data sharing protocols between all partner SUCs/HEIs and DOST, as well as to identify pointers in crafting a memorandum of agreement on data and IP sharing. It had a total of 67 participants. 

The program started with an opening remarks from Dr. Ariel C. Blanco.  He expressed his appreciation for the presence of everyone and noted the timeliness of conducting the forum. Mr. Ernanie Marin presented the goals of the forum and the general workflow of different partner universities. This was followed by presentations from the University of the Philippines’ Technology Transfer and Business Development Office (TTBDO). Mr. Cedrik Grayales discussed the RA 10055 also known as the Technology Transfer Act of 2009, a law that “aims to promote and facilitate the transfer, dissemination, and effective use, management, and commercialization of intellectual property, technology and knowledge resulting from R&D funded by the government for the benefit of national economy and taxpayers.” (RA 10055). He explained the definition of terms, important provisions and salient points of the law. A discussion on the Interagency Memorandum of Agreement was also facilitated by Dr. Luis Sison from the same office.  He highlighted a typology of data and how they should be treated, as alternative to full data sharing. Data classified under type “A” would be raw data & photographs which must be kept confidential; type “B1” data would include those processed from Raw data A by SUC’s, distributed back to PhilLiDAR I & II, used to validate/improve A and B2 and shared among the SUC’s only; type “B2” data  would be processed from Raw data A, distributed to government agencies and the public under the condition that there should be no re-selling of the data and handling fees to be determined based on sustainability requirements; type “C” data  must be processed from Raw Data A with input from Start-up/Non-”B” processed data and services, revenue sources for sustainability/ commercialization and must have better than B (i.e. higher resolution etc.). The speakers answered questions from the participants before ending the morning session.

In the afternoon, Engr. Mark Edwin Tupas, project leader of the Data Archiving and Distribution (DAD) component, facilitated an exercise wherein participants would identify the type of the given data. With the guidance of Dr. Sison and Dr. Paringit, participants were able to group data into their respective type. Participants were also given to clarify some points during the open forum.

 Ms. Denise Ann-Marie Suarez from the Training component presented the contents of the upcoming terminal reports including its scope and methodology. She announced that the reports would come in PDF type but a coffee-table book on river basins will be published. Dr. Paringit noted that the coffee table book would contain an interesting article (trivia/story) of each river basin as well as maps and scenic photographs. He enjoined the project leaders of partner universities to contribute articles and photographs for the publication. Dr. Paringit closed the program by thanking all the participants and noting that everyone’s contribution will be expected within the timeline.

Dr. Enrico C. Paringit and Dr. Luis Sison answering questions from the audience during the IP Forum.

Project leaders and intellectual property (IP) officers from partner universities listening intently to the speaker.

Participants enjoying the icebreaker.

Speakers, project leaders and other participants pose for a photo before ending the program.