Seminars with DOST-PCAARRD and IPOPHL were held in the Philippines

Seminars with DOST-PCAARRD and IPOPHL
were held in the Philippines

Regarding the annual IP Collegium meeting, the collaboration plan(*) with the WIPO GREEN Project, which celebrated its 10th anniversary last year, for the next three years on SDGs initiatives was formulated.
In the second year of this three-year plan, the seminar was held on the theme of “Exploring the Realization of Matching Environmental Challenges with IP/Technology,” in the Philippines, where is working on the SDGs using environmental technology. In this time, three members from SDGs Working Group of Japan Intellectual Property Association (JIPA) thankfully joined these seminars.

These seminars were made possible by the generous cooperation of DOST-PCAARRD, IPOPHL, and the secretariat in the Philippines. Members from SDGs WG of JIPA and IP Collegium gave insightful presentations and exchanged opinions at open forum/panel discussion with the local participants. In addition, the delegation made a courtesy visit at Mayor of Los Baños, Laguna, and the company, which is startup grant fund project of PCAARRD.

*Three-year plan of IP Collegium
FY2023 Online meeting: Sharing the information of reference case studies from several members, regarding SDGs activities with technology.
FY2024 Onsite meeting: Holding meeting in the country where working on SDGs with environmental technology.
FY2025: Onsite meeting: Holding meeting in Japan to present the results and progress worked on since the previous year's presentation, etc.

The schedule of the seminars is shown below;
February 18 (Tue): Visit at DOST-PCAARRD, and hold open seminar
February 19 (Wed): Courtesy visit at Mayor of Los Banos and visit at the facility of Insiklo
February 20 (Thu): Courtesy visit at Director General of IPOPHL, and hold open seminar (Members of IP Collegium joined)

The seminar at DOST-PCAARRD on Feb. 18 was attended by about 60 people from agricultural organizations and others. Dr. Reynaldo V. Ebora, we made a courtesy call on him before the seminar, gave opening remarks. The participants had many questions at open forum. Before and after the seminar, our delegation was given a tour of the facility, including the Innovation and Technology Center (DPITC), where we heard about the various projects PCAARRD is working on. It was impressive to see everyone working so vividly on their projects.

At DOST-PCAARRD
(Left from center in front raw: Dr. Ebora, Executive Director, DOST-PCAARRD; Right from center: Atty. Hechanova, Vice President, IP Collegium; Second from right; Mr. Iwai, President, IP Collegium)

Open forum at DOST-PCAARRD seminar

On the second day, the delegation paid a courtesy call on Mayor of Los Baños and learned that the city's main industry is agriculture, the importance of technology, and its positive approach to environmental issues. We also visited a company (Insiklo) that is actually working on environmental issues in the city, and visited their MRF (Materials Recovery Facility) to learn about their Black Soldier Fly (BSF) project, which converts waste and agricultural by-products into high-value feed and organic fertilizer.

Courtesy call on Mayor of Los Baños
(Left from center: Mayor Genuino; Right from center: Mr. Iwai)

Visit MRF, Insiklo

On the third day, the seminar was held at IPOPHL and was attended by about 50 people, including IP Collegium members from India, Vietnam, and the Philippines. Before starting the seminar, we were kindly given a tour of the various departments at IPOPHL and happily met many officials including IP Friends. The program and presentation materials for the seminar can be viewed on the following page. Director General Da Costa-Villaluz gave opening and closing remarks and two Deputy Director Generals attended the seminar.

Courtesy call on Director General Da Costa-Villaluz, IPOPHL
(Left from center: Atty. Da Costa-Villaluz; Right from center: Mr. Iwai)

The seminar program and presentation materials can be viewed on the following page;
Seminar at IPOPHL on February 20, 2025

JIPA SDGs WG members, who are experts on Japanese technology as the seeds side joined the seminars in the Philippines, which is facing environmental issues as the needs side. They provided information and exchanged opinions with the participants. We appreciate the participation from the JIPA SDGs WG. Furthermore, we were able to exchange opinions on the initiatives of each IP Collegium member, which led to the possibility of cooperative relationships among members beyond national borders. Based on the presentations at this seminar, we renewed our commitment to strengthening our relationship with the members and to making the project successful in the next fiscal year, the final year of our three-year plan.