MANILA - An official of the Department of Science and Technology (DoST) revealed in the First National Conference on Intellectual Property and Technology Commercialization that budget for grants-in-aid (GIA) program increased to P700 million in 2007 vis-à-vis the P400 million in 2006 and P250 million in 2005.

Last year, the research and development (R&D) sector received P375 million of the P700 million total grant. Other GIA programs include science and technology promotion (P175 million) and technology transfer and utilization (P150 million).

Dr. Graciano Yumul, DoST Under -Secretary for Research and Development, presented these figures in the conference organized by the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IP Philippines) and the Commission on Higher Education (CHED).

The six priority R&D fields, Yumul added, are biotechnology, information and communication technology, health and pharmaceutical, environment, alternative fuels, and agriculture.

“Universities and research and development institutions are the country’s centers of innovation. Linking their innovations with the market will attract more investments, generate employment, and enhance the country’s competitiveness,” Director General of IP Philippines Adrian Cristobal noted.

Apart from organizing the conference participated in by some 200 delegates, IP Philippines has been reaching out to universities and RDI across the country for the past two years.

To-date, the agency has provided basic orientation seminars and IP policy crafting workshops to 44 universities, 14 of which had instituted university-wide IP polices in different stages of development.