March 18, 2024 – Rizal Technological University (RTU) has been merited as a Silver Awardee at the 3rd Innovation and Technology Support Office (ITSO) Presidents’ Summit held at the Dusit Thani Hotel, Makati City.

The summit, with the theme “ITSO: Celebrating Collaboration, Cultivating Innovation,” recognizes and awards ITSO members or “patent libraries” within the universities for fulfilling its deliverables that meet and satisfy the expectations of the ITSO 2.0 Clustering Scheme.

Dr. Kathryn D. Tria, head of the Intellectual Property Management Unit (IPMU), attended the event alongside Dr. Magno M. Quendangan, the Vice President for Research, Innovation, and Extension Services (VPRIES). Dr. Quendangan accepted the award on behalf of RTU.

RTU as an ITSO member, is clustered for its competency in the fields of chemical, mechanical, agricultural sciences, food science, and IT. The silver award is a clustering distinction conferred by the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHIL)—a recognition for satisfactorily delivering at least 24 patent search services either to internal or external stakeholders for the previous year.

This recognition brought tangible prestige to RTU-IPMU, a testament to the relentless hard work of the former VPRIES, Dr. Julius L. Meneses, and former IPMO Director, Dr. Belinda G. Bunag. As an ITSO Silver Awardee, the university would continue to bolster its manpower to secure and generate solution-value research and innovation initiatives, aiming to maintain the silver spot to get to the gold and platinum levels by rendering more patent applications and commercialized technology inventions. Additionally, it further strengthens its ITSO functions of facilitating access to global science and technology information; promoting domestic and globally recognized innovations; and assisting the commercialization of globally competitive inventions to cope with the pressing demands of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR).

As a venue to create a robust and progressive ecosystem for the country, the ITSO not only cultivates the generation of intellectual property within the academe but also upsurges the national breakthrough outputs and thrusts with the presence of Filipino inventions into the worldwide patent system.