Applications for intellectual property (IP) protection rose at record high level in 2022, indicating their increased innovative and creative outputs and their remarkable rebound from the pandemic, the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) reported. In a statement, IPOPHL said that 77 members of the Innovation and Technology Support Office (ITSO) 2.0 Program filed a total of 1,854 applications, 53.2 percent higher than the 2021 filings and 14.2 percent higher than the previous record high in 20167. The ITSO network, consisting of universities, colleges and research institutions — together filed protection for 241 patents (+8.1% YOY); 574 utility models (UM) (+1.6%); 127 industrial designs (ID) (+89.6%); 98 trademarks (+29.0) and 814 copyright registrations (181.7%). “Since 2014, the IP filing performance by the ITSOs registered a consistent increase year-on-year—save for year 2020 which saw a dramatic slump caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. This suggests that the ITSOs had rebounded remarkably post-pandemic,” read the annual ITSO report submitted to the World IP Organization (WIPO). “Based on 2022 data, it could be said that the ITSOs now tend to be filing more invention patents. This outcome attests to their improved capability to perform quality prior art and patent information searches, as well as draft the specifications of the patent,” the report added. The top filers were awarded at the 2023 ITSO Presidents’ Summit held on 28 March 2023. Northern Iloilo State University received the award for the most count of patent applications (19); Cebu Technological University for 219 UMs (219); Design Center of the Philippines for 46 IDs; the University of San Agustin for 10 trademarks; and the Isabela State University for 247 copyright registrations. Moreover, the ITSO network hiked commercialization endeavors with 26 members reporting success in bringing their IP to markets mainly through licensing. This compares with the 10 ITSOs in 2021. In commercializing technologies globally, ITSOs have filed 48 applications through the Patent Cooperation Treaty — international route for patent applications — to date. Director General Rowel S. Barba encouraged ITSOs to sustain their momentum and continue cultivating a culture for IP research, protection and commercialization. “With an uncertain future, we need to ensure we have the proper tools to enable our people to continue to innovate and create in this bold new world. IP can help generate innovations that can prepare our nation to face the man-made disruptions and natural disasters tomorrow will bring. We look to the ITSO 2.0 network as an effective and dependable source of these much-needed innovations,” Barba said.