We were invited to The Philippine Innovation Summit: Synergy 2015 last Sep 21-22, 2015 at the Crowne Plaza Galleria.

Synergy 2015 was the inaugural conference on science and technology innovation convened by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) under their Science, Technology, Research and Innovation for Development (STRIDE) program with the Department of Science and Technology (DOST). Sessions on innovation, technology portfolio management, showcases of industry-academe research collaborations, venture capitalists, and research projects under the umbrella of Science and Technology (S&T) were presented for gainful insight on relevant opportunities.

One of the strongest themes presented was the collaboration between academe and industry – indicated in the diagram below:

The process is an iterative one. Broadly summarized, university labs produce Intellectual Property (IP) which is bound by patent and leased via license. A variety of companies from start-ups to large multinationals then take these licenses and produce products for public consumption. This activity produces jobs for the people and tax revenue for the state. The state then puts some of that money back into universities and the whole thing starts all over again.

This process is a long and difficult one, with only a miniscule percentage of university research leading to licenses – nevermind actual products. It was also surprising to learn that in 30 years of US technology transfer efforts, small companies consistently took up over 50% of the total licenses created through such collaboration; startup 15%, large companies 32% through 2013.

Even given the small percentage of university input reaching commercial output, these efforts bear multiple small successes that branch out from this cycle. These small successes take the form of article publications, new knowledge and experience, curriculum improvements, employment and internship opportunities, and an overall stronger ecosystem to further our S&T agenda.