Filipino-Made Machines Get Investors Nod in CDO Technology Transfer Day

Some 48 new Filipino-made machines, processes, and food innovations got investors’ commitment of technology adoption during the Mindanao Regional Technology Transfer Day 2017 at Xavier Estates Sports and Country Club, Cagayan de Oro City.

According to Alfonso P. Alamban, regional director of the Department of Science and Technology Region 10 (DOST-10), 48 term sheets were signed by both tech generators and adoptors at the end of the one-day event on 8 September 2017.

These term sheets expressed the inventors’ agreement to transfer the technologies and the investors’ commitment to adopting them.

Meanwhile, during a press conference, DOST- Technology Application and Promotion Institute (TAPI) Director Jovito Rey E. Gonzales described the technology transfer process as “a challenge.” It involves negotiations between inventors and adoptors, consultations with appropriate industry experts, and deal evaluations by the Fairness Opinion Board.

The whole process typically takes two or more months, but the Techno Transfer Day hastened this as it allowed innovators, investors, and experts to meet and get down to business in one place. “Instead of months, it can happen in a day,” said Gonzales.

On the other hand, DOST Undersecretary for Regional Operations Brenda Nazareth-Manzano emphasized that the technologies featured in the event were only some of the hundred or so products of DOST’s research and development in recent years. The featured innovations were selected based on pre-event interest from potential investors as well as for their relevance in the Philippine context. Thus, there were three locally relevant categories of featured inventions: Agricultural Productivity, Countryside Development/Industrial Competitiveness, and Food Processing.

The Techno Transfer Day 2017 is an annual event of DOST through its regional offices, together with TAPI. It is designed to fast-track the transfer of new DOST-assisted technologies from inventors to adoptors, aiming to arrive at the utilization and commercialization of these said technologies.

This year’s Mindanao leg of the Techno Transfer Day, led by DOST Region 10, brought together 750 participants, foremost of whom were inventors, private businesses, experts, public offices, and civic organizations. (DOST10)