In his remarks, Vice-Rector for Research and Innovation fr. Jannel N. Abogado, O.P. expressed delight at the formalization of the agreement at a time when UST鈥檚 research and instruction initiatives complement the efforts for climate change mitigation. Fr. Abogado cited, too, the famous encyclical Laudato S铆 of Pope Francis and shared how in UST, spirituality and stewardship guide efforts to ensure that future generations can enjoy a 鈥渂lissful life鈥� on our planet.

The Rector also stated that as inhabitants, not owners, of the Earth, we are bound by an urgent need to care for the environment. He reaffirmed the University鈥檚 commitment to fighting climate change and helping the government by lending the University鈥檚 academic and research expertise.

Meanwhile, Sec. Borje underscored the importance of both sustainability and climate justice and equity, which the Climate Change Commission is promoting. He expressed enthusiasm at partnering with UST for its 鈥渧ibrant research activities鈥� that can open a lot of avenues for further collaboration. Though informally, Thomasians have been engaging with the Climate Change Commission and supporting its activities in the past, and the six-year agreement puts a framework to further collaboration.

The agreement, which aims to leverage UST鈥檚 research initiatives at the Research Center for the Natural and Applied Sciences and the DOST-TOMASInno Innovation Center Technology Business Incubator, paves the way for closer collaboration between UST, one of Asia鈥檚 top universities, at the national government. The agreement aims to 鈥渁lign efforts for building resiliency at the local level,鈥� opening avenues for the UST Simbahayan Community Development Office and the Research Center for Social Sciences and Education to also join. The projects will find locus not just in the Manila campus鈥檚 Thomas Aquinas Research Complex, but also in the UST Dr. Tony Tan Caktiong Innovation Center of the UST Santa Rosa Extension Campus.

The expected outputs of the cooperation are joint research and policy development initiatives that will help advance environmental preservation. Joint academic and research activities aimed at capacity-building will also be undertaken, beginning with the November 2023 Climate Change Week celebration.

Among UST鈥檚 initiatives toward environmental preservation are the conduct of basic and applied science studies on biodiversity and aquaculture, as well as advocacy campaigns against environmental degradation in areas like the Sierra Madre Mountain Range and Dumaguete, where reclamation has been threatening coastal life.

Joining Sec. Borje were CCC Deputy Executive Director Atty. Rommel Antonio O. Cuenca, Strategic Partnership Division Chief Alexis D. Lapiz, Legal Services Division Atty. Carlos M. Borja, Jr., and Chief of Staff Rhea Ckristine Sy. Meanwhile, UST officials included the Vice-Rector for Research and Innovation, fr. Jannel N. Abogado, O.P., DTPS, Asst. to the Rector for UST Sta. Rosa Philipina A. Marcelo, PhD, UST Sta. Rosa Executive Assistant Siegfred V. Prado, College of Science Dean Rey Donne S. Papa, PhD, Research Center for Social Sciences and Education Director Jeremaiah M. Opiniano, PhD, TOMASINNO Center Manager Raymond Marquez and Assistant Manager Celso Noel Aban, and Simbahayan Community Development Office Director Froilan A. Alipao.

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The first incubatee is Cerebro, an EdTech startup that helps solve teachers’ workload issues with ready-to-use digital lessons and curriculum-aligned test banks. Having been implemented as an e-learning tool in 20+ schools during the COVID-19 pandemic, Cerebro has also been in the Top 2 of the DTI’s Venture Pilipinas Startup Pitch Competition – People’s Choice Awards 2021.
Cerebro was founded by its CEO Mr. Jonald Justine Itugot, a licensed professional teacher, who gained over 10 years of classroom teaching and school administration experience in different private institutions before devoting his full attention to e-learning. He is an alumnus of the UST College of Education Class of 2011.
The second incubatee is PainFree 鈥� Pain Management and Consulting, Inc., which helps people with musculoskeletal pain. Its products and services include biomechanical tape and the fasciocutaneous release techniques. It mitigates and lessens the pain of those who suffer from debilitating musculoskeletal conditions. The company has also put up a 鈥淕o PainFree鈥� telerehabilitation platform. PainFree is founded by its CEO, the UST Center for Health Research and Movement Science Research Supervisor and College of Rehabilitation Sciences academic staff Prof. Valentin Dones III, Ph.D.
During the graduation ceremony, the keynote address was delivered by Engr. Edward Paul H. Apigo, Sr., Science Research Specialist, Research Information and Technology Transfer Division (RITTD). TOMASInno Center Assistant Manager Prof. Michael Francis D. Benjamin, Ph.D. proudly presented the graduates while Assoc. Prof. Michael Jorge N. Peralta, MS, MSPT, Ll. M., Executive Assistant for Intellectual Property and Research and the UST Vice Rector for Research and Innovation, Rev. Fr. Jannel N. Abogado, O.P., awarded the certificates.
The TOMASInno Center (TIC) is the Technology Business Incubator (TBI) of the 91性息港 (UST). Under the supervision of the Office of the Vice Rector for Research and Innovation and in partnership with the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), TIC was established in August of 2019 to assist start-ups, and to promote innovation and technopreneurship. Since its establishment, it has conducted two (2) batches of the Incubation Program with the guidance of the TIC Mentors from the Academe and Thomasian Alumni.

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Accenture鈥檚 Innovation Head Arvin Yason said that for UST, the grant will focus on 5G and Industry Innovation initiatives. The company is also partnering with UST to fund startups related to healthcare. These initiatives are part of the three-pronged aim of Accenture: scaling adoption of new technologies critical for innovation, expanding the academe/incubator network, and amplifying innovation through greater inclusion and diversity.

The Industry Innovation Collaboration Space initiative aims to 鈥渟etup鈥 learning facility in the UST Espa帽a campus that will promote the use of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies and Extended Reality capabilities that will be used in the facilitation of teaching courses that are part of the academic curriculum but could also be used in collaborating on cross-disciplinary activities鈥hat will foster innovation and exploration of these new technologies.鈥� The newly minted College of Information and Computing Sciences (CICS) will be in-charge of this.

According to CICS Dean Jerralyn T. Padua, the laboratory will support the further integration on ubiquitous computing in the CICS curricula, specifically for Information Technology鈥檚 IT Automation courses and Computer Science鈥檚 Artificial Intelligence courses, as this is expected to provide a test bed where all theories and concepts can be realized into practical applications. Going beyond CICS, the IoT lab will also be helpful for various disciplines, such as robotics, agriculture, health, and medicine, which makes it a hub for inter- and multidisciplinary collaborations among the disciplines in UST.

The grant also aims to help the country鈥檚 efforts toward technology innovation, as half of the grant will be used to support technology start-ups of the DOST-TOMASINNO Center. Specifically, the grant, according to DOST-TOMASINNO Center Manager Raymond Marquez, will help the projects of at least four incubatees whose innovations are geared toward healthcare.

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Last November 15, 2019, the DOST-TomasINNO was launched to serve as the technology business incubator (TBI), which is an ecosystem where innovation is promoted and supported toward commercialization. Moreover, the TBI aimed to help technology-based business startups by providing a range of resources, services, and facilities needed during the development stage.

The launch of the center was made possible through four partnership agreements with government and industry institutions were signed, namely, with DOST- Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development (PCIEERD), Santeh Feeds Corporation, Jollibee Group Foundation, Inc., and D&L Industries.

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According to , the innovation center aims to help UST鈥檚 academic programs by not only providing an avenue to utilize research outputs, but more so open in the students the prospect of becoming entrepreneurs. 鈥淲e want to change the mindset that we earn degrees to be employees.

We want them to realize that with the innovations and commercialization of their products or technologies, they can also become employers.鈥� The center likewise serves as an answer to the need for not just research publications and dissemination, but more so utilization. In his message of support during the event, Department of Science and Technology 鈥� Philippine Council for Industry, Energy, and Emerging Technology Research and Development (DOST-PCIEERD) Deputy Executive Director Raul Sabularse expressed his hope that with UST now joining the ranks of 33 TBIs, the establishment of more startup ecosystems will be intensified.

鈥淎 TBI is both a venue and strategy [that provides] engagement [between the academe and industry] in manner that is meaningful and productive.鈥� Sabularse recognized that while the academe鈥檚 mandate is to teach and educate and the industry鈥檚 main goal is to earn profit, the TBI serves as a venue to bridge this seeming gap and place the two in a discussion united around common interests. 鈥淚 would like to believe that the best place to do it is in the academe, because you are doing researches.

If industry does not innovate, they will die because new and better products and services will enter the market,鈥� Sabularse said.

Convergence of disciplines

The center also aims to promote the practice of common and shared laboratories, where people from the different disciplines can use the same equipment and bring to the project their own skills and talents. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 want them to exist in silos. We have to accept that our own areas of expertise need to come together in order to make sure that our ideas translate to usable technologies and products that the public will benefit from.鈥� Initially, the Center will focus on the University鈥檚 niche areas of health sciences, natural products for health and wellness, biomedical devices, bioengineering, information and communication technology apps, and food technology, capitalizing on the strength of UST in these areas, as demonstrated by faculty researchers鈥� expertise and recognitions.

An integrative Catholic formation that cuts across specializations

In an interview with the , the Rector, , said that the business dimension of the TBI will receive the same integrative Catholic education that the University provides within the walls of the academe. 鈥淥ur Catholic education is integrative. Even with the TBI, our moral compass remains the same [for it] cuts across everything, wherever you are or whatever you are.鈥�

The Rector said that the initiative is in line with the concept of technohubs, which provide a platform 鈥渢o encourage the students and also our faculty to innovate and help them discover the economic value of their innovations.

This is a center that will help make a research work become a tangible reality.鈥� Going beyond the walls Apart from literally being outside the University鈥檚 original Sampaloc campus, the Center, which is located in the Ground and Mezzanine Floors of the new Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati Building, the center鈥檚 services will be open to students, faculty researchers, alumni, the industry, and the general public. UST鈥檚 DOST 鈥� TOMASInno Center will have ideation rooms, 3D printers, as well as work stations for each of the projects that the center will host. As for the fabrication laboratories, the TBI will partner with the Faculty of Engineering.

Leading the team are Engr. Raymond A. Marquez, MBA (TBI Manager) and (TBI Assistant Manager). Four agreements inked The event likewise saw the ceremonial signing of four agreements with government and industry partners. Representing the University were Fr. Dagohoy, Nonato, and Marquez. The first agreement signed formalized the UST and DOST-PCIEERD partnership through a memorandum of understanding.

The Innovation Center is made possible through a research grant from the DOST-PCIEERD, which manages the Technology Business Incubation program of the government. The inclusion of UST in the grants received from DOST was made possible through the Higher Education Institution Readiness for Innovation and Technopreneurship (HeIRIT) program, a DOST-PCIEERD project implemented by the University of the Philippines through the National Engineering Center and UP Enterprise. Representing DOST-PCIEERD were Sabularse, Russell Pili (Chief Science Research Specialist), and Engr. Al Beato and Ms. Ann Kristelle Icuspit (Project Leaders).

Three agreements were likewise inked with industry partners, with initiatives ranging from licensing, to education, and research initiatives. Representatives of the Jollibee Group Foundation, Inc. namely, Ms. Belen Rillo (Vice-President), Ms. Gisela Tiongson (Executive Director), and Ms. Sharleen Alayat (Program Officer), were on hand to sign the agreement with UST, which is one of the two private universities it partnered with for the Learning Express 鈥� Farmer Entrepreneurship Program (LEx 鈥� FEP). The Lex-FEP is an initiative of JGFI, in partnership with Singapore Polytechnic University.

The project will allow UST students and faculty to have a platform to help farmers uplift their life conditions using Design Thinking and Social Innovation technologies. The two-year commitment included an initial training held in Singapore PolyU earlier this year, with faculty members from the , , and participating.

A licensing agreement was signed with Santeh Feeds Corporation, represented by Chairman Phillip Ong and Administrative Officer Dhonna Noreiga. Santeh, one of the leading feeds manufacturers in the country, provides UST with its first licensing agreement. Santeh will adopt and market the JAMP Primer, a diagnostic tool used for early detection of the white spot syndrome virus in shrimps.

The primer was developed by marine biologist (Principal Investigator), while the device was developed by faculty members Patrick Ellis Z. Go, PhD and Erica Ocampo. Finally, D&L Industries, represented by Managing Director Lester Lao, Technical Director Ms. Sonia Salvador, Market Development Manager Glenn Apostol, and Consultant David Pe帽aloza, Jr., entered an agreement with UST to 鈥渄evelop academic and research cooperation on the basis of equality and reciprocity and to promote relations and mutual understanding between both parties.鈥�

According to the DOST-PCIEERD website, TBI is a process of nurturing business start-ups in techno-enterprise and is an ecosystem where innovation is promoted and supported toward commercialization. As a host of a TBI, UST鈥檚 DOST 鈥� TOMASInno Center will be a facility where start-ups are hosted and business development services are provided. Among the services provided are technical assistance, intellectual property management and legal counseling services, and analytical laboratory services, among others.

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Serving as the TBI Manager is Engr. Raymond A. Marquez while its TBI Assistant Manager is Assoc. Prof. Michael Francis D. Benjamin, Ph.D.

To mark the beginning of the Center, four partnership agreements with government and industry institutions were signed, namely, with DOST- Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development (PCIEERD), Santeh Feeds Corporation, Jollibee Group Foundation, Inc., and D&L Industries.

Representing the 91性息港 for the signing were UST Rector Very Rev Fr. Herminio V. Dagohoy, O.P., Vice Rector for Research and Innovation Prof. Maribel G. Nonato, PhD., and Engr. Marquez. 

The first agreement, a memorandum of understanding between UST and DOST-PCIEERD, formalized the partnership between the two institutions. PCIEERD, which manages the Technology Business Incubation (TBI) program of the government, provided the research grant that made the TOMASInno Center possible through the Higher Education Institution Readiness for Innovation and Technopreneurship (HeIRIT) program. Representing DOST-PCIEERD were its Deputy Executive Director Raul Sabularse and Chief Science Research Specialist Russell Pili.

According to the PCIEERD website, a TBI is 鈥渁n ecosystem where innovation is promoted and supported towards commercialization鈥� and helps technology-based business startups 鈥渂y providing a range of resources, services, and facilities needed during the development stage.鈥� By the time a business finishes the incubation program, it should be financially viable and ready to compete in the market. DOST鈥檚 TBI program has three main objectives: creating jobs, developing entrepreneurs, and promoting public-private partnerships in regional economic development.

The partnership agreement between Santeh Feeds Corporation (SFC), represented in the signing by Chairman Phillip Ong and Administrative Manager Dhonna Noreiga, involves a licensing agreement for the Juan Amplification (JAmp) Primer, a diagnostic tool used for early detection of the white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) in shrimps.

The aforementioned primer developed by Prof. Mary Beth B. Maningas, Ph.D., and her team of investigators originally won the Outstanding Invention Award (Tuklas category) during the 2018 National Invention Contest and Exhibits (NICE) of the DOST Technology Application and Promotion Institute (DOST-TAPI). According to the DOST Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic, and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCAARRD) website, the primer kit uses loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay for the detection of WSSV and 鈥渉elps in improving farm management practices and reduce the country鈥檚 dependence on expensive and imported diagnostic kits.鈥�

For the partnership with the Jollibee Group Foundation, Inc. (JGFI), UST joined its Learning Express 鈥� Farmer Entrepreneurship Program (LEx-FEP) initiative, which trains local farmers on agro-entrepreneurship, and according to the JGFI website, builds 鈥渢heir capacities to supply vegetables in a manner that meets the standards and requirements of corporate buyers while ensuring farmers make a profit.鈥� Representatives of JGFI included its Vice President Ms. Bellen Rillo, Executive Director Ms. Gisela Tiongson, and Program Officer Ms. Sharleen Alayat.

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The multi-sectoral project aims to engage university students in helping uplift the country鈥檚 smallholder farmers, particularly by engaging the former in community extension work that uses Design Thinking and Social Innovation Methodologies.

The outputs for the project will be at least 30 students engaged in the initiatives; four faculty members certified as LeX facilitators; at least three innovations developed for the FEP beneficiary groups; and the implementation of a school-wide agriculture advocacy project.

As an initial step, University faculty members were trained in Singapore Polytechnic from October 1-4, 2019, on the module 鈥淟earning Express Foundation Training on Design Thinking.鈥� Representing the University were (Assistant Manager of the TOMASInno Center and Lead Coordinator of the project) and LeX_FEP facilitators (); Asst. Prof. Nancy C. Bartolome, PhD (); (); Ms. Propa-Joy R. Santor (); and Mr. Patrick Joseph C. Amulong (Coordinator of the TOMASInno Center).

UST is joined by the University of San Carlos (Cebu) for the project. On UST鈥檚 part, the FEP partner communities and their respective commodities are: 1) Pangil, Laguna (kangkong); 2) San Antonio, Quezon (hot peppers); and Magallanes, Cavite (green bell peppers). The local implementing partners are Ahon sa Hirap, Inc. for Laguna, and the local government units of San Antonio and Magallanes.

#ThomasianPartners #ThomasiansGivingBack

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