About ITSO-EVSU

The Innovation and Technology Support Office – EVSU (ITSO-EVSU) is one of the 100 ITSOs from the country’s higher education and research institutions that comprises a network established by the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHIL). Its primary function is to boost the presence of Filipino inventions in the international patent system and to increase the country’s output in terms of innovation by providing an avenue to advance the creation of intellectual property (IP) in the academic and research sectors. Furthermore, ITSOs serve as technical aid to the local Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the fields of trademark and patent searches, patent writing, utility models, and industrial design documentation (IPOPHIL, 2023).

ITSO was conceived due to a perceived need to augment the capability of local institutions in accessing patent information for research, education, idea generation, and general business development. Unlike the scientists, researchers, and R&D practitioners from the academe and industries of the advanced economies which work on their patent system by taking advantage of their access to the most recent information about science and technology provided by the world patent databases, there is a general unfamiliarity about the rich source of information that can be mined in the world patent databases among Filipino counterparts due to the absence of the necessary skills needed to conduct patent search and understand patent documents. In addition, inventors abroad utilize the world patent databases to develop novel and useful ideas required to bring forth competitive goods and services while there is little involvement in patent activity among local inventors and researchers (IPOPHIL, 2023).

In a bid to become a hub for technological research and innovation in Eastern Visayas and in the country, Eastern Visayas State University officially became an ITSO franchise of the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) in 2019. True to its mandate, ITSO-EVSU has never faltered on fulfilling its role as an innovation office that serves the university and the local community, as evident on its cluster awards for three years in a row: Gold Award in 2020; Bronze, Silver, and Gold Award in 2021; and Platinum Award in 2022, the highest cluster award given to ITSOs with more than 6 patent applications and achieved/assisted in at least one successful technology commercialization.