UP Manila Showcases TISC and ITSO Operations to WIPO Members

February 12, 2026

Text by: Jennifer Manongdo
Photos by: Sarah Hazel Moces Pulumbarit

Vice Chancellor for Research and Extension Leslie Michelle M. Dalmacio expressed gratitude to the guests and reiterated UP Manila’s commitment to supporting Filipino innovations through the Technology Transfer and Business Development Office.

The University of the Philippines Manila welcomed the delegates of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), representatives from the ASEAN member states, and the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines to UP Manila on Feb. 5, 2026, as part of the 2nd ASEAN Technology and Innovation Support Center (TISC) Network Task Force Meeting and WIPO TISC Regional Meeting. ‎

‎‎The second ASEAN TISC Task Force meeting was held in the Philippines from Feb. 3-6, 2026, and was attended by delegates from ASEAN member states, including Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Vietnam, and Philippines.‎

‎The visit was held at the Museum of a History of Ideas and featured UP Manila as a Model TISC in the Philippines. ASEAN delegates expressed keen interest in learning how national-and system-level structures effectively support and enable the successful operation of Technology and Innovation Support Centers (TISCs) and Innovation and Technology Support Offices (ITSOs) at the university level.

UP Manila Technology Transfer and Business Development Office (TTBDO) Director Lourdes Marie Tejero presented the university’s accomplishments in intellectual property and technology transfer and TTBDO’s decade-long journey in promoting innovation. She also shared TTBDO’s milestones on its 10th anniversary including the growing portfolio of granted IP applications, and technologies registered both locally and abroad, some with potential applications in prognosticating leptospirosis complications, spinal and orthopedic surgery,colon cancer, and HIV management.

Similarly, UP TTBDO Director Luis Sison emphasized the goal of supporting university-developed technologies and turning them into high-impact ventures and creating “unicorn” startups. He said a clear technology pipeline, supported by structured agreements, enables innovations to move more efficiently from research to application and commercialization.

One of UP Manila’s innovators, Dr. Salvador Eugenio Caoili, gave the audience a glimpse into the efficiency of TTBDO in providing assistance in the IP protection of his team’s innovation on peptide and modified blood products for potential diagnostics and vaccine applications.

Vice Chancellor for Research and Extension Leslie Michelle M. Dalmacio gave her closing remarks showing the support of the OVCRE in enabling institutional mechanisms for technology transfer and regional collaboration.

Among those who were present in the meeting are WIPO Head of the TISC Development Section, Alex Riechel; WIPO Director of IP for Business Division, Guy Pessach; WIPO Associate Program Officer for IP for Business Division Sarah Nassar; and WIPO Consultant for IP for Innovators Department (IPID) and Innovation Ecosystems Sector Mary Grace Yap, among others.

Inaugurated in 2025, the ASEAN TISC Network establishes regional collaboration among TISCs in the ASEAN region to achieve IP commercialization and innovation goals aligned with the ASEAN Intellectual Property Rights Action Plans and the ASEAN Economic Community Strategic Plan 2045.