USC BioPERC partners with Hybridigm Consulting, Inc.

In its desire to harness the benefits of its Intellectual Property generated from research, the USC Bioprocess Engineering and Research Center (BioPERC) of the Department of Chemical Engineering, has tapped Manila-based Hybridigm Consulting, Inc., to help the University find potential investors and industry partners to transform these technologies into proprietary products that will have an impact on its revenue generation scheme.

In exchange, Hybridigm gets a minimal share from the revenue generated from this commercialization. BioPERC’s novel treatment process to produce oil from moringa (malungay) seeds and various natural products from mango wastes are the initial foci of the partnership. Fr. President Dionisio Miranda, SVD, signed the Memorandum of Agreement on behalf of the University last 20 January.  Ms. Maoi Arroyo, CEO and founder of Hybridigm, signed on behalf of Hybridgm Consulting, Inc.

The MOA signing was followed by a kick-off activity under the partnership, that is, a Short Course on Management of Technology and Innovation conducted by Ms. Arroyo and her team. The lecture was attended by USC faculty-researchers and invited participants from other institutions. Three more courses will be conducted this year with Hybridigm.

SC started implementing its IP Policy in 2010 as mandated by CHED and IPO in 2008, that all HEIs must have their own IP Policy that will make its members aware of IP protection, which are in the form of copyrights, patents, utility models, trademarks, trade secrets and industrial designs. As a result, USC BioPERC has filed a patent protection at the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines for its extraction process for oil from moringa seeds.

Earlier, it has filed a patent application for a novel method of treating solid waste which when commercialized will earn the University a considerable income.  Patent application was facilitated by the USC Innovation and Technology Support Office (ITSO, a.k.a. Patent Library) - a franchise of the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines, to assist researchers and external clients in patent applications, as well conduct related services such as patent information search and patent drafting.

Author: : Dr. Danilo Largo
24 / March / 2012