Rudy Fernandez
Oct 9, 2005
It’s aptly called "technopreneurship."
It’s a term coined by combining two words: technology and entrepreneurship.
A joint program of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and the University of the Philippines (UP), it aims to develop a new breed of bright technologists and scientists with best business skills in town.
A memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the implementation of the program was signed recently by DOST assistant secretary Ma. Lourdes Orijola and UP Institute of Small-Scale Industries (ISSI) executive director Ruperto Alonzo. Witnesses were DOST Secretary Estrella F. Alabastro and Undersecretaries Fortunato dela Peña and Rogelio Panlasigui.
Under the MOU, DOST and UP-ISSI will conduct joint activities leading to the establishment of technology-based enterprises such as technology business incubators, technology investment/livelihood fora, technology matching, and linkages among industry, academe, and research and development institutions (RDIs).
"Technopreneurship," DOST explained, points out the value-added products of knowledge and technology to fuel small and medium enterprises (SMEs). It is a big leap strategy to entrepreneurship, focusing on the technological edge in doing business.
"This special approach uses technological breakthroughs and inventions as knowledge capital for new product ideas and business applications," DOST said. "It also highlights the role of SMEs and technology transfer as a strategy to promote industries’ competitiveness in line with the Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan and the Arroyo administration’s Ten-Point Agenda."
Along this line, DOSt and UP-ISSI will cooperate in the promotion of start-up projects, especially in universities and colleges and even in DOST-RDIs, which could be achieved by enticing students, professors, and teacher, even researchers, to venture into their own projects or researches by providing any but limited to the following:
Start-up funds as tie-ups with the concerned financing institutions, schools, and private organizations.
• Coach and guidance services and experts in business developments.
• Support academic and government institutions in the development of technology business incubators.
• Investments/business partnership/collaboration with "technopreneurs" in the development of special technology-based production zones for the furtherance of this endeavor. DOST and UP-ISSI will also advocate the establishment of the special inventors zone where inventors are allowed to work on their experiments and projects both at R&D, prototyping, piloting stages, and commercializaton stages.
