The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) recently conferred special awards to the top cities and municipalities with the highest number of intellectual property (IP) applications and approved registrations in 2022.
Held last Sept. 28 as part of the annual Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index (CMCI) awarding ceremony, the Special Awards on IP Rights was categorized according to Highly Urbanized Cities, Component Cities, 1st to 2nd Municipalities, 3rd to 4th Municipalities, 5th to 6th Municipalities and Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM).
Quezon City continued to top the Highly Urbanized Cities category with the most IP filings and registrations totaling 6,366. The City of Manila followed with 5,242 while Makati City came in third with 3,929, with both retaining their position from last year.
Antipolo City sat as the new champion in the Component City category with filings reaching 554. Bacoor City and Meycauayan City followed with 298 and 281 filings, respectively.
In BARMM, a new category of IPOPHL’s special awards, Cotabato City took home the top award with 36 IP applications while Sultan Kudarat bagged the second highest with 5 IP filings.
For municipalities, below are the winners, their total applications and their corresponding awards:
1st to 2nd Municipalities
Taytay (524) – Top 1
Cainta (349) – Top 2
Bacnotan (247) – Top 3
3rd to 4th Municipalities
Buguias (76)- Top 1
Pontevedra (55)- Top 2
Mambusao (48) – Top 3
5th to 6th Municipalities
Pakil (50) – Top 1
Del Carmen (40) – Top 2
Basco (30) – Top 3
The CMCI Awards recognizes cities and municipalities with a high level of competitiveness, which is assessed based on their Economic Dynamism, Government Efficiency, Infrastructure, Resiliency and Innovation.
IP application and registration is one of the 10 indicators of the Innovation Pillar which focuses on creating, developing and implementing new innovative products, services or processes.
Director General Rowel S. Barba, Deputy Director General Ann Claire C. Cabochan and Documentation, Information and Technology Transfer Bureau Director Jarvis H. Alindogan graced the event to confer the award.
“We congratulate all the winners today who are integrating IP registration into their growth agenda. Continue to serve as examples to other cities and municipalities on the right practices toward higher innovation and creativity. But more importantly, strive to emerge as success stories by ensuring that your constituents’ protected IP assets flow with benefits to your communities, the country and the world,” Barba said.
For her part, Cabochan noted that the event comes a day after the release of the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2023 Report where the Philippine ranking improved to 56th from 59th in 2022.
The Philippines was recognized as among the middle-income economies that surpassed the expected level of innovation output based on its inputs and GDP per capita.
“If we are to make the innovation improvement we saw in the GII really felt by the Filipinos, we need to bring our IP services closer to our cities and municipalities. Those we have awarded are emerging as IP leaders among local government units, standing as testament to IPOPHL’s active work to make the IP system one of the foundations of competitive, resilient and impact-driven municipalities and cities,” Cabochan said. The CMCI is developed by the National Competitiveness Council and is now managed by the DTI’s Competitiveness and Innovation Group. The framework provides a tool for policy making, development planning and investment promotion for the government, business strategy development and a take-off point for academic research.
