The PHIPS 2025-2030 aims to position the Philippines as a global hub for creativity and innovation, fostering IP creation, protection and commercialization. It emphasizes leveraging AI, promoting IP valuation and strengthening collaboration to drive economic growth, protect cultural heritage and contribute to sustainable development goals.

The PHIPS imagines the Philippines as a “Hapag-Isipan,” directly translated as a “Banquet of Ideas.” Coined specifically for the PHIPS, the term uses the Filipino word “hapag” to symbolize community, collaboration and togetherness, setting the Philippines as the global table for creativity, innovation and collaboration to build and enjoy IPs towards shared progress.

“We envision the Philippines as a global hapag—a global table, a platform for creativity and innovation, where nations, industries and individuals can come together to create, commercialize and consume IP and IP-backed products and services,” IPOPHL Director General Rowel S. Barba said at IPOPHL’s annual stakeholders’ forum where the strategy was unveiled.

“At this global hapag, the youthful energy of the Philippines combines with the resources and expertise of the world to generate new ideas, create high-quality IP products and provide vibrant markets for IP-backed goods and services. The result is an ecosystem where intellectual property thrives, economies grow, and societies flourish—a feast like no other,” Barba added.

To attract global investments and leverage them to stimulate domestic innovative and creative activities, the PHIPS sets out four key strategies:

Strengthening IP Awareness and Education

Building Systems for IP Valuation and Commercialization

Enhancing Local and Global Cooperation

Maximizing Emerging Technologies

A key feature in the new strategy is its emphasis on IP as a tangible investment, introducing a bold approach to maximize IP’s value by:

Building capacities for IP commercialization to help creators transform ideas into marketable ventures.

Establishing systems for IP-backed financing to enable the use of IP as collateral and to access capital.

Integrating investment banking services for IP to ensure creators and IP owners can achieve the full financial and economic potential of their innovations.

Implementing these strategies should result in the deeper integration of IP across industries, driving economic value and positioning the Philippines as a global leader in IP commerce. This will support IP-driven exports, expand e-commerce for IP-backed products, strengthen the digital economy and ultimately, help reduce the trade deficit.

The Hapag-Isipan strategy reflects on the core priorities of the Philippine Development Plan, the National Innovation Agenda and Strategy Document, the Philippine Export Development Plan, the Philippine Creative Industry Roadmap and the E-Commerce Roadmap. It incorporates their shared goals into a cohesive roadmap for leveraging IP as a catalyst for growth.

It is also anchored on the goals of new and existing laws, such as the Internet Transactions Act, the Public Private Partnership, the New Government Procurement Act, the One Town One Product Law, the Philippine Creative Industry Development Act, the Innovations Act, the Innovative Start-Up Act, the Amendment to the Public Service Act and Retail Trade Liberalization Act and the Trabaho Para sa Bayan Act.)

Under the MOU signed between IPOPHL Director General Rowel S. Barba and Chanum Foundation President Jordan Mang-osan, IPOPHL and the Tam-awan Village will work together to preserve the region’s culture and heritage through arts development, protection, commercialization and internationalization of original Cordilleran IPs and creative works.

IPOPHL will primarily boost the foundation’s knowledge on how to protect copyright and raise awareness through new or existing programs and initiatives. 

Tam-awan, meaning “vantage point” in the local dialect, is a known tourist destination in Baguio City that features various Cordilleran paintings, sculptures, choreographies and native architecture. 

Barba commended the work of the Tam-awan Village for “inspiring Filipinos to develop a deep sense of cultural consciousness.”

Highlighting the many invaluable assets treasured by the Cordilleran heritage, Barba stressed the value of safeguarding their IP not just for its monetary value that can elevate artists’ livelihoods but for its contributions to the country as the region’s art proved to be “an important strand of the Philippine identity.”

“Like the Tam-awan Village, I hope the partnership we seal today deepens your people’s perspectives not only on indigenous art but also on copyright and IP. The MOU will hopefully, too, give us a ‘vantage point’ on how we can together move forward to promote and protect our artists,” Barba said.

The partnership was facilitated by the Bureau of Copyright and Related Rights (BCRR) which coordinated with the Tam-awan Village to identify the copyright-related needs that would be addressed by the MOU.

“We have sat down and listened to many of the Tam-awan artists who have expressed their need to learn how to fend for their copyright-based works. Through tireless coordination with the group, we have finally established a MOU to better serve their needs through programs, projects and other activities that can foster capacity-building,” BCRR Director Emerson G. Cuyo said.