UP, Ayala launch techno park
December 4, 2000 | 12:00am
The University of the Philippines (UP) and Ayala Foundation Inc., launched the Joint Experimental Facility on Technology Development and Technology-based Entrepreneurship last Monday at the UP Technology Business Incubator building in Quezon City.
The facility, which will concentrate on information and communication technology (ICT) research and development, is a viable site where multinational enterprises can look for talents in the information technology field.
Rafael Rodriguez, UP vice president for development, said the university decided to initially concentrate on ICT research and development, as this is the technology which has a very high demand today.
ICT has vast applications in present telecommunications such as the Internet and cellular phones.
"ICT is a very large research interest now, everybody is in it . . . (This is) the device technology that can handle all this increasing communications traffic through the Internet," Rodriguez said.
The facility is one of UP’s two technology parks. The five-hectare technology park opened sometime in the late 1990s with the purpose of making UP generate new technology ventures, through a tie-up with the private sector. It is now managed by the Ayala Foundation Inc., one of the country’s visionaries in new technology ventures.
A technology park is a formal collaboration of educational institutions and private corporations wherein the former provides the land, advanced facilities and technical facilities and the latter, capital and knowledge of the market.
This is the tangible evidence of an emerging thought in the world today – the industry-academe linkage.
Rodriguez said most countries have adopted this approach as more and more companies recognize the academe as a major source of scientific innovation, where a high level of manpower can be found.
"In the US, among other countries, the universities are directly in contact with business firms. The scientists and the laboratories are in the university but the money to commercialize technological innovation is in business, not in the university . . . The universities are being opened up to partnerships with research and development institutions that can commercialize the products of scientific research," Rodriguez said.
The link between the two can range from joint training programs to regular dialogues and conferences. The most intimate linkage, however, where the strengths of each party can be synergized to achieve shared goals, is in the establishment of a technology park.
Dr. Jose Magpantay, a physics professor at UP, said, "This collaboration is important for the competitiveness of a country’s economy . . . Of all the institutions in the country, the academe has the state-of-the-art in the sciences and advanced technologies, while the industry knows the needs of the market . . . Technology parks also serve an extra purpose, and that is to retain the faculty in the university."
Rodriguez said the UP technology park has the unique character that blends with the idea of industry-academe linkage, a thing that other IT parks in the country cannot offer.
"We have a lot of services that would be needed by R&D companies . . . We have all kinds of laboratories, in the College of Engineering and the College of Science. We have good talents. Many of the utilities (technical laboratories) are already here. They don’t have to build their own libraries because they can connect to the libraries of UP, they can use the computing facilities of the university . . . If they want training venues, the university is one big training venue," Rodriguez said.
Industry-academe linkages have been successful in countries like the US. In fact, the classic example of this is the Stanford University-Silicon Valley tie-up that has advanced information and communication technology in leaps and bounds.
As part of its thrust to strengthen industry-academe linkages in the country, UP is holding a conference of key players in the ICT industry dubbed "Mindlink: An Industry-Academe Conference on Information and Communication Technology," on Dec. 13.
This conference, sponsored by Globe Telecom, Manila Electric Co. and Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., will bring together cutting-edge scientists of the state university and leaders of prominent local and international ICT companies to discuss areas of cooperation that can enhance the country’s competitive edge in the industry and eventually narrow its gap with more developed countries.
The facility, which will concentrate on information and communication technology (ICT) research and development, is a viable site where multinational enterprises can look for talents in the information technology field.
Rafael Rodriguez, UP vice president for development, said the university decided to initially concentrate on ICT research and development, as this is the technology which has a very high demand today.
ICT has vast applications in present telecommunications such as the Internet and cellular phones.
"ICT is a very large research interest now, everybody is in it . . . (This is) the device technology that can handle all this increasing communications traffic through the Internet," Rodriguez said.
The facility is one of UP’s two technology parks. The five-hectare technology park opened sometime in the late 1990s with the purpose of making UP generate new technology ventures, through a tie-up with the private sector. It is now managed by the Ayala Foundation Inc., one of the country’s visionaries in new technology ventures.
A technology park is a formal collaboration of educational institutions and private corporations wherein the former provides the land, advanced facilities and technical facilities and the latter, capital and knowledge of the market.
Rodriguez said most countries have adopted this approach as more and more companies recognize the academe as a major source of scientific innovation, where a high level of manpower can be found.
"In the US, among other countries, the universities are directly in contact with business firms. The scientists and the laboratories are in the university but the money to commercialize technological innovation is in business, not in the university . . . The universities are being opened up to partnerships with research and development institutions that can commercialize the products of scientific research," Rodriguez said.
The link between the two can range from joint training programs to regular dialogues and conferences. The most intimate linkage, however, where the strengths of each party can be synergized to achieve shared goals, is in the establishment of a technology park.
Dr. Jose Magpantay, a physics professor at UP, said, "This collaboration is important for the competitiveness of a country’s economy . . . Of all the institutions in the country, the academe has the state-of-the-art in the sciences and advanced technologies, while the industry knows the needs of the market . . . Technology parks also serve an extra purpose, and that is to retain the faculty in the university."
Rodriguez said the UP technology park has the unique character that blends with the idea of industry-academe linkage, a thing that other IT parks in the country cannot offer.
"We have a lot of services that would be needed by R&D companies . . . We have all kinds of laboratories, in the College of Engineering and the College of Science. We have good talents. Many of the utilities (technical laboratories) are already here. They don’t have to build their own libraries because they can connect to the libraries of UP, they can use the computing facilities of the university . . . If they want training venues, the university is one big training venue," Rodriguez said.
Industry-academe linkages have been successful in countries like the US. In fact, the classic example of this is the Stanford University-Silicon Valley tie-up that has advanced information and communication technology in leaps and bounds.
As part of its thrust to strengthen industry-academe linkages in the country, UP is holding a conference of key players in the ICT industry dubbed "Mindlink: An Industry-Academe Conference on Information and Communication Technology," on Dec. 13.
This conference, sponsored by Globe Telecom, Manila Electric Co. and Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., will bring together cutting-edge scientists of the state university and leaders of prominent local and international ICT companies to discuss areas of cooperation that can enhance the country’s competitive edge in the industry and eventually narrow its gap with more developed countries.
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