Press Release
May 18, 2012

ANGARA URGES BUSINESSES TO PARTNER WITH SUCs ON R&D TO BOOST COMPETITIVENESS

Senator Edgardo J. Angara, chair of the Senate Committee on Education, Arts and Culture, called on the private sector to form partnership with state universities and colleges (SUCs) on research and development (R&D) as he stressed the importance of university-industry linkage in fostering the diffusion of knowledge and improving the country's capacity for innovation.

"Industry leaders can provide inputs in streamlining and focusing the R&D agenda of the academe. Such collaborations will make sure that there will be a useful--and perhaps even profitable--application of the new knowledge generated," said Angara, who is also Chair of the Senate Committee on Science and Technology.

He continued, "We have achieved impressive gains in terms of curriculum development and expanding access to higher education, but there's still a need to strengthen R&D in order to boost the country's competitiveness and help bolster economic growth".

The veteran lawmaker reiterated that continued cooperation among the government, higher education institutions, industry and civil society is needed so that higher education can fulfill its potential. "Scientific findings shall be turned into new technologies and commercially-viable applications."

He then noted that the Congressional Commission on Science & Technology and Engineering (COMSTE), which he chairs, lobbied heavily for the establishment of innovation clusters - public-private partnerships (PPPs) in S&T - during budget hearings in 2011.

Around P322 million has been allocated in the 2011 budget for the roll-out of innovation clusters as tripartite consortia among government, the academe and industry for the development S&T solutions to nation's key challenges through technology transfer and R&D.

The first five innovation clusters cover the following: 1) Algae Research and Commercialization; 2) ICT for Cloud Computing and Software as a Service; 3) Precision Agriculture and Smart Farming; 4) Disaster Science and Management and 5) Responsible Mining Technologies.

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