Higher Education Institution Readiness for Innovation and Technopreneurship assessors visit Ateneo Intellectual Property Office

Last 29 April 2022 the Ateneo Intellectual Property Office welcomed assessors from the Higher Education Institution Readiness for Innovation and Technopreneurship (HEIRIT) program to their headquarters and incubation space at PLDT-CTC Building in the Loyola Heights campus. 

HEIRIT is a preparatory program designed to help universities meet the requirements of the Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development (PCIEERD) for TBI funding and train the HEI managers to run their own DOST-affiliated TBIs to cater the growing demand for early stage entrepreneurial support.

Image: Engr Benjamin Mirasol, Head of AIPO Commercialization and Business Incubation Group (CBIG) giving an introduction

The recent visit led by Engr Federico Gonzalez, Executive Director of Animo Labs, was a requirement for Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) that submitted their proposal for HEIRIT Preparatory Training to be assessed of their needs and areas of improvement in terms of their capacity to incubate technologies so that the HEI can have a higher chance of getting approved for TBI funding by PCIEERD.

Image: AIPO Team group photo led by its Director (standing in center with white mask): Dr Jon Fernandez together with the HEIRIT Assessors (sitting in front L to R: Ms Bianca Carla Ocbeña & Engr Federico Gonzalez)

The AIPO hopes to get approval for a grant to boost and strengthen their Blue Nest Incubation Program: Ateneo de Manila University’s flagship program for incubating technologies. Currently, the Blue Nest has catered to more than 10 startups  since its inception in 2019 and through the PCIEERD grant,  it hopes to provide its services to even more technologies that could potentially help address society’s needs and challenges.