Excellence finds a Voice

Philippine Brain Products

Promoting the best commercially-viable products of Philippine science and technology.
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UNIVERSITIES4.0 Countdown to 2020 Islands of Innovation

A joint event by Dassault Systemes, The IRIS and Cebu Technological University July 2019, Cebu City
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IRIS University Research Rankings

IRIS Unveils Top Philippine Universities in Research Productivity in Science, Engineering and Health
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Welcome to The IRIS

Harnessing Philippine Intellectual Capital through Solutions-Driven Platforms in Research and Innovation.
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Get to know the latest updates, trends, directions in Science, Technology and Innovation.
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Excellence Finds a Voice

Promote your STart-up. This is a collaborative space for innovators, potential funders, capitalists.
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Message from the Convenor

These are remarkable times for doing things together as researchers, scholars, innovators or wanna-be innovators. Opening up conversations about science, technology and innovation in the Philippines stirs up interest in each other’s work, offers the first chance for various ways to collaborate and to cross boundaries of disciplines and affiliations, widens public appreciation for the process and practical products of science and research, makes it cool to be doing serious and honest scholarship, and animates curiosity about problems, solutions, potential users and markets. There is no end to the unraveling once the talk gets going.

The IRIS sets the stage for this conversation through this website that is generally designed to inspire, stimulate, and edify. It will serve as a dynamic window to Philippine in science, technology, and innovation. It will have features on the country’s scientists who are at the top of their game as entrepreneurs, tech innovators, founders and CEOs, thought leaders, teachers, and heads of government agencies and universities. It will contain curated information on trends, directions, government policies, and public or private initiatives in science, technology, and innovation.

Brain Products will showcase and promote the best commercially-viable products of Philippine science and technology. The e-SULAT (Scholarly Undertaking that Leads and Advances Thinking on Science and Technology) will host open access journals of global standards to ensure that Philippine scholars and researchers on science and technology get the maximum impact, distribution, and readership for their work. STartUp Philippines will serve as a platform for students, teachers, individuals and groups working and taking risks on finding problems, providing solutions, and discovering customers. Indeed, The IRIS website is every one of us who wants to find a voice for Filipino excellence in science and technology. Let the conversation start now.

Napoleon K. Juanillo, Jr.
Ph.D. Agriculture Extension, Cornell University

About The IRIS

The idea of setting up The Institutes for Research, Innovation, and Scholarship (The IRIS) was a product of regular chats that started in early 2017 among a small group of friends and colleagues working in academe, industry and government to develop alternative pathways to gridlock or barriers that ostensibly weaken the momentum of science, technology, and innovation in the Philippines.

The IRIS envisions to provide researchers, scientists, teachers, scholars, and innovators with a track that can help speed up the process of a) research collaboration, b) building advanced research capabilities and professional training in science, technology, engineering, agro-fisheries and mathematics, c) procurement, d) networking among startups and capitalists and industry, e) developing hubs for intellectual property agglomerations and knowledge workers, f) importation of scientific equipment and expendable laboratory materials, and g) widening research dissemination through open-access journals.

In February 2018, Napoleon K. Juanillo, Jr. (Ph.D. Agriculture Extension, Cornell University) formally convened a small group of scientific advisors and senior advisors who are highly-regarded in their fields and are known for their personal commitment to advancing science and technology in the Philippines. The IRIS scientific advisors are Carlo Primo C. David (Ph.D. Environmental Science and Geology, Stanford University), Jinky B. Bornales (Ph.D. Physics, University of the Philippines Diliman), Larry L. Ilag (Ph.D. Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University and JD, Harvard Law School), Eva Maria Cutiongco-de la Paz (MD University of the Philippines Manila and Fellow, University of Toronto), Raymond Girard Tan (Ph.D. Mechanical Engineering, De La Salle University), Isagani D. Padolina (Ph.D. Botany and Phytochemistry, University of Texas at Austin), and Gonzalo Al Serafica (Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, New York).

The illustrious members of the Senior Advisory Board are National Scientist Angel C. Alcala (Ph.D. Marine Sciences, Stanford University, Former CHED Chairperson), Ester A. Garcia (Ph.D. Chemistry, Ohio State University, Former CHED Chairperson), Dr. William G. Padolina (Ph.D., Botany and Phytochemistry, University of Texas, Former NAST President and Deputy Director General, International Rice Research Institute), William D. Dar (Ph.D. Agriculture, University of the Philippines at Los Baños, Former Director-General, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics), and Virginia A. Miralao (Ph.D. Sociology, Cornell University, Former Secretary-General, UNESCO National Commission of the Philippines).

The IRIS publicly announced its presence on July 12, 2018 when it launched the maiden issue of The IRIS Hub, a publication that features think pieces and analyses on national and international trends in science, technology, and innovation, global higher education, Philippine scientific achievements, university rankings, development of intellectual capital among others. In its first issue, The IRIS Hub highlighted the research productivity in the Natural Sciences of the top 15 Philippine universities.

In August 29-31, 2018, The IRIS convened presidents and senior leaders of 15 major Philippine universities, public and private, led by Philippine Association of State Universities and Colleges President Dr. Tirso Ronquillo for The IRIS 2018 Presidential Leadership Course: Building the Innovation University. Held at the Ateneo Professional Schools in Makati, Philippines, the presidential leadership program centered on driven discussions on how to enable the leadership in Philippine universities to phase in their institutions into the Fourth Industrial Revolution. University presidents talked about ways to strategically align their universities in the face of fast-changing and revolutionary developments of the digital-genomic age.

In the last quarter of 2018, The IRIS held Research Mentoring Workshops (“Writing and Publishing for Indexed Journals” and “Writing a Competitive Grant Proposal”) among over 160 faculty researchers from higher education institutions in the Cordillera Administrative Region hosted by Ifugao State University, in Northern Mindanao hosted by the University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines, and at Cebu Normal University.

The IRIS is currently engaged in providing technical advice to the Cebu Technological University and University of San Jose-Recoletos in crafting their respective five-year university strategic plans and faculty development programs.

Individually, The IRIS Scientific Advisors are involved in various forms of engagements as technical counselors to government agencies such as the Department of Science and Technology, Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Health, university science and technoparks, state universities and colleges, private universities, and international development and bilateral agencies such as the United States Agency for International Development and the British Council.

The IRIS is managed by Ralph Julius G. Bawalan (Biology, University of the Philippines Manila, MSc Public Health) who serves as its Executive Director.

Harnessing Philippine Intellectual Capital through Solutions-Driven Platforms in Research and Innovation.
We build, connect and integrate pathways to optimize research, scholarship and innovation.

The IRIS Top Stories

[IN THE NEWS] UTM: Promoting RICE ecosystem for a Successful University
by Press release

Speaking at the 2021 Institutes for Research, Innovation, and Scholarship (The IRIS) Leadership Legacy Forums through Zoom Platform on March 12, 2021, Prof Datuk Dr. Ahmad Fauzi bin Ismail highlighted that a Vice Chancellor (VC) as the university leader is like a goalkeeper of the university. A university VC must be versatile, set clear and concise goals, and be direct when communicating with staff.

Dr. Bornales leads MOCOS Philippines Study Group
by The IRIS

The MOCOS team is composed of an interdisciplinary panel of experts to continue doing mathematical modeling on COVID19 spread in Iligan, other cities in Region X and even the NCR. It is headed by physicist, Dr. Jinky Bornales, MSU-IIT Vice-chancellor for research and extension, and one of the IRIS Scientific Advisors.

Elsevier and IRIS partners to bring COVID19 ResourceHub
by The IRIS

The e-Library solution is geared towards members of the academic and scientific community, whereby they may visit the COVID19 Resource Hub under the IRIS portal or the Elsevier website for relevant COVID19 materials including full text research journals, select book chapters, and early stage research. All are free to view and download.

PH universities to establish 4th industrial revolution
by The IRIS

2019 - Also known as Industry 4.0, the partnership was done through the recent signing of a declaration at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Cebu City. The signing coincided with the conduct of a conference organized by the Institutes for Research, Innovation and Scholarships by the Cebu Technological University (CTU) and a French company, the Dassault Systemes.

The IRIS highlights
by The IRIS

The Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Foundation Inc.(SEIPI) held its Cebu Semiconductor and Eletronics Convention and Exhibition (CSECE) last July 30, 2019 at Radisson Blue Cebu City. Dr. Napoleon Juanillo, Jr. of The IRIS, was part of a plenary session on Enhancing Industry Readiness through Stronger Industry- Academe Ties.

News CTU - CTU to lead PH universities in industry 4.0
by thepelican

“We are in a vuca (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) world,” CTU President Rosein A. Ancheta Jr. defined at the press conference on ‘Universities 4.0’ last week just how crucial is the present era thus requiring CTU’s clear direction forward with collaborators as The Institutes for Research, Innovation and Scholarship (IRIS) and Dassault Systèmes.

PASUC-Platform for Innovating SUCs for Industry 4.0 (PISI)
by The IRIS

The Philippine Association of State Universities and Colleges (PASUC) launched the Platform for Innovating SUCs for Industry 4.0 (PISI) in partnership with the USAID-Science, Technology, Research and Innovation for Development (STRIDE) Program, Philippine Development Foundation (PhilDev), and Singapore Polytechnic (SP) last February 12. 2019 at the Makati Diamond Residences.

News IFSU – IRIS Research Mentoring
by Press release

The Philippine Association of State Universities and Colleges (PASUC) launched the Platform for Innovating SUCs for Industry 4.0 (PISI) in partnership with the USAID-Science, Technology, Research and Innovation for Development (STRIDE) Program, Philippine Development Foundation (PhilDev), and Singapore Polytechnic (SP) last February 12. 2019 at the Makati Diamond Residences.

150

Faculty Researchers mentored

2

Issues of The IRIS Hub Newsletter published

3

Universities engaged to develop University Strategic Plan and Faculty Development Plan

15

Universities Presidents, Leaders and Administrators trained on Building the Innovation University

The IRIS Senior Advisory Board

William D. Dar

Ph.D. Agriculture (University of the Philippines Los Baños)

Former Director-General, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics;Founder, Inanglupa Movement.

Ester A. Garcia

Ph.D. Chemistry (Ohio State University)

Former CHED Chairperson; President, University of the East.

Virginia A. Miralao

Ph.D. Sociology (Cornell University)

Former Secretary-General,UNESCO National Commission of the Philippines.

The IRIS Scientific Advisors

Napoleon K. Juanillo Jr.

Ph.D. (Cornell University)

Currently the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Advisor, Department of Trade and Industry. He recently served as Director IV, Office of Planning, Research and Knowledge Management at the Commission on Higher Education. He was formerly Assistant Professor at the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

Eva Maria C. Cutiongco-Delapaz

MD (University of the Philippines Manila)

Executive Director, National Institutes of Health, UP Manila and former Director of the Health Program, Philippine Genome Center. She was board certified as a Fellow of the Canadian College of Medical Geneticists in 2000. Her current researches include common birth defects and rare diseases among Filipinos, genetics of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, X-linked Dystonia Parkinsonism as well as population genetics.

Larry Ilag

Ph.D. (Yale University)

Co-founder of LBiotek, Inc., a start-up company focused on streamlining protocols for manufacturing recombinant enzymes on a commercial scale and former Deputy Chief-of-Party, USAID-STRIDE. Dr. Ilag also holds a JD degree from Harvard Law School and specializes in patent law and worked for several years as a patent attorney at the law firm of Finnegan Henderson in Washington with a practice focused on patent litigation in the biopharmaceutical arts.

Jinky B. Bornales

Ph.D. (University of the Philippines Diliman)

Currently the Vice Chancellor for Research and Extension in MSU-Iligan Institute of Technology in Iligan City. She has produced a number of papers in international journals and has actively pursued memberships in international consortiums with researchers in Germany, Japan and Portugal resulting to student and faculty exchanges in universities abroad. She is instrumental in the establishment of two new innovation facilities in the university, the Technology Business Incubator and FabLab.

Isagani D. Padolina

Ph.D. (University of Texas)

Head of Research and Development, Quality Assurance, and Business Development at Pascual Pharma Corp. He previously worked at Pfizer/Wyeth US, holding various leadership roles in Global Scientific and Laboratory Services, Global Manufacturing/Supply, and Consumer Healthcare Global R&D. He is a certified Lean Six Sigma Green Belt with key contributions to Pfizer’s Operational Excellence projects.

Carlos Primo C. David

Ph.D. (Stanford University)

Licensed geologist and professor of Geology and Environmental Science in UP Diliman. He concurrently served as the Executive Director of DOST – PCIEERD Innovation Council and the OIC of the DOST – PNRI, and as Project Leader to various local and internationally-funded water resources projects.

Raymond Girard R. Tan

Ph.D. (De La Salle University)

University Fellow and a Full Professor of the Chemical Engineering Department, De La Salle University and is the author of more than thirty articles in ISI-indexed journals, while serving as Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation at De La Salle University.

Gonzalo Serafica

Ph.D. (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute)

Has over 20 years of experience with technology commercialization and intellectual property expansion. His research focused on production optimization and product development of biomaterials both during his academic career with RPI and at Xylos Corporation where he was a co-founder in 1996 and was Vice President for R&D, VP for Intellectual Property and Technology from 2005 until 2012.

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Excellence finds a Voice. The IRIS aims to serve as the Philippines’ one-stop-shop for Research and Development talents and resources for optimized collaboration and integration.

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