by Rex Godinez Ortega, OC
SERIOUS about establishing itself as a true hub for knowledge and technology transfer in Mindanao, the MSU-IIT is unveiling next month its latest addition to the campus infrastructure: a 20M-Peso building dedicated to the professional management of the movement of technology generated inside the Institute through its research and innovation activities to its partners in the industry.
The three-story Knowledge and Technology Transfer Office (KTTO) Building rising near the main gate of the campus will be inaugurated on October 4 in a ceremony being organized by the KTTO’s parent unit, the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Extension (OVCRE).
The KTTO, which is currently still operating from within the third floor of the library building, is established by MSU-IIT in 2017.
Aside from functioning as a conduit between university and industry or as a channel where technology seekers meet technology developers, the KTTO and its sub-office, the Innovation and Technology Support Office (ITSO), also handle the other aspects of the commercialization of research, like the protection and commercialization of Intellectual Properties (IPs) generated.
Ms. Marietta Esperanza Cruz, KTTO Director and ITSO General Manager, says the KTTO building will feature a technology display center on the first floor and offices on the second, with the whole third floor assigned as a training room.
Cruz, who is also the IP Officer of the Institute, reveals that the building’s rooftop area will accommodate the Innovation Hive where students and faculty and industry partners can meet and discuss collaborative research projects.
“It is also where ideation can take place!” adds Cruz who retires from MSU-IIT on September 21.