BATANGAS CITY. History was made as Batangas State University officially launched the country’s first Knowledge, Innovation and Science Technology (KIST) Park. In the morning of July 20, 2020, high-level officials gathered to commemorate the milestones that place BatStateU at the forefront of national development.
The ceremonial launch highlighted the Presidential Proclamation No. 947, s.2020, designating BatStateU KIST Park as a Special Economic Zone, presented by Atty. McJill Bryant Fernandez, Deputy Executive Secretary for General Administration Office of the President, Malacañang.
Subsequently presented was the PEZA Certificate of Registration. In her congratulatory message Director General BGen. Charito Plaza underscores their mission of propagating different types of economic zones nationwide especially in the countryside. “So we can spread not just investments [but also] jobs, technology, and attain total development for the country,” she adds.
In his keynote address, Sec. Ramon Lopez of the Department of Trade and Industry expressed his gratitude to BatStateU under the leadership of its president Dr. Tirso Ronquillo for being a key partner of the government in fostering industry-academe linkages, knowledge and technology transfer, and promoting the commercialization of innovations. “The KIST Park will help catalyze industrial productivity and increase the economic growth of CALABARZON. This strong collaboration between government, industry, and academe is central to our inclusive innovation industrial strategy,” says Sec. Lopez.
With the theme: "Towards a New Frontier of Knowledge-building and Innovation in Science & Technology," the event was graced by DOST Sec. Fortunato dela Peña, Batangas Governor Hermilando Mandanas, and Batangas City Mayor Beverley Dimacuha. Representing the private sector were SEIPI President Dan Lachica, and IBPAP President & CEO Rey Untal.
The virtual launch was attended by 79 guests on Zoom, with 751 viewers streaming on Facebook Live. A press conference was held after the ceremony, where BGen. Plaza and President Ronquillo responded to questions from guests and members of the press.
Now open for business, the BatStateU KIST Park spearheads a long-term vision for “state universities and colleges in the Philippines [to] expand their programs for industry, academe, market synergy, technopreneurship, [innovation-based] business incubation & acceleration, and knowledge co-creation in science and technology,” states Tirso Ronquillo, who is also the President of the Philippine Association of State Universities and Colleges (PASUC).
Batangas State University is a Level IV state university in the CALABARZON region, and the only SUC in the country accredited by the US Accrediting Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) for its Engineering and Information Technology programs. It is rated 3 stars in the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) list of top universities.
