With support from the Department of Science and Technology – Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (DOST-PCHRD), the University of Santo Tomas (UST) inaugurated its Generating Research Applications, Care, and Enterprise for Health (GRACE) Hub last 16 September 2024. The Hub is expected to accelerate the commercialization of health technologies such as artificial intelligence, telemedicine, and wearable devices, ensuring its accessibility and effectiveness for everyday use. 

Selected for its strong health sciences program and innovation infrastructure, the UST started its GRACE Hub initiative in February 2024 and received a grant from the Council’s HeaRTNovation Program. Project Leader Dr. Donald Manlapaz announced plans to deliver a scalable health technology months after its launch. “We are targeting to produce our first scalable health technology within a few months after its launch,” said Dr. Manlapaz as he plans to collaborate with UST’s health sciences departments and its hospital. 

The Council’s HeaRTNovation Hubs Program aims to support health institutions, hospitals, and academic institutions with a niche for health research in establishing innovation hubs that will facilitate technology transfer and pre-commercialization of their health technologies. The UST GRACE Hub, as one of the pioneer grantees under the HeaRTNovation Hubs Program, underscored PCHRD’s support in advancing efforts to transform healthcare in the Philippines from health research and development to commercialization and technology transfer. 

DOST-PCHRD Executive Director Dr. Jaime C. Montoya said, “The UST GRACE Hub extends the Council’s support by enabling the pre-commercialization of PCHRD-supported healthcare technologies. The Hub aims to turn these technologies into accessible and effective solutions for Filipinos,” as he outlined his vision for the Hub.

The Hub’s alignment with the Sustainable Development Goals ensures that the health technologies developed are relevant to national priorities. Further, its linkage with the Universal Health Care (Act) guarantees that the technologies and systems created through the Hub are designed to cater to real healthcare demands while also complying with the guidelines set in the act.

The Hub will focus on identifying promising health technologies and equipping innovators and researchers with the resources and mentorship needed to bring their projects to market. Through partnership with the UST Tomasino Innovation (TomasInno) Center, innovators will receive guidance throughout the process of transforming research into practical, effective solutions. Professor Michael Jorge N. Peralta, UST’s Intellectual Property and Research and Innovation Technology Support Officer (ITSO) manager, highlighted the Hub’s commitment to becoming a center for technology transfer. He emphasized that the Hub will continuously refine its strategies to ensure the long-term success of healthcare technologies.

In his keynote message, Mr. Vince Rocha, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Founder of Mylo Speech Buddy App, an application dedicated to aiding children with autism and speech delays in their speech development journey, noted the importance of research in startup technologies, stating “We, at Mylo, really lack the technical aspect of research. While we’ve made strides in helping children aid their speech, I believe that incorporating research-backed methods would improve our efforts to help children speak.”