Challenges in

Bioengineering
Lecture 3 | KPLimbo

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Research and Development (R&D)
• basic (or fundamental) research,
driven primarily by a desire to
know;
• strategic research, driven by a
desire to know and its potential
use;
• applied research, driven primarily
by its potential use;
• adaptive research, undertaken to
adapt a given product or
technology to local conditions; and
• development, undertaken to create
new products and services.

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Science and Technology (ST)
• the full range of scientific, engineering, and health fields and
disciplines, including aeronautics and astronautics; agricultural
sciences; anthropology; biology; brain and cognitive sciences;
chemical engineering; chemistry; civil and environmental
engineering; earth, atmospheric, and planetary sciences;
economics; electrical engineering and computer science;
systems engineering; health sciences and technology; materials
science and engineering; mathematics; mechanical engineering;
nuclear engineering; physics; political science; psychology; and
sociology.

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The state of science and technology determines
the socio-economic progress of a country.

National progress is highly correlated to the

capacity of a country to industrialize and produce
local industrial goods for domestic needs.

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WORLD’S TOP 20: Share of R&D from GDP
RANK COUNTRY % of GDP RANK COUNTRY % of GDP
(2017) (2017)
1 Korea 4.553 11 Finland 2.788
2 Israel 4.545 12 Belgium 2.702
3 Sweden 3.397 13 France 2.185
4 Swtizerland 3.373 14 China 2.145
5 Chinese Taipei 3.295 15 Iceland 2.104
6 Japan 3.213 16 Norway 2.093
7 Austria 3.157 17 Netherlands 1.991
8 Denmark 3.046 18 Singapore 1.954
9 Germany 3.038 19 Slovenia 1.863
10 United states 2.788 20 Czech Republic 1.791

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ASIA’S TOP 20: Share of R&D from GDP
RANK COUNTRY % of GDP RANK COUNTRY % of GDP
(2017) (2017)
1 Korea 4.553 11 Hong Kong 0.79
2 Israel 4.545 12 Thailand 0.78
3 Taiwan 3.295 13 India 0.62
4 Japan 3.14 14 Qatar 0.51
5 Singapore 2.16 15 Vietnam 0.44
6 China 2.11 16 Jordan 0.33
7 Malaysia 1.30 17 Nepal 0.30
8 UAE 0.96 18 Oman 0.26
9 Turkey 0.88 19 Iran 0.25
10 Saudi 0.82 20 Pakistan 0.25

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WORLD’S TOP 10: LARGEST ECONOMIES
RANK COUNTRY GDP (in US % GDP on
Dolllars) RND
1 United States 19.39 T 2.788
2 China 12.01 T 2.145
3 Japan 4.87 T 3.213
4 Germany 3.68 3.038
5 UK 2.62 T 1.69
6 India 2.61 T 0.62
7 France 2.58 T 2.25
8 Brazil 2.05 T 1.27
9 Italy 1.93 T 1.29
10 Canada 1.65 T 1.60

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Challenges in Philippines’
State of Science and
Technology

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 UPNITEXEDER

LOW R&D EXPENDITURE

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LOW R&D EXPENDITURE
The country remains to be one of the lowest countries in terms of
R&D gross expenditure.

% GDP for R&D stayed at low level: 0.14 %

UNESCO Standard for %GDP for R&D: At least 1%
Global Average: 2.04 %

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 RRREAUUNTTCFIS

LACK OF INFRASTRUCTURES AND

IMPROVEMENT
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LACK OF INFRASTRUCTURES AND
IMPROVEMENT
Research institutions are not
widely dispersed across the
country and are still concentrated research productivity,
in Luzon.
publication potential,
speed-to-market of
Tedious government procurement innovation
process is problematic for
immediate procurement of
equipment and materials

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 UAHMN ITAPACL

INADEQUACY IN STI HUMAN CAPITAL

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INADEQUACY IN STI HUMAN
CAPITAL
As of 2013:
36 517 R&D personnel
26 495 – key researchers, scientific, technological,
engineering personnel
the rest are technicians and support personnel

270 researchers/1 million Filipinos

UNESCO STANDARD: 380/million
AVE in EAST ASIA/PACIFIC: 1 020/million

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INADEQUACY IN STI HUMAN
CAPITAL
Of the total researchers:
14 % had doctoral degress
38 % had master’s degrees
34% had BS to post-BS degrees

low number of researchers in the country reflects the propensity of the

educational system in the country to produce graduates outside of science,
technology, engineering and mathematics, or Stem, programs

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RIBAN RIDAN

BRAIN DRAIN

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BRAIN DRAIN
United States Agency Supply of STEM Local
for International
graduates >>> demand
Development (USAID):

Out-migration
Underemployment
Cheap labor

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 BLUHISP OR PSIHRE

PUBLISH OR PERISH PHENOMENON

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PUBLISH OR PERISH
PHENOMENON
PATENT
• granting of a property right by a sovereign authority to an
inventor
• provides the inventor exclusive rights to the patented process,
design, or invention for a designated period in exchange for a
comprehensive disclosure of the invention

The output of R&D is usually measured in terms of patents

applied and granted.

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PUBLISH OR PERISH
PHENOMENON
Issues of technology ownership for
technology generators

“Publish or perish” for researchers

Results to weak technology transfer

system in the country

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PUBLISH OR PERISH
PHENOMENON
2005 – 2015
Filed (annual average):
209 patent utility models World Economic Forum
597 industrial design (WEF), 2016:
applications 86th out of 128
economies for the number
Granted (annual average): of patents filed per million
54 patents population
446 utility models
502 industrial designs
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PUBLISH OR PERISH
PHENOMENON
Research publications (publications/million population):
Philippines: 55
Singapore: 10 368
Malaysia: 1 484
Thailand: 478
Vietnam: 105

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UTOTUP AOCNYRMD

OUTPUT DORMANCY

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OUTPUT DORMANCY
Output of STI activities are not
brought to the market at once.
The transfer of outputs of innovation
activities to the mainstream market
and to the public remains difficult.
Outputs lie dormant and
underutilized.

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 SECSIATYLICIB

ACCESSIBILITY TO THE PUBLIC

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ACCESSIBILITY TO THE PUBLIC
Lack of awareness on the results of R&D activities and lack of
government’s support mechanisms to help businesses be more
innovative.

The information dissemination activities particularly on available

technologies remain low, while government campaigns are
fragmented.

Technologies are not used by the MSMEs.

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 YOSSTCEEM

WEAK LINKAGES IN STI ECOSYSTEM

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WEAK LINKAGES IN STI
ECOSYSTEM
Problems in collaborative linkages among the government,
academe, and industries in:
product development
facilities
R&D activities

Higher Education Institution: fear of exploitation

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 EXPENDITURE
LACK OF INFRASTRUCTURES AND
IMPROVEMENT
INADEQUACY IN STI HUMAN CAPITAL
BRAIN DRAIN OUTPUT DORMANCY
PUBLISH OR PERISH
PHENOMENON
ACCESSIBILITY TO THE
PUBLIC
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5 Major Challenges in
Bioengineering

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1. Safe and Sustainable Water and Food Supply
2. Personalized Health Care
3. Solutions to Injury and Chronic Diseases
4. Global Health Through Infectious Disease
Prevention and Therapy
5. Sustainable Bioenergy Production

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9.3 Billion people
(By 2050) Threat to natural
habitats
Global demand for
food, water, fuel

7.7 Billion people

Biodiversity loss
(September 2019)

Engineering a Safe and Sustainable

Water and Food Supply Kennedy P. Limbo 39
“water, water, everywhere, nor any
drop to drink”

Lack of access to clean water

results in more deaths in the world
than does war.

Engineering a Safe and Sustainable

Water and Food Supply
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INDIA
• 1.37 billion people (Sept. 2019)
• 21 cities are poised to run out of
groundwater by 2020
• In Chennai, dry period lasted for
200 days
• 200 000 die every year

Engineering a Safe and Sustainable

Water and Food Supply
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Nearly half of the world population
lives with water scarcity for
drinking, cooking, and sanitation
needs.

Killing 780 000 people around the

world yearly

Engineering a Safe and Sustainable

Water and Food Supply
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CLIMATE APARTHEID
only the wealthy can afford basic
resources in the face of fatal
droughts, famine and heatwaves.

Engineering a Safe and Sustainable

Water and Food Supply
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WHAT CAN BE DONE?

Improve Food Safety Through Engineering Innovations

• Fast, reliable, inexpensive, and accurate detection of bacteria causing
illnesses in fresh and prepared foods
• Use of biologically based and engineered sensors and anticontamination
processes

Engineering a Safe and Sustainable

Water and Food Supply
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WHAT CAN BE DONE?

Implement Improved Policies for the Management of Water, Soil,

and Air
• RA 9003: Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000
• RA 9275: Philippine Clean Water Act of 2004
• RA 8749: Philippine Clean Air Act of 1999
• RA 6969: Toxic Substances, Hazardous, Nuclear Waste Control Act of
1990

Engineering a Safe and Sustainable

Water and Food Supply
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WHAT CAN BE DONE?

Engineer Sustainable Food Production Systems for the Growing

World Population
• Use man-made fertilizers, nano-fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides
• Large-scale sustainable agriculture production without taxing water,
land, and energy resources

Engineering a Safe and Sustainable

Water and Food Supply
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WHAT CAN BE DONE?
• Discover Concepts, Based on Analogies Among Different Levels
of Biological Systems, to Guide Applications of Biology
• similarities and connections from microbial to ecological levels of living
things

• Improve the Framework for research, Monitoring, and Regulation

of GMOs
• Higher yield of agricultural products with resistance to drought, disease,
pests

Engineering a Safe and Sustainable

Water and Food Supply
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 Remote monitoring of
patient’s compliance
Relationships between Matching treatments
patient’s environment and to an individual’s
health genetic profile for
Risk factors better efficacy and
Diagnostic features and fewer side effects
therapies

Engineering Personalized Health Care

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WHAT CAN BE DONE?

Create New Medical Diagnosis Capabilities by Utilizing a

Universal Medical Image Database
• Worldwide collection and sorting of diseases
• Development of automated machine-vision-based diagnosis algorithms

Engineering Personalized Health Care

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WHAT CAN BE DONE?

Improve Health Care by Developing and Implementing an Electronic

Health Records System that Insures Privacy and Security
• Better transfer of medical records among providers
• Fewer errors due to inadequate information
• Evidence-based medicine and treatment prescription by tracking the efficacy of
treatments to individual with particularity
• Health trends and disease patterns

Engineering Personalized Health Care

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WHAT CAN BE DONE?

Utilize Genomic Discoveries for Disease Prevention and

Treatment
• Targeting of specific pathways
• Characterization of subtypes of diseases

Engineering Personalized Health Care

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WHAT CAN BE DONE?

Improve Early Diagnosis and Treatment of Disease Through

Improved Methods for Noninvasive Medical Imaging
• Improve diagnostic precision, reduce cost, early detection

Engineering Personalized Health Care

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WHAT CAN BE DONE?

Reverse-Engineer the Brain

• Nueronal regeneration – wiring nerve endings, guiding neurons back to
their original target end-organs
• Reduce traumatic effect on nearby organs
• Blindness, spinal cord injury

Engineering Personalized Health Care

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 Replacement Regenerative
medicine medicine

Stimulation of human cells to perform

their own division, repairing,
reprogramming
- cell-based therapies

Engineering Solutions to Injury and

Chronic Diseases
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MULTIDISCIPLINARY NATURE OF BIOENGINEERING
• led to fragments and lack of standardization in research
methods and publications

Establish Protocols and Standardized Experimental Procedures

• Accelerate “discovery to clinic practice” transition

Engineering Solutions to Injury and

Chronic Diseases
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Creation of “Smart Biomaterials” and Smart Devices for In
Vitro and In Vivo Applications
• materials changing properties based on pH, temperature, etc

Shifting from “Scar” Producing Biomaterials to

Regenerative
• prevention of scar tissue or walled-off biomaterial
• Promotion of healing and integration with the body

Engineering Solutions to Injury and

Chronic Diseases
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Neural Engineering to Treat Alzheimer’s disease
Non-invasive Pacemakers
Understanding of Organ Regeneration

Engineering Solutions to Injury and

Chronic Diseases
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Improve Diagnostics and Therapeutics in Resource-Poor
Environments
• Low cost, low energy, high stability in wide range of environmental
conditions
• Vaccines that do not require refrigeration

Engineering Global Health by Preventing

and Treating Infectious Diseases
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Search for and understanding of organisms
which can capture and convert solar energy to
reduce dependence on fossil fuels.

Discover, invent, and identify breakthroughs to

increase energy yield efficiencies.

Scavenging energy from sources in the body and

environment to power medical devices and sensors

Engineering Sustainable Bioenergy

Production
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RA 9367: BIOFUELS ACT OF 2006

Sec 2d: “ ensure the availability of alternative and

renewable clean energy without any detriment to the
natural ecosystem, biodiversity, and food reserves of
the country”

Engineering Sustainable Bioenergy

Production
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RA 9367: BIOFUELS ACT OF 2006

Sec 5.2: “a minimum of 10% blend of bioethanol by

volume into all gasoline fuel distributed and sold by
each and every oil company in the country”

Engineering Sustainable Bioenergy

Production
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