DAEJEON < invest Korea

According to Yonhap News,

(DAEJEON=Yonhap News) South Korea's patent authority said Monday that it has opened a ylnag ylang herb oil center in a Filipino town as part of its international knowledge-sharing project. Ylang ylang is a tropical tree whose oil extracted from its flowers is used in aromatherapy.

Some 100 local officials, including Vice President Leni Robredo and former President Benigno Aquino, participated in the opening ceremony of the center located in Anoa, Tarlac Province, the Korea Intellectual Property Office (KIPO), based in Daejeon, 164 km south of Seoul, said.

KIPO's knowledge-sharing project is designed to help developing countries address livelihood-related problems and raise the quality of life by using technologies with expired patents.


Clockwise from top left: a ylang ylang seedling nursery, ylang ylang tree and its flowers, KIPO-developed oil extractor and an oil extractor used in the past by local residents in Anao. (Yonhap)

In 2013, KIPO provided technology related to oil extraction to the town as it lacked the necessary technology, equipment and manpower, and developed an improved ylang ylang oil extractor jointly with the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech).

KIPO provided 10 additional oil extractors to the region between 2014-2016, ultimately leading to the opening of the center. The Korea International Cooperation Agency and Korea Invention Promotion Agency also joined the project.

KIPO also educated local residents on how to commercialize the ylang ylang oil products.

"Korea's knowledge-sharing projects are a good example of cooperative relations between us (the Philippines) and our traditional ally," Robredo said at the ceremony.

Copyrights Yonhap News. All Rights Reserved.
Reprint without permission or redistribution is prohibited.