Dr Evelyn B. Taboada

Dean and professor of the School of Engineering at the University of San Carlos (USC) in Cebu City, Philippines

Dr Taboada’s research interests include bioprocess engineering, integrated food/water/waste/energy engineering, and the relevance of intellectual property to society. She is a two-time awardee of the prestigious WIPO Gold Medal for Inventors for her technological innovations and outstanding achievement in utilizing intellectual property for social and economic development. She also received the Outstanding Engineering Achievement Award from the ASEAN Federation of Engineering Organizations (AFEO) in Penang, Malaysia and the maiden Prize for Engineering Excellence Award from the Manila Water Foundation in 2015.

She completed her PhD in Biochemical Engineering (2005) and advanced Master’s degree in Biotechnology (2001) from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. She also received her MSc in Chemical Engineering (1998) at the University of the Philippines (Diliman) and her BSc in Chemical Engineering (Cum Laude) at USC in 1991. She also completed her Master of Laws in Intellectual Property (LLM-IP) from the University of Torino (Italy) and WIPO Academy (Geneva, Switzerland) in 2011. She is a registered and practicing patent attorney in the Philippines. She represents the Philippines on the executive board of the Asian Federation of Biotechnology. She is also a member of the Technical Committee on Chemical Engineering of the Philippine Commission on Higher Education. Currently, she is also serving as COO of a start-up company in the Philippines, GEMS Inc., which is the first mango waste biorefinery in the world.