The University of San Agustin, through its Innovation and Technology Support Office (ITSO), has once again trailblazed a historic first in Iloilo City. It was the creation of their university’s e-commerce – eMerch, a shortened term for e-merchandise.
This 2-year project of the University ITSO was envisioned in 2019 when the need for the university’s intellectual property to be commercialized arose. In 2018, the university logo was granted a trademark registration; thus, the idea of commercializing and giving value to the mark came to mind.
Amidst the pandemic in 2020, the University ITSO decided to commercialize digitally and establish the University e-commerce. The ITSO benchmarked the local e-commerce of other universities in Western Visayas but found that none existed then. It was then that they fortified the idea to pursue the eMerch project.
The USA-eMerch launched with 17 manuals from the Medical Laboratory Science, the pilot program of ITSO for its commercialization project: the Pharmacy and Biology Programs. The manuals are in a digital format, which upon purchase, the manual shall generate a specialized license to the purchaser to lower the number of infringement incidents in the university. This is part of the Intellectual Property mandate of the ITSO – the University Intellectual Property office.
The portal allows students, faculty, and alumni to purchase university merchandise using GCash, PayMaya, or GrabPay. All online merchandise can be picked up at the University of San Agustin Bookstore.
Experience excellent e-commerce, with eMerch. Visit e-merch.usa.edu.ph. (gqg/ITSO)
