The newly installed director of the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) has envisioned his agency's strategic role in pushing for inclusive innovation and academe-industry-government interconnectivity towards "Agriculture 4.0" and achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
This, as SEARCA recently held the investiture rites for Dr. Glenn B. Gregorio as the 11th SEARCA Director.
A distinguished rice scientist and Academician of the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) of the Philippines, Gregorio is also currently a Professor at the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB).
He brings to SEARCA his wide experience from three decades of work with the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and later as the global lead of breeding programs of the East-West Seed Company, Inc.
Gregorio assumed office as SEARCA Director in May 2019 and has since led the Center in crafting its strategic plan for the next five years, from 2020 to 2025.
"SEARCA will strategically and intentionally pursue policy, institutional, social, and technological innovation by and with their partners over time. It will develop platforms that can deliver its strategic outcomes which are significantly better, bigger, and smarter," Gregorio said.
Hosted by the Philippine government on the campus of UPLB, SEARCA is one of the oldest specialist institutions of the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO).
SEARCA was founded in 1966 to serve the agricultural and rural development needs of Southeast Asian countries through graduate education and training, research, and knowledge dissemination.