title: UC InTTO Launches Cohort 9, Bringing a New Class of Startup Founders into Baguio's University Incubation Pipeline

subheadline: The University of the Cordilleras' Innovation and Technology Transfer Office kicked off its ninth incubation cohort on March 6, with a session built around one idea: founders need the right mindset before they need anything else.

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The University of the Cordilleras Innovation and Technology Transfer Office (UC InTTO) officially launched its Cohort 9 Startup Incubation Program on March 6, 2026, welcoming a new batch of incubatees into what has become one of Baguio's more consistent university-based startup programs. The kickoff session covered program orientation, IP basics, and the cohort's incubation roadmap — and ended with each incubatee signing a mutual commitment contract with the InTTO team.

Nine cohorts in, UC InTTO has built enough of a track record to make this launch meaningful rather than routine. Each new cohort represents another group of Cordillera-based founders moving through a structured pathway from idea to viable startup — inside a university that has chosen to treat that process as a core institutional function.

What Happened at the Kickoff

The session opened with an introduction to InTTO and a walkthrough of the incubation roadmap — the milestones, checkpoints, and support mechanisms the cohort will move through over the program period. Alongside the logistics, the kickoff featured an Entrepreneurial Mindsetting Session delivered by Mr. Wilson Capuyan, a startup founder who drew from his own experience to make a point that tends to get left out of formal program orientations: pivoting isn't failure, it's the work. Plans change as founders learn. Adaptability isn't a backup plan — it's the plan.

That framing matters, especially for first-time founders inside a university setting where iteration can feel like falling behind. Hearing it from someone who has lived the process — rather than read about it — is the kind of session that tends to stick.

What the Incubation Program Offers

UC InTTO's program provides structured support for early-stage ventures developed within and connected to the University of the Cordilleras. Incubatees get access to a defined roadmap with key milestones, mentorship, IP guidance, and the institutional backing of InTTO — which sits at the intersection of the university's research and innovation functions. The mutual commitment contract signed at the close of the kickoff formalizes the relationship: both the incubatees and the InTTO team are accountable to the process.

For students and faculty at UC with projects that have commercial potential, the InTTO program is one of the most accessible structured entry points into Baguio's startup ecosystem. It doesn't require a finished product or prior business experience — it requires a commitment to go through the process seriously.

What This Means for the Broader Ecosystem

UC InTTO reaching Cohort 9 is worth pausing on. Most university-based incubation programs in the Philippines struggle to sustain momentum past the first few cohorts — funding cycles shift, faculty champions move on, and institutional priorities change. A ninth cohort means the program has survived those pressures and kept running. For the Baguio-Cordillera ecosystem, that kind of continuity inside a university is exactly the foundation that Cordi INSPIRE and other incoming initiatives will need to build on. The pipeline of founders that UC InTTO has been quietly building over several years is an asset the wider ecosystem should know better.

Students and faculty at the University of the Cordilleras with early-stage ideas can reach out to UC InTTO directly to learn about future cohort timelines. For ecosystem partners — TBIs, LGUs, and programs like TARAKI-CAR — Cohort 9 is a ready cohort worth engaging as their ventures develop.