DOST Chief’s target: PHL in top 1/3 of global innovation ranking by 2022
The Philippines’ jump to 50 in its ranking in Global Innovation Index (GII) from 54 in 2019, or 50 ranks improvement from its 100 rank in 2014, a mere six years ago, was announced on September 2.
But just two days after the worldwide simultaneous announcement of the rankings, Science Secretary Fortunato T. de la Peña expressed his “modest target of 43rd rank” for the Philippines or “to reach the top onethird in the ranking” by 2022.
De la Peña announced his target during the webinar on September 4 on the “Overview of the Philippine Ranking in the Global Innovation Index 2020” that was attended by Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon Lopez, other government officials and World Intellectual Property Office executives.
“We believe that with our wholeof-government approach [WOGA] and now whole-of-nation approach we can climb up to a higher level,» he said.
Stating how the Philippines reached its 50 rank, he said the country’s rise in ranking, which he called a “victorious” event, “was not an accident”
“This is a culmination of our strategy in putting innovovation at the center stage of our policy-making initiative which fortified out capacity as a country to be to strong, resilient and adaptable to change,” he said.
“This is the result of our whole-ofgovernment approach, and at this time we call it a whole-of-nation approach. We credit the results coming from private business and industry sector, from the academe from everyone, from all the stakeholders,” he said.
The GII is jointly developed by Cornell University, Insead, and the World Intellectual Property Organization, a specialized agency of the United Nations. This year, the 13th edition of the GII is themed: “Who Will Finance Innovation?”
Impact of GII ranking on new normal
AT a separate webinar with the media on September 2, when asked about the impact of the Philippines’ GII ranking during the new normal amid the pandemic, de la Peña said it “would generate a bigger level of confidence both in terms of our investors and those who would like to invest here in our country.”
he said the GII ranking, like other rankings, “brings more confidence to our country. The higher the ranking the better.”
he said this is the time when we need to give hope and inspiration to people, particularly the young.
“hearing good news out of the daily depressing news is something we are proud to give,” he added.
he explained that in the past few year the interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) courses has increased.
From 30,000 level in applications for scholarship exams six years ago has increased to 130,000 applications.
But more importantly, he said, having a higher GII will give some ideas to the young on how to use innovation to improve lives, even to create wealth.
“We have many young people who have accumulated wealth honestly through their innovation-led businesses,” de la Peña said.
he said the government has been trying to encourage tech-based enterprises that are science based, and “if people will know that we are doing good in terms of innovation, it can encourage people to go and try technology-based business.”
he pointed out, though, that not all innovations that are productive will need big investments.
“What is important is that you try to determine which market you are targeting and whether your innovation will meet the demand of the market,” he explained.
“Today we are experiencing a very different environment and this calls for a lot of changes. even the enterprises that we are assisting are trying to repurpose or reorient to adjust to the new environment. This calls for a lot of innovative or creative ideas,” de la Peña added.
Low input, big output
IN the September 2 webinar, Undersecretary Rowena Cristina Guevara noted that in terms of Innovation Inputs, the Philippines ranked 70, but it ranked 41 in terms of Innovation Output.
That means, she said that “Filipinos are efficient innovators. We have more output even with less input.”
She explained that the country improved its ranking despite the low budget because it has “a lot of human resource in S&T.”
She said that 13 years ago the number of MS and PHD graduates of Department of Science and Technology (DOST) scholarships was about 17 only but it increased in the last four years to 400 to 500 MS and PHD graduates.
“They are the source of innovations all over the country,” she said.
She added: “even with a limited budget of DOST, but because we are targeting specific sectors and we have the harmonized research and development [R&D] agenda, and we have been putting up centers for R&D all over the country, all of these contributed to where we are now in our ranking.”
De la Peña added that innovations in the country are coming from different stakeholders. he also gave credit to universities that are into R&D and are aligning into the harmonized national R&D agenda.
Filipinnovation
De LA Peña, one of the authors featured in the GII 2020 who wrote Chapter 8 of the report on “Filipinnovation: Financing science for the people,” highlighted how the Philippines attained its sustained growth in innovation.
he said the Philippines’ scoring above average in almost all innovation dimensions was a result of various DOST contributions to inclusive innovation.
On top of which is the Filipinnovation program since 2007, where the whole-of-government approach (WOGA) to inclusive innovation was jointly decided by the DOST, Department of Trade and Industry, the National economic Development Authority, together with representatives from the academe, industry and civil society organizations.
To support national development and sustainable economic growth, WOGA was applied in creating the Philippine Innovation Act in 2019.
Science for Change
The other program that contributed to the rise in innovation climate in the country is the Dost-science for Change Program (S4CP). It took the lead in government programs in funding innovation efforts through massive increase in investments in science and technology, human resource and development, and R&D projects.
The S4CP sub-program that was created to accelerate science technology and innovation (STI) in the country to keep up with global developments was the Niche Centers in the Regions for R&D Program (NICER). It provides grants to academic institutions in the regions to catalyze and promote regional economic development.
As of August 2020, DOST has established 23 NICERS in 16 regions for a total funding of P852 million. The centers cover the priority areas/ commodity/product in agriculture, aquatic and marine, environment, industry, energy, emerging technology and health.
Another S4C Program, dubbed as Collaborative Research and Development to Leverage Philippine economy, encourages academe-industry collaborations to conduct research. To date, the program has forged 49 partnerships with P222 million total grants awarded to 32 academe and 50 industry partners. As a continuing initiative,
Human resource development
SINCE 2007, the Dost-science education Institute has been implementing two graduate scholarship programs for science and engineering called the Accelerated Science and Technology human Resource Development Program and the engineering Research and Development for Technology.
Starting from just 17 graduates in 2008, DOST-SEI has produced 400 to 500 MS and PHD graduates per year in the last four years.
The Balik Scientist Program is another program that highly contributed to the country’s innovation. This program facilitates Filipino experts working abroad to return to the Philippines and share their expertise with students, teachers and local industry players.
The result of these efforts is evidenced in the country’s innovation profile showing top 25 rankings for indicators, such as Graduates in science and engineering, Market capitalization, Research talent in business enterprises and high-technology manufacturing.
Guevara said: “With the high marks achieved by our country in the latest GII, R&D provides us the opportunity to change and mold the shape of our country’s recovery from the pandemic.”