Science for Change Program bill gets House committee approval
THe House committee on appropriations approved the Science for change program (S4cp) bill that was proposed by the Department of Science and technology (Dost) on august 4.
Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, pangasinan Fourth District Rep. christopher De venecia and Science Secretary Fortunato t. de la pena spoke on behalf of the approved substitute bill, citing the important role of science and technology in helping the philippines overcome the covid-19 pandemic and strengthen its resiliency, a news release from the Dost S4cp said.
“When I returned to congress in 2016, I convened the National Scientists, members of the academe and leading officials of the Dost to craft a national framework for scientific development,” Salceda said.
“We were alarmed by the data from the World Bank, which showed that out of 90 countries the philippines only beats algeria and Sudan for R&D [research and development] spending per capita. and in terms in share of GDP, we beat only algeria, Iran and Indonesia.”
Given the rapid demand for innovation during the pandemic, the bill aims to addresses disparity in R&D funding in the regions and lack of R&D in the private sector.
Health concerns presented by covid-19 tested the country’s ability to respond to public emergencies. S4cp will also provide scientific solutions to national problems such as health innovations, transportation, nutrition, food security, food safety and disaster response and risk management
“With approved and implemented S4cp bill, there will be continuing support from government, industry and academe to STI for inclusive, equitable and sustainable development,” de la peña said.
“There will be continuing increase in technology-based and value-adding business investments both foreign and domestic due to a conducive STI supported economic environment; and more self-reliance because of more capable and more confident technology stakeholders,” he added.
While the United Nations educational, Scientific and cultural organization (Unesco) benchmark for a developing country is a budget of 1 percent of the GDP expenditure on R&D, the S4cp bill is pushing for the allocation of 2 percent in the General appropriations act for R&D within the next five years.
the philippines’ R&D budget is currently at 0.47 percent in the 2021 General appropriations act.
Despite the relatively low inputs given to the science, technology and innovation initiatives in the country, the Dost has achieved significant milestones in scientific output as it implemented its four sub-programs of the S4cp since 2016.
Among the four sub-programs of its S4cp, the Dost has funded 38 Niche centers in the Regions for R&D (Nicer) in 17 regions with allotted funding of p1.89 billion for universities and R&D Institutes (RDIS) in the region.
Another S4cp sub-program is the Rdlead which deployed 42 R&D Leaders in 16 regions who are tasked to share their expertise and promote regional development.
The collaborative Research and Development to Leverage philippine economy (cradle) program created partnerships between private companies and the academe/ RDIS to solve their problems using R&D.
The cradle program funded 71 partnerships in 10 regions with a total funding of p324.5 million.
The Business Innovation through S&t for Industry (BIST) program encourage private companies to invest in R&D.
BIST was designed for government to share the risk by shouldering 70 percent of the cost of the R&D equipment. the program has provided financial assistance to three companies in their R&D efforts with a total allotted funding of p32.6 million.
“The economic Development cluster supports the Science for change bill and we will abide by the DOF [Department of Finance] and DBM [Department of Budget and Management] suggestion not to create a special fund but instead propose to allocate a larger budget to Dost for its priority programs and projects,” de la peña said.
“[The proposal is to start] at p10 billion for 2022 and increasing each year in the next five years until it reaches 2 percent of the Gaa,” de la peña added.
Once approved into a law, the S4cp will promote inclusive, equitable and sustainable development through the optimal use of the R&D budget allocated to different government department and agencies.
It will give rise to more national centers of excellence in R&D which are on a par with international counterparts, and impact social and economic development of the country.