Global index shows PH gains in innovation

TRADE Secretary Ramon Lopez said there is a need to continuously invest in research and development, and innovation to sustain economic growth and further improve the country’s ranking in the Global Innovation Index (GII).

In a statement, Lopez said the country’s recent ranking in the GII proved the Philippines is among the world’s most innovative economies.

The Philippines’ ranking went up by four notches to number 50 out of 131 economies.

This is the first time that the Philippines breached the top 50 of the GII, which recognized the country as an “innovation achiever” for the second year in a row.

The country’s rankings in the

GII’s input and output sub-indices continues to improve year-on-year.

From a rank of 76th in 2019, the Philippine input sub- index rank rose to 70th, and from a rank of 42nd in 2019, the Philippine output sub-index rank moved up to 41st.

Furthermore, the country’s rankings significantly increased from last year’s in four of the GII’s seven pillars: market sophistication (110th to 86th); business sophistication (32nd to 29th); knowledge and technology outputs (31st to 26th); and creative outputs (63rd to 57th).

The GII 2020 said that the Philippines’s strengths include trade, competition, and market scale ( 20th); knowledge absorption (7th); knowledge diffusion (8th); utility models by origin (8th); productivity growth (6th); high-tech net exports ( 3rd); information and communications technology services exports (8th); firms offering formal training ( 7th); creative goods exports ( 10th); e-participation (19th); and hightech imports (1st).

“Together with the Department of Science and Technology, the National Economic and Development Authority, the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines and other national government agencies, we are delighted to see that our efforts to develop the country’s innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem are bearing fruit,” said Lopez.

“We are also committed to sustaining our gains in fostering a culture of innovation among our micro, small and medium enterprises, as well as enabling the close collaboration between industry and the academe. Both of these are crucial as we endure the pandemic and we push to revitalize businesses, investments, livelihoods and domestic demand,” he added.

Lopez said he is confident the Philippines can improve its innovation performance and move up the GII in the coming years, especially with the implementation of the “Philippine Innovation Act and Innovative Startups Act.”

“Filipinnovation will remain central to sustaining our competitiveness and national development through this pandemic and beyond,” he added.