House panel OKs ‘Science for Change’ bill
The House committee on science and technology has approved a bill that aims to boost the country’s scientific innovations and inventions as well as research and development for social progress and global competitiveness.
House Bill 4581 or “Science for Change Program (S4CP) Act” is designed to help accelerate science, technology and innovation developments and enable the country to keep up with current global technology and innovation trends, said the bill’s author Albay Rep. Joey Salceda.
S4CP was launched by the house committee on science and technology chaired by Bohol Rep. Erico Aristotle Aumentado. When enacted, it will be implemented by the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).
The bill proposes a budget of P21 billion for research and development next year, doubling yearly in the next five years and reaching P672 billion by 2022.
Salceda said the S4CP would focus on four core concerns – science program expansion, new programs, science and technology human resource development, and accelerated R&D program for capacity building of R&D institutions and industrial competitiveness.
For a country to be industrialized, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization recommends that it should have 380 researchers, scientists and engineers (RSE) per million population doing R&D studies, with one percent of GDP being invested in R&D, he explained.
Based on a DOST 2013 R&D survey, the Philippines has only 270 RSEs per million population, hence the need to increase the number by 110 in the coming years.