The Philippines skyrockets from 73rd to 54th place out of 129 countries in the 2019 Global Innovation Index (GII), scoring 36.18 this year from last year’s 31.56.
The country’s scores significantly increased in five of the GII’s eight pillars:
1) Institutions;
2) Infrastructure;
3) Business Sophistication;
4) Knowledge & Technology Outputs;
5) Creative Outputs.
“This is great news for our nation and our innovation ecosystem as a whole. It recognizes the efforts of the various government agencies like DTI, DOST, and NEDA in advancing innovation among our people and MSMEs, creating an innovative culture, as well as in building linkages with academe and industry,” said Secretary Ramon Lopez.
“With President Duterte’s signing into law of the Philippine Innovation Act (RA11293) and Innovative Startup Act (RA11337), we expect further improvements in our ranking as we intensify our efforts to build our country’s innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem, accelerate and globalize our startups, and better prepare our MSMEs and industries for the Fourth Industrial Revolution,” added Secretary Lopez.
The country’s score and rankings in the GII’s input and output sub-indices improved. From 39.14 in 2018 and ranking 82nd, the Philippine input sub-index score has risen to 41.68 and ranks 76th. From 23.98 in 2018 and ranking 68th, the Philippine output sub-index score has increased to 30.68 and ranks 42nd.
The GII 2019 notes that among the Philippines’s strengths are the percentage of tertiary graduates in science and engineering; e-participation; percentage of firms offering formal training; trade, competition, and market scale; knowledge absorption; knowledge diffusion; and creative goods exports.
“With innovation at the heart of our Inclusive Innovation Industrial Strategy (i3S) and the implementation of the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Delivery of Government Services, the DTI is confident that we can further improve our innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem. In collaboration with DOST and other national government agencies and our partners from industry and the academic community, our focus is in strengthening our human capital, building our capacity for research and development, and facilitating technology transfer and the conduct and commercialization of market-oriented research,” remarked Undersecretary for Competitiveness and Innovation Rafaelita Aldaba.
Together with DOST, NEDA, DA, DICT, CHED, and DepEd, the DTI formulated and is implementing the Inclusive Filipinnovation and Entrepreneurship Roadmap. The Roadmap aims to bridge the gaps in the country’s innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem towards fostering connected and creative communities across the country. Through Regional Inclusive Innovation Centers (RIICs), the DTI envisions the transformation of the country’s regions into productive and innovative economic growth centers.
