DTI Secretary Ramon Lopez
MANILA – Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Ramon Lopez said on Tuesday the government will continue its programs and introduce policies to drive innovation in the country.
In a virtual presser on the Philippines’ ranking in the Global Innovation Index (GII) 202, Lopez said the country has strengthened its national and regional innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystems through government-industry-academe collaboration while enabling a strong business and policy environment, as well as upskilling the creative talent pool.
He added innovation opened huge potential for the country by attracting high-value investments and upgrading industrial competitiveness that would create more jobs in the market.
“We have seen that with the right collaborators, our country’s entrepreneurial and innovative people can boost and optimize their discovery potential and serve as a primary engine of economic development especially amidst the Fourth Industrial Revolution,” Lopez said.
In the GII 2021, the country slipped a notch to 51st spot from 50th last year.
The Philippines ranks 4th among lower middle-income countries in the latest GII, behind Vietnam, India, and Ukraine, but ahead of Mongolia, Moldova, Tunisia, Morocco, Kenya, and Tanzania.
The GII 2021 measures innovation performance of 132 economies using seven pillars --institutions, human capital and research, infrastructure, market sophistication, business sophistication, knowledge and technology outputs, and creative outputs.
The DTI chief underscored the country’s innovation ecosystem strengths in the GII report.
“This year, we continue to perform better in terms of innovation outputs compared to our innovation inputs. This means that we were able to produce more and higher-quality innovation outputs despite our limited innovation resources and pandemic-induced setbacks. This is reflected in the GII observation that the Philippines continues to be among the countries that perform above expectations given our current level of development,” Lopez said.
The country ranked 40th in innovation outputs and 72nd in innovation inputs.
In the sub-pillars, the Philippines ranked first globally in high-technology exports and imports in terms of share in trade and 10th in creative goods exports in terms of share in trade.
“The report also points out salient indicators that merit stronger future policy action, including ease of getting credit, inflow of venture capital, creation of new businesses, ease of doing business, and attracting global corporate R&D (research and development) investments,” Lopez added.
He said the administration envisioned innovation as a catalyst for new growth opportunities, creating better and more jobs, and building industrial competitiveness towards a more comfortable life for Filipinos. (PNA)
