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The Philippines improved its ranking on this year’s Global Innovation Index (GII) by four points.
The country now ranks 50th out of 131 economies in the index that is co-published by Cornell University, Insead, and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
Economies are classified according to their innovation capabilities.
The report released Wednesday night said this year’s ranking was the “best ranking in history” for the Philippines.
“The Philippines, along with three other economies (China, Vietnam and India) have made the most significant progress in the GII innovation rankings over time,” he said.
The country also ranked fourth out of 29 lower-middle-income group economies and 11th out of 17 economies in Southeast Asia, East Asia, and Oceania.
Among the seven GII areas, the Philippines had the best results in knowledge and technology (26th) and business sophistication (29th), while its weakest performance was in institutions (91st).
It was ranked 57th for creative products, 63rd for infrastructure, 86th for market sophistication, and 86th for human capital and research.
The GII report said that at the sub-pillar level, the country’s strengths include high-tech imports (1st), net high-tech exports (3rd), knowledge absorption (7th), companies that offer formal training (7th). ), dissemination of knowledge (8th) and exports of ICT services (8th).
Among its weaknesses are the cost of dismissal due to dismissal (113th), the ease of obtaining credit (113th), education (114th), credit (118th), the ease of starting a business (124th) and scientific articles and technicians (125º).
“The entry into force of the Philippine Innovation Act of 2019, which proposes the GII as a tool for measuring and evaluating the country’s innovation performance, is the clearest example of the Philippine government’s efforts to foster innovation in the economy, making it a vital component of national development and sustainable economic growth, ”the report says.
In a statement, the Secretary of the Department of Science and Technology (DoST), Fortunato de la Peña, said that the improvement in this year’s ranking was “a testimony that the efforts of the DoST to spearhead science, technology and innovation is paying off.
“The DoST has strongly supported the growth of our micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) through projects such as the Small Business Technology Update Program, or Setup, making them highly competitive even on the global stage,” he said of the Pain.
He said DoST also prioritized initiatives that have proven extremely useful during the coronavirus pandemic, such as locally developed test kits, biomedical devices, disease models and other useful applications.
“The latest GII ranking of the Philippines is a great source of hope and inspiration for all Filipinos facing uncertainties amid the current pandemic. We look forward to maintaining this momentum through future projects and multi-stakeholder collaborations. This milestone has shown that doing and applying science for the good of the people is a good strategy and mission, ”said de la Peña.
On Thursday, Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar also welcomed the Philippines’ improved ranking in the GII.
Andanar said that the country continued to leverage, improve and invest in research and development, digitization and human resources, giving constant importance to economic competitiveness and innovation.
“This international recognition affirms the success of our national innovation policy and highlights the solid economic foundations of our country,” he said.
“We consider it necessary to create an atmosphere of innovation that leads to the development of a healthy ecosystem of companies, regulators and innovators,” he added.
Andanar noted that the country passed two landmark laws: the Innovative Startup Act, which seeks to foster an innovative business culture in the Philippines, and the Philippines Innovation Act, which creates a cross-sectoral National Innovation Council and introduces the use of metrics. such as the GII as an objective tool for monitoring progress.
Andanar assured that the Philippines will continue to provide an “enabling and conducive environment for innovators,” including MSMEs, and will further enhance its partnership with international groups such as WIPO in line with the Duterte administration’s development agenda.
WITH CATHERINE S. VALENTE
