The Philippines moved up four places in the 2020 Global Innovation Index (GII), improving from its 54th place 2019 to 50th spot this year.
Among the 29 economies that belong to the lower middle-income countries, the Philippines managed to reach fourth place and ranked 11th among the 17 economies in South East Asia, East Asia, and Oceania.
The Philippines performed well along with the innovation achievers like China, Vietnam, and India in the overall GII innovation ranking over the given period. The Philippines has moved up by 50 notches in six years from the time the country ranked 100th in 2014.
DOST secretary Fortunato T. de la Peña, one of the authors featured in the GII 2020, took note of the country’s GII ranking and stated: “The strategy of putting innovation at the center stage of our policy-making initiatives fortified our capacity as a country to be strong, resilient and adaptable to change. Even with the problems brought by Covid-19, we have shown that innovation through R&D is the key to survival and success in the new environment.”
The GII is jointly developed by Cornell University, INSEAD, and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), a specialized agency of the United Nations. This year, the 13th edition of the GII is themed: “Who Will Finance Innovation?”
The GII has two sub-indices: Innovation Input and Innovation Output. The Philippine ranking in Innovation Input rose to 70 in 2020, from 76th in 2019 and 86th in 2018. This can be attributed to the increasing investment of the government in research and development (R&D).
The country also improved in Innovation Output scoring at 41st this year compared to 42nd and 68th in 2019 and 2018 respectively.
“R&D programs such as Science for Change provides an enabling platform where government, academic, and industry players in the country collectively pursue market-oriented research that directly addresses the needs of specific sectors,” said DOST undersecretary for R&D Rowena Cristina L. Guevara. “With the high marks achieved by our country in the latest GII, R&D provides us the opportunity to change and mold the shape of our country’s recovery from the pandemic.”
