Continued innovation to help Philippines upgrade income status

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines would have to ramp up its innovation strategies to ensure sustained upgrade of its goal toward a high-income country status.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Chua, as chair of the first National Innovation Council (NIC) meeting, emphasized the need to promote innovative solutions and raise the country’s overall productivity.

Chua said higher productivity would allow the Philippines to graduate from its current low middle-income country status to upper-middle income country status by the end of the year and eventually grow to high-income status.

“For the Filipino people, it means living without poverty and having equal opportunities to succeed,” he said.

This is also part of the AmBisyon Natin 2040, which is the long-term vision and aspirations of the Filipino people for themselves and for the country in the years to come.

While the Philippines is on track to achieve the upper-middle income country status this year, Chua maintained that sustaining such a level depends on the country’s ability to innovate in an increasingly competitive and resource-constrained world.

“A strong economic foundation built on inclusive innovation will be crucial in raising overall productivity and bringing prosperity to the people,” he said.

The full implementation of the Philippine Innovation Act will also solidify the country’s growth prospects and improve its global innovation index by encouraging more research, development, and adaptation of new technologies.

Currently, the NIC is developing the National Innovation Agenda and Strategy Document (NIASD), which is a 10-year foresight that will weave and harmonize existing policies and strategies based on the evolving innovation ecosystems.

The document will be formulated through a series of co-creation workshops with the NIC member agencies and other stakeholders, and be guided by the Philippine Innovation Toolkit.

To enhance the innovation capacity of the Philippines, all government agencies are mandated to comply with the NIASD and pursue its attainment through a collective national effort.