Philippines steadily climbing in innovation index
The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) wishes to update Peter Wallace in his column (“More engineers and scientists, please,” 9/12/19) regarding the Philippines’ ranking in the recent Global Innovation Index, which actually showed that for 2019, we jumped 19 places to 54th from 73rd last year. This was the biggest leap over the years, which still showed a steady climb from 100th in 2014 to 83rd in 2015, 74th in 2016, 73rd in 2017 and in 2018.
Our performance was strongest in these pillars:
Research talent (#6)
Graduates in science and engineering (#18)
Firms offering formal training (#9)
University/industry research collaboration (#25)
Knowledge absorption (#14)
Creative Goods and Services (#40)
University ranking (#51)
Our high performance in the human resource aspects reflects the DOST’s relentless efforts to produce the country’s pool of science and technology professionals.
In 2019 alone, we provided scholarships to 9,853 undergraduates, 6,068 MS and 1,188 Ph.D. students. For the period 2015-2018, there were 9,213 undergraduates, 3,791 MS and 983 Ph.D. graduates who were DOST scholars.
With the passage of the Philippine Innovation Act and the Innovative Startup Act, we will remain at the frontline of efforts to provide opportunities for these scientists and engineers to maximize their potential through support in different capacities.
While we still lag in some aspects like gross expenditure on research and development (#98) and scientific and technical articles (#123), we are committed to continue our pursuit of enabling change in the country through science, technology and innovation. We are firm in our resolve to create a lasting impact on and for the Filipino people through the advances in science and technology we are supporting.
We join Wallace’s call to direct the spotlight to our indefatigable scientific workforce in the Philippines that is charting the course of sustainable development for the country.
FORTUNATO T. DE LA PEÑA,
Secretary Department of Science and Technology
