July 17, 2019

NEW YORK CITY—The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) welcomes the passage of the Philippine Innovation Act, which was recently signed into law by President Duterte.

“The signing of the Innovation Act is much welcome news. This is a landmark legislation as it is key to building our country’s Science and Technology Innovation (STI) Ecosystem towards becoming a globally competitive knowledge economy,” said Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia, who is in New York City for the 2019 United Nations High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development.

“Moving forward, the national budget for research and development, which is currently at only 0.15 percent of GDP, should be raised steadily to closer to 1.0 percent, which is the UNESCO norm,” he added.

The Philippine Innovation Act, sponsored by Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, champions the promotion of technological advancement to enhance the competitiveness of the Philippine economy, especially Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).

The NEDA will be drafting the law’s Implementing Rules and Regulations soon.

“Our MSMEs are our country’s major economic drivers. When we make research and development activities and outputs more accessible to them, we increase their productivity and competitive advantage. With a more vibrant STI ecosystem that will be facilitated by this new law, MSMEs can integrate more easily into domestic and global supply chains,” said Pernia.

“We thus look forward to seeing innovation-related collaborations among institutions such as government, academe, and industry,” he added.

 

 

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