FROM 73rd ranking in 2018, the Philippines jumps to 54th place among 129 countries in the Global Innovation Index (GII) 2019.
It scored 36.18 this year, up from last year’s 31.56.
The country’s scores significantly increased in five of the GII’s eight pillars: institutions, infrastructure, business sophistication, knowledge and technology outputs and creative outputs.
“This is great news for our nation and our innovation ecosystem as a whole. It recognizes the efforts of the various government agencies like the Department of Trade and Industry, the Department of Science and Technology and the National Economic and Development Authority in advancing innovation among our people and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), creating an innovative culture, as well as in building linkages with academe and industry,” said Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez.
“With President Duterte’s signing into law of the Philippine Innovation Act and Innovative Startup Act, we expect further improvements in our ranking as we intensify our efforts to build our country’s innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem, accelerate and globalize our startups, and better prepare our MSMEs and industries for the fourth industrial revolution,” added Lopez.
The country’s score and rankings in the GII’s input and output sub-indices improved.
From 39.14 in 2018 and ranking 82nd, the Philippine input sub-index score has risen to 41.68 and ranks 76th. From 23.98 in 2018 and ranking 68th, the Philippine output sub-index score has increased to 30.68 and ranks 42nd.
The GII 2019 noted that among the Philippines’s strengths are the percentage of tertiary graduates in science and engineering, e-participation, percentage of firms offering formal training, trade, competition and market scale, knowledge absorption, knowledge diffusion and creative goods exports. PR