By Alithea De Jesus
As the country slides in the 2022 Global Innovation Index (GII), IPOPHL Director General Rowel S. Barba sees the need for our country to enhance the National Innovation Council (NIC) to sustain innovation over time.
The decline of the Philippines in the 2022 Global Innovation Index (GII) compared to the impressive performance in 2020 wherein the country jumped 4 notches and ranked 50, is alarming according to IPOPHL Director General.
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This may be attributed to double digit decreases in the Education & Tertiary Education sub-indicators under Human Capital & Research, Knowledge Creation & Knowledge Impact sub-indicators under Knowledge & Technology Outputs, and Creative Goods and Services sub-indicator under Creative Outputs.
For sub-indicators related to intellectual property (IP), the top laggards were Industrial Designs (ID), where we fell 10 spots in ranking, followed by Cultural and Creative Services Exports (-9); Utility Models (UM) (-7); Patent Families (-7); University-Industry R&D Collaboration (-3); and Trademarks (-3).
We would like to note that the decline in ID, UM and Trademarks may be due to the fact that the report based its data on 2020 when IPOPHL saw a decline in application across all types of IP due to the COVID-19 pandemic. These drops cumulatively totaled to be the biggest decline in filing activities throughout IPOPHL’s 25 year in office.
In promoting the export of our cultural and creative services, IPOPHL commits to engage more proactively with our creative economy and ensure yielding positive outcomes from the creatives-based partnerships we have been forging over the years. We also see the recently legislated Creative Industries Development Act as providing a boost to bring our creative genius to the global stage.
Our Innovation and Technology Support Office (ITSO) Program can also help strengthen collaborations between businesses and academe to create IP assets that are truly relevant and useful to industry and the market. We have come a long way in capacitating our 77 ITSOs in using patent databases for filling in today’s technology gaps, as well as bringing ITSOs’ inventions and innovations closer toward industry development and commercialization. To expand the base of our ITSOs, we plan to invite more universities and colleges into the fold by creating a program for those wanting to start their innovation and technology transfer offices.
Meanwhile, we see a bright spot in IP-related driving indicators such as National Feature Films which rose by 29 spots, Printing and Other Media (+17), Mobile App Creation (+5); Patents (+4) and PCT families (+4).
We will definitely intensify our work in creating an environment that stimulates creative and innovative activities through promoting IP protection and creating a robust enforcement regime.
As part of the 25-member NIC, IPOPHL will fully cooperate to the best of its abilities for the Philippines to advance along the technological frontier and help realize our potential as an innovation leader.
