Marcos OKs National Innovation Agenda

MANILA, Philippines — The National Innovation Council (NIC) led by President Marcos has approved the National Innovation Agenda and Strategy Document 2023-2032, which contains strategies to achieve an ecosystem that promotes a culture of innovation driven by market demands, Malacañang said yesterday.

The document was presented and discussed during the fifth meeting of the NIC last Friday.

In a statement, the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) said the document facilitates collaboration through active, reliable and useful platforms and provides innovation actors with the necessary facilities and resources to transform their ideas into innovative products and services.

It also links the innovator-entrepreneur to potential investors and funders, the PCO added.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary and NIC vice chair Arsenio Balisacan noted that establishing a dynamic innovation ecosystem is one of the six cross-cutting strategies in the transformation agenda identified in the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2023-2028. The agenda aims to achieve a “prosperous, inclusive and resilient society.”

“Chapter eight of the PDP elaborates on this strategy by situating it within the continuum of research and development, innovation, technology adoption, then commercialization,” Balisacan said.

Other matters tackled during the meeting include authorizing the grant of per diem to the NIC executive members, proposed additional plantilla positions in the NIC secretariat and update on the ways forward on the implementation of Section 23 of the Philippine Innovation Act, which states that all banking institutions, whether government or private, shall set aside at least four percent of their total loanable funds for innovation development credit.

New members of the NIC, namely Ria Liza Canlas, Mark Sultan Gersava, Monchito Ibrahim and Earl Martin Valencia, also took their oath during the meeting.

Other NIC members who attended the meeting were Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista, Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla and Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines director general Rowel Barba.

Marcos serves as chairman of the NIC, a 25-member policy advisory body that consists of 16 department secretaries and seven executive members from the private sector.

The council was formed in 2019 and is tasked to develop the country’s innovation goals, priorities and long-term national strategy.