The Philippines slipped one notch in the 2021 Global Innovation Index (GII), ranking 51st among 132 economies.
The Philippines ranked fourth in the lower middle-income group, 17th in Asia but dead last among the Asean-5 economies — which have all landed in the top 50 — Singapore (8th), Malaysia (36th), Thailand (43rd) and Vietnam (44th).
Relative to GDP, the Philippines’ performance is above expectations for its level of development, according to the GII.
The Philippines performance continues to be weighed down by institutions, human capital and research, infrastructure and market sophistication.
The report showed the Philippines is first in the world in both high-technology exports and imports (as percent of trade), while maintaining the 10th place in creative goods export (as percent of trade).
Among the country’s strengths are in domestic market scale, trade openness, firms offering formal training, and information and communication technology services exports.
The report also points out salient indicators that merit stronger future policy action, including ease of getting credit, inflow of venture capital, creation of new businesses, ease of doing business, and attracting global corporate research and development investments.
The report showed the Philippines ranked among the only larger economies systematically catching up in the GII with the “potential to change the global innovation landscape for good”: the Philippines, India, Turkey and Vietnam.
The Philippines reached its highest GII ranking in 2020, at 50th place from 100th in 2014.
“We might have slipped a notch but the DOST remains committed to bringing science closer to society, empowering Filipino-made breakthroughs and innovations to increase productivity and drive prosperity,” said Fortunato de la Peña, secretary of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).
The GII ranks world economies according to their innovation capabilities based on 80 indicators, grouped into innovation inputs and outputs.
The Philippines performs better in innovation outputs than innovation inputs in 2021. It produces more innovation outputs relative to its level of innovation investments.
This year Philippines ranks 72nd in innovation inputs, lower than last year but higher than 2019. As for innovation outputs, the Philippines ranks 40th. This position is higher than both 2020 and 2019.
Countries were ranked on seven GII pillars: institutions, creative outputs, knowledge and technology outputs, business sophistication, market sophistication, infrastructure, human capital, and research.
Switzerland, Sweden, the United States, United Kingdom led the rankings with South Korea rounding out the top five.
China is the only middle-income economy among the GII’s top 30. In Asia, Malaysia, Thailand, Viet Nam, and India are in the top 50.
In the top 15 are Singapore (8), China (12), Japan (13) and Hong Kong, China (14).
The GII is published by the World Intellectual Property Organization, a specialized agency of the United Nations. – Paul Icamina
