Philippines drops 8 places in the Global Innovation Index
05 October 2022
The Philippines dropped eight spots, to 59th out of 132 economies worldwide, in the World Intellectual Property Organization's annual Global Innovation Index (GII), from 51st position the previous year.
The nation has dropped two spots in a row in the GII rankings after finishing in 50th position in the 2020 GII.
This drop may be attributed to double-digit decreases on 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 the Philippines 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).
Intellectual Property of the Philippines (IPOPHL) Director General Rowel S. Barba said, "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."
He added, "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."
In spite of this, Barba sees a silver lining. He said, "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. 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."
- Excel V. Dyquiangco
