The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) has described the country’s decline by eight notches in the latest Global Innovation Index (GII) “most alarming” and called for urgent measures to ensure sustained growth in innovation.
From 51st place in 2021, the Philippines slipped eight notches in the 2022 GII of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), dropping to the 59th spot among 132 economies in the world.
“We regret to see the decline of the Philippines in the 2022GII. Our slide of eight rungs is most alarming. This calls for the urgent task of accelerating work at the National Innovation Council (NIC) to sustain innovation over time,” said the IPOPHL in a statement.
IPOPHL Director General Rowel S. Barba said the 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 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).
On the decline in ID, UM and Trademarks, Barba said this 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 said.
In promoting the export of cultural and creative services, IPOPHL commits to engage more proactively with the creative economy and ensure yielding positive outcomes from the creatives-based partnerships we have been forging over the years. IPOPHL is also looking forward to the recently legislated Creative Industries Development Act as providing a boost to bring creative genius to the global stage.
He said that the IPOPHL 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,” he said.
Despite the disappointing overall GII results, Barba said they 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,” he added.
IPOPHL is part of the 25-member National Innovation Council, Barba said IPOPHL will fully cooperate to the best of its abilities for the Philippines to advance along the technological frontier and help realize the country’s potential as an innovation leader.