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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider DOST to launch National AI Center

DOST to launch National AI Center

Published Feb 21, 2026 01:36 pm
Seeking to unify the country’s artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) will launch the National Artificial Intelligence Center for Research and Innovation (NAICRI) on Feb. 26.
This seeks to consolidate research, computing infrastructure, and training efforts into one permanent national hub.
The launch will take place at The Manila Hotel and is expected to gather senior government officials, members of Congress, representatives from academe and industry, development partners, and international collaborators.
According to DOST Secretary Renato U. Solidum, NAICRI is envisioned to function as the Philippines’ central platform for AI research, advanced computing, and innovation, providing sustained coordination and governance beyond standalone projects and time-bound funding programs
“The launch positions the Center as the institutional backbone for the National AI Strategy for the Philippines (NAIS-PH),” he said in a statement.
The DOST said Filipino scientists and engineers have spent over a decade advancing the nation’s AI capabilities, developing applications ranging from high-performance computing and weather forecasting systems to pandemic response platforms and agricultural research technologies.
“Yet these efforts, though technically strong, have often operated in silos, shaped by individual projects, short-term funding cycles, or the work of specific teams rather than a sustained, coordinated strategy,” the agency said.
The DOST said NAICRI seeks to address this by consolidating existing capabilities under a unified institutional framework, ensuring that working systems evolve into lasting national assets that are well-governed, scalable, and accessible beyond Metro Manila.
The agency said NAICRI builds on existing foundations and is not starting from scratch.
The launch will highlight AI infrastructure, platforms, and tools already operational at DOST-ASTI, including:
• COARE, the country’s national supercomputing facility, which has supported pandemic surveillance through FASSSTER, rice genome sequencing with IRRI, climate modeling, and hazard mapping. GPU utilization has increased by 54 percent since 2020 and has more than doubled in the past year alone.
• PREGINET, the national research and education network linking academic, government, and research institutions to global research communities.
• NAIRA (Nexus for AI Research and Applications), an AI-as-a-Service platform that centralizes access to computing resources, AI models, and deployment tools for government agencies, researchers, and MSMEs.
• DIMER (Democratized Intelligent Model Exchange Repository), a shared AI model repository enabling locally developed models for agriculture, disaster detection, and traffic analysis to be created once and deployed across multiple agencies.
• iTANONG, a natural language interface that allows users to search complex organizational data using everyday language, including Filipino, illustrating practical efforts to democratize access to information.

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