Press Release
July 22, 2009

ANGARA BACKS COMSTE'S S&T INNOVATION PROGRAM
Reinforcing forge between local and international scientific community

With the intention to propel the country's science and technology resources, Senator Edgardo J. Angara today eyes for more laws to help boost the country's pursuit in producing globally-competitive Filipino scientists and future S&T leaders.

"The legislation has played an important role in initiating S&T scholarship programs. The Science and Technology Scholarship Act of 1994 for instance, grants financial assistance to poor but talented students pursuing careers in S&T. This policy directs its actions towards encouraging and promoting research and development strategies to advance the quality of education in areas of science and innovation, especially for students who have high science aptitude," asserted Angara, chair of the Congressional Commission on Science, Technology and Engineering (COMSTE).

The Senator shared that COMSTE, as a body that reviews and assesses the country's capacity in science, engineering and technology in order to generate, enhance and assist in implementing effective development work plan has provided avenues so that young scientists can interact with accomplished Filipino expatriates who have respectably established reputable careers abroad.

In this respect, COMSTE has formulated a leapfrog strategy dubbed as "Fast-Track to Innovation" that will fund a local research team to pursue cutting edge R&D endeavors with willing PAASE (Philippine-American Academy of Science and Engineering) members as the principal investigators of the projects. Through this program, it is intended to fuel the creativity of our local scientists and stimulate a synergy of ideas, forge connections between scientists in the Philippines and the international scientific community; and eventually propel the country as a respectable source of S&T innovations, much like Taiwan and Korea.

"This gain of this program, however, lies beyond training our local scientists. It addresses our shortcomings in S&T in different fronts. Such project, it is hoped, will produce state of the art inventions and innovative processes, which in turn is connected with our goal of developing globally-competitive Filipino brands. These factors - human capital, and the quality and quantity of patents produced all contribute to encouraging investments and stimulating the economy in general," stressed Angara.

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