SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY KEY COMPONENTS
OF RP COMPETITIVENESS

Senator Edgardo J. Angara called on Congress to renew efforts at developing an overall Science and Technology strategy to improve the country's capacity for innovation and raise its competitiveness.

Angara, Chair of the Congressional Commission on Science, Technology and Engineering (COMSTE) and Chair of the S&T committee in the Senate, reiterated the need for a sound S&T strategy in light of the World Competitiveness Report for 2010-2011 which ranked the Philippines at 85th among 139 in terms competitiveness.

Last year, the Philippines was ranked 87th, but despite of the slight improvement Angara said that, "our efforts to improve our competitiveness must continue, especially when it comes to innovation and S&T platforms."

The same report also listed the country as ranking a lowly 108th for quality of research institutions, 96th in terms of availability of scientists and engineers and 85th in terms of University-Industry Collaboration in R&D.

"COMSTE has long pushed for the development of Public Private Partnerships (PPP's) that can boost the capabilities of our research institutions, improve the quality of R&D and at the same time create an environment for stronger industry-academe linkages," noted Angara.

Angara noted some priority R&D areas COMSTE has identified as national priorities namely: Disaster Science / Disaster Preparedness, Health and Wellness Care Systems for Remote Areas, Biotechnology for Food Security and Health, ICT for Agriculture, Health, and Governance, World Class University S&T and Technician Certification.

"By developing our S&T strategy, we can better align our initiatives with that of other countries. If we have similar priorities, we can build on this and develop a basis for international collaboration," said Angara.

In the World Competitiveness Report for 2008-2009, the Philippines ranked 71st out of all the countries surveyed.