The government is working to foster an enabling environment for innovation to achieve the country's long-term aspiration of joining the top one-third of global innovation economies by 2028, the Department of Economy, Planning, and Development (DEPDev) said.
"So, what we want to be in rank 43 by 2028. Kaya naman. (It's attainable.) But what we want is for many more to be very aware of what innovation really is," DEPDev Undersecretary Rosemarie Edillon said in a briefing at the Crowne Plaza in Ortigas on Monday.
The Philippines climbed to the 50th place out of 139 economies in the 2025 Global Innovation Index (GII)—its highest ranking to date.
It joined a select group of middle-income economies, including China, India, Indonesia, Türkiye, Vietnam, Iran, Albania, and Morocco, that have steadily advanced in the GII rankings since 2013.
DEPDev currently serves as the National Innovation Council (NIC) Secretariat.
"The Global Innovation Index has several components. Patents, there are many considerations and factors, particularly those relating to the ecosystem of innovation," DEPDev Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said.
"And that's what the National Innovation Council (NIC) is focusing on, to enable the environment for innovators to, or let me say, to ensure that our innovators will have an ecosystem that allows them to bring out the best of them, their talents, skills, expertise in innovation," he added.
One of the efforts to further promote innovation in the country was the launch of the Presidential Filipinnovation Awards as a national platform to honor innovation excellence and inspire wider participation in the country’s innovation ecosystem.
The award has been institutionalized as the official innovation awards of the Republic of the Philippines through Executive Order 99, series of 2025, signed by President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. on Oct. 6, 2025.
Balisacan said the Awards is one of the government’s flagship programs for building a dynamic innovation ecosystem that fosters collaboration, creativity, and the growth of homegrown technologies.
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