An article published in the July 12, 2018 issue of Business World entitled “Philippines ‘below average’ in regional innovation ranking” shows the rankings of 126 economies based on the annual report of the Cornell University, INSEAD and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). According to the report the Philippines maintained its ranking at 73rd place in the 2018 Global Innovation Index (GII), being described as “below average” for ranking 9th among the 30 lower-middle-income countries included in the index and for being in the 13th place among 15 countries in Southeast Asia and Oceania. The Top 10 economies in the 2018 GII are: (1st) Switzerland, (2nd) Netherlands, (3rd) Sweden, (4th) United Kingdom, (5th) Singapore, (6th) USA, (7th) Finland, (8th) Denmark, (9th) Germany, and (10th) Ireland. Meanwhile, the rankings of the ASEAN countries are: (5th) Singapore, (35th) Malaysia, (44th) Thailand, (45th) Vietnam, (67th) Brunei, (73rd) Philippines, (85th) Indonesia, and (98th) Cambodia.

The GII rankings are based on seven areas or “Pillars” of which the contributions of science and technology are identified in the areas of: a. Human capital and research (wherein the Philippines ranked 86th), b. Infrastructure – Information and Communication Technologies or ICTs (67th), c. Business Sophistication (44th), d. Knowledge and Technology Outputs (49th), and e. Creative Outputs (92nd). Selected indicators for the aforementioned areas are stated in the Global Innovation Index report (2014-2018) posted in the DOST website with the following link: http://dost.gov.ph/phocadownload/Downloads/Statistics/Global_Innovation_Index_2014-2018.pdf