PH boosts efforts to promote science, technology, innovation
Continuing to work towards developing the country into a digital economy, the Philippine government is strengthening its efforts to promote science, technology and innovation.
Department of Trade and Industry Secretary Alfredo Pascual recently noted that the Philippines climbed 12 notches from 83rd place to 71st in the recent Network Readiness Report (NRI) released by Washington DC-based think tank Portulans Institute.
The said leap makes the Philippines as the biggest mover of the year. The improvement is attributed to the Philippines’ outstanding performance on e-commerce legislation, high-tech exports, and information and communications technology (ICT) services exports.
“We thank the Portulan Institute for recognizing the Philippines as one of the champions of digital transformation, this is a testament to the continuing efforts of the Philippine government to transform the country into a digital economy,” Pascual said.
“It shows that we are a country composed of digital natives, and it indeed gives us a demographic advantage. We are mindful of this advantage and recognize that the digital economy is about people and technology, so we are ramping up efforts to promote science, technology and, innovation, as our main strategy,” he said.
To sustain this significant development, Pascual said DTI has several projects in its pipeline that focus on developing the country’s digital economy’s competitiveness.
These projects include the enactment of the proposed Internet Transactions Act (ITA) and amendments to the e-Commerce Act, upskilling and reskilling of human capital, e-government, or the automation of government processes.
Pascual pointed out that the DTI is driving the formulation of the updated eCommerce Philippines Roadmap 2023-2025 which is designed to be more inclusive — including the youth, women, senior citizens, and PWD sector, to help build a more robust e-commerce industry.
