About Nesta

Nesta is an innovation foundation. For us, innovation means turning bold ideas into reality and changing lives for the better. We use our expertise, skills and funding in areas where there are big challenges facing society.

In 2018, we estimated that there were around 156 core innovation policymakers in the Filipino system, ranging from project heads/technology transfer officers with 1-5 years’ experience in government, to director-level individuals with 10-25 years of service.

  • Policymakers are spread across the following organisations and government departments: the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA).
  • Innovation policy is within the scope of both the executive and legislative branches of government, although the executive is more explicitly involved in the business of innovation policy.
  • The Commission on Audit (COA) and Government Procurement Policy Board (GPPB) perform auditing for the whole of the Government. This gives these agencies nearly the same level of control over innovation resources as the Office of the President.
  • Most agencies are concentrated on the operational side of science and technology. Agencies in this area are mostly focused on developing, funding and recognising researchers and scientists. Meanwhile, agencies on the design side of innovation control trade and business policy.
  • It is worth noting that up until 2019, there were no agencies overseeing the design of science and technology policy. This was likely because policy discussions in this area were held within individual agencies: since there were no coordinating councils specifically for science and technology design-oriented policies, the coordination did not usually happen. In the case of laws or national policies, it is usually the Senate and Congress/the House of Representatives’ (COST’s) job to convene these agencies together.
  • As of April 2019 however, the Republic Act (RA) No. 11293 otherwise known as the 'Philippine Innovation Act' mandated the creation of the National Innovation Council (NIC), which will steer the whole-of-government coordination and collaboration and aims to remove the fragmentation in the country’s innovation governance. The NIC is also tasked to set the direction of the country’s innovation goals, priorities, and long-term national strategies through the formulation of the National Innovation Agenda and Strategy Document (NIASD).

Authors

Benjamin Reid

Benjamin Reid

Benjamin Reid

Head of International Innovation - Development Programmes

Benjamin was head of the International Innovation team within Nesta's Policy and Research division.

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Silvia Pau

Silvia Pau

Silvia Pau

Assistant Programme Manager, A Fairer Start mission

Silvia is an Assistant Programme Manager.

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Paulina Gonzalez-Ortega

Paulina Gonzalez-Ortega

Paulina Gonzalez-Ortega

Design Lead, International Innovation

Paulina was the Design Lead for the Global Innovation Policy Accelerator, a 14-country collaborative development programme for senior innovation policymakers.

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Florence Engasser

Florence Engasser

Florence Engasser

Senior Foresight Analyst

Florence was a senior foresight analyst within Nesta’s Discovery Hub, which aims to create a link between Nesta’s current portfolio and our pipeline of future work.

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Anna Schlimm

Anna Schlimm

Anna Schlimm

Learning Experience Designer, Global Innovation Policy Accelerator

Anna was a Learning Experience Designer for the Global Innovation Policy Accelerator.

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Nathan Kably

Nathan Kably

Nathan Kably

Senior Strategy Analyst

Nathan worked on the design and delivery of Nesta's strategy

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