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.

Over the past decade, the Philippines has been growing not just economically but also in terms of its infrastructure, largely down to growth in the country’s information, technology and communications (ICT) offshoring industry.

The country’s average GDP growth of 6.8 per cent (which has held steady for several years) has been boosted by income from workers in the diaspora, and less by organic growth through innovation. The Philippines indeed has one of the world’s largest overseas populations; as of 2019, more than 12 million Filippinos were living abroad. However, spending on research and development in recent years is reported to be less than 0.2 per cent of GDP.

R&D output in the Philippines is hampered by a lack of facilities in its various research institutions. Many technologies rely on government funding to be developed, yet funding (including governmental) is lacking when it comes to scaling these technologies. The low level of angel investment in the Philippines can partly be attributed to a lack of stories of successful entrepreneurial developments, and insufficient focus on educating people on how to invest in innovation.

A collage with various landmarks from the Philippines

Another issue is that most local firms import mature technologies from other countries, lacking either the inclination or skillset (or both) to master or reverse engineer the imported technology for new, indigenous technology developments.

A 2013 study by the Philippines’ Commission on Higher Education (CHED) reported that only 17 per cent of undergraduates take courses in STEAM (‘Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Management’) programmes, while just 9 per cent of postgraduate students choose STEAM courses, leading to few skilled innovators to teach these programmes. Just 12 per cent of STEAM faculty have doctorate degrees.

Nonetheless, over the last few years, there has been a rise in startup activity around the two prominent investing groups: Kickstart and Ideaspace. They provide mid-range investment to help budding startups grow, however their portfolio of investments is relatively niche: funding was initially focused on telecommunications technologies, with investments only recently expanding into other ventures.

It is also worth noting that on April 17, 2019, the Government of the Philippines enacted the Republic Act (RA) No. 11293, otherwise known as the 'Philippine Innovation Act' (the 'Act'), which has the objective to foster innovation in the country as a vital component of national development and sustainable economic growth.

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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