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).
