THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is eyeing to craft an Inclusive Innovation Roadmap this year to coordinate and synchronize efforts of the government, business and academe to push for innovation in industries.
“We hope that after this conference, we could already be able to start formulating the Inclusive Innovation Roadmap. This won’t just be the DTI, but also the Department of Science and Technology [DOST], Commission on Higher Education [CHED] and the private sector, plus universities,” Trade Assistant Secretary for Industry Development Dr. Rafaelita M. Aldaba said at the sidelines of the 2017 Inclusive Innovation Conference.
Aldaba said the end-result of this road map is creating “industry-led and market-driven” research that could be commercialized by industries.
This would mean that Philippine industries will inform the DOST and academe of the skills and knowledge they need in their operations to scale up.
The need for innovation has been cited by the DTI’s Industry Development Group, specifically in its Comprehensive National Industrial Strategy, as a challenge. In the manufacturing sector, for instance, the dearth in new technology is seen as a hindrance from moving up production value chains, and hiring more local work force with the needed skills.
Trade Undersecretary Ceferino S. Rodolfo underlined the need to create an “innovation ecosystem”, and the first step to this would be the road map.
This would also mean consolidating the “fragmented” relationship between government agencies in spurring and seeking out new technology.
“From what we see in the existing relationship between the DTI and industry, the DTI can act as the lead facilitator in bringing industry closer to the DOST and CHED and, in that way, the innovation efforts will be well-coordinated, and together, we can decide on the goals and the targets,” Aldaba added.
The DTI signed a memorandum of understanding with the DOST at the close of the two-day conference to formalize the coordination mechanism.
