The Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines is encouraging universities and colleges to undertake more studies that could lead to new and better inventions.
“As we go up the rankings of the World Innovation Index, we see the need to encourage our partners to step up and give our people the benefits of new discoveries, not only in the field of pharmacy but in other sectors, as well,” IPOPHL deputy director Teodoro Pascua said at the sidelines of the Innovation and Technology Support Office President’s Summit 2019.
Results of the latest GII or World Innovation Index showed that the Philippines moved up the rankings from 73rd to 54th.
The massive jump placed the country to be part of the 42 percent leading innovative economies, marking a huge improvement from the past four years when it was within the 60 percent top innovation drivers.
“We still have many areas we can explore, areas or sectors that lag behind where our ITSO partners can put more emphasis on like electronics, for example. There are still many plants with medicinal values but only our indigenous Sambong and Lagundi were considered pharmaceutical products among hundreds of plants that have medicinal properties,” Pascua said.
