The government issued the implementing rules and regulation of Republic Act No.11337, or the Innovative Startup Act, aimed at fostering inclusive growth by encouraging a culture of innovation and streamlining government and non-government initiatives.
The law will also help create new jobs and employment, improve production and advance innovation and trade in the country as mandated by President Rodrigo Duterte.
Lead host agencies—the Trade, Science and Information Departments—will constitute the steering committee that will implement the law and develop an overall Philippine Startup Development Program.
The Trade Department would coordinate with the Philippine Economic Zone Authority on the creation of Philippine Startup Ecozones to spur the growth and development of startups and enablers, as well as with the Board of Investments on a Startup Investment Development Plan, said Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez.
“This plan will develop short, medium, and long-term strategies to spur investment in, and promote the growth and development of startups and startup enablers in the country,” he said.
The three agencies will be in charge of a Startup Grant Fund to provide initial and supplemental Grants-in-Aid for startups and startup enablers that have passed the selection and application process.
“While our partner-agencies have their own roles and responsibilities to fulfill, the Department has the task of promulgating the rules for the efficient registration and assessment of startup enablers to be registered under the Program. Moreover, we will initiate and coordinate with agencies involved in the regulatory process involving startups and startup enablers endorsed by host agencies,” Lopez said.
The Trade Department will provide a venue for ease of doing business offering seamless business registration of startups and create a one-stop shop called the Startup Business One-Stop Shop (Startup BOSS) offering end-to-end registration for startups.
There are also plans to remove regulatory, informal and other obstacles to these businesses in line with the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018.
The Trade Department will also administer, in coordination with the National Development Company, a Startup Venture Fund to be used to match investments by selected investors in startups based in the Philippines.