CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (PIA)—To ensure growth in the country’s national and regional innovation ecosystems, the government must be involved in creating policies and allocating proper funding for our innovators, a chief development official here said.
National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA)-10 Regional Director Mylah Faye Aurora Cariño said the government and its stakeholders are largely responsible for creating the optimum environment for Filipinos to materialize their innovations by means of crafting policies and ensuring sufficient funding.
“For ideas to take off, most of them would really need the support, not only of the government, but also of other stakeholders. That’s why [the] government’s role is to really get out of the way of our innovators, provide the right environment, policy, and financial support,” Cariño said.
Stressing the importance of innovation, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)-10 Misamis Oriental Provincial Director Almer Masillones said innovation is a vital component for national development and economic growth.
“[Innovation] is seen to address problems [of our] MSMEs, our challenges in the industry. Innovation will actually create better products, better services through utilizing existing resources,” Masillones said.
She added that the COVID-19 pandemic has also widely benefited from innovations and the expansive digitalization of their agency’s operations, as it allowed them to deliver education, health, and other services online.
The steady progress in the country’s innovation landscape has also impacted tech startups and small businesses in the region. That said, University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines (USTP) President Ambrosio Cultura II urged support for these stakeholders.
“We have to patronize our startups, our small businesses, let us prioritize them so that they can also grow. Everyone has a role to contribute in order that we will be able to contribute [to] economic development through innovation and entrepreneurship,” Cultura said. (GDA/PIA-10)
Photo release:
National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA)-10 Regional Director Mylah Faye Aurora Cariño says the government and its stakeholders are largely responsible for creating the optimum environment for Filipinos to materialize their innovations by means of crafting policies and ensuring sufficient funding, during the Northern Mindanao Regional Innovation Day dubbed ‘Filipinnovation: Unlocked’ at SM City Cagayan de Oro, April 21. (JAKA/PIA-10)
