PH rank in Innovation 2019

Philippines break into the ranks of innovation achievers - report

Dennis Valdez

BusinessWorld

26 July 2019

THE PHILIPPINES has moved up 19 spots to 54^th out of 129 economies from last year on an annual list that tracks their performance in terms of innovation, with the country breaking into the ranks of 17 others that “outperform” in this regard relative to gross domestic product.

The Global Innovation Index 2019 (GII) — prepared by Cornell University, INSEAD and the World Intellectual Property Organization — said the Philippines improved in almost all the metrics which the report used, namely: in Institutions, Human Capital and Research, Infrastructure, Business Sophistication, Knowledge and Technology Outputs and Creative Outputs.

“In the Business sophistication (32^nd) pillar, the Philippines improves in almost all the indicators related to Innovation linkages and gains top ranks in High-tech imports (5^th) and Research talent (6^th),” the report read.

“In Knowledge and technology outputs (31^st), the data for indicator High-tech net exports became available this year and the country ranks 1^st,” it added.

“Four other indicators rank in the top 10: Firms offering formal training (9^th), productivity growth (10^th), ICT services exports (8^th), and Creative goods exports (8^th).”

At the same time, the Philippines was found weak in terms of ease of starting a business, ease of getting credit, expenditure on education, global R&D companies, scientific and technical articles and new businesses.

“While some changes to the GII model explain a small part of this leap, newly available metrics give a more thorough assessment of the country’s innovation performance, which itself shows some signs of progress,” the report said of the Philippines’ performance this year.

Compared to its regional peers, the report said the Philippines showed “relatively good scores” particularly in trademarks, females employed with advanced degrees, high-tech imports and creative goods exports.

The report noted that, on the whole, the country was one of the most improved on this year’s list, propelling it to break into the “innovation achievers” cluster.

“The Philippines appears for the first time in the group of innovation achievers. It scores above average in all innovation dimensions, with the exception of Market sophistication, relative to its lower middle-income peers,” the report said.

“It has remarkable performance in Knowledge diffusion and Knowledge absorption, not only relative to its income group and geographic region, but also relative to all other economies assessed in the GII.”

Reacting to the report, Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez said in a statement: “This is great news for our nation and our innovation ecosystem as a whole. It recognizes the efforts of the various government agencies… in advancing innovation among our people and MSMEs (micro, small, medium enterprises), creating an innovative culture, as well as in building linkages with academe and industry.”

He added that he expects further improvement in the country’s rank after the recent signing of Republic Act (RA) No. 11293 or the Philippine Innovation Act and RA No. 11337 or the Innovative Startup Act.

Malacañang also welcomed results of the latest report, saying in a statement that it commends the departments and agencies that helped achieve the improvement in the country’s global rank. “May this good news further motivate them in creating an environment that nurtures innovation and creates business opportunities as we become one of the fastest growing economies in the globe,” Presidential Spokesperson Salvador S. Panelo was quoted as saying.

The global top 10 consist of, in descending order: Switzerland (also top last year), Sweden (from 3^rd), the United States (from 6^th), the Netherlands (from 2^nd), the United Kingdom (from 4^th), Finland (from 7^th), Denmark (from 8^th), Singapore (8^th from 5^th), Germany (flat from 9^th last year) and Israel (from 11^th).

Seven of the 15 economies in the South East Asia, East Asia and Oceania group rank in the top 25, namely: Singapore, South Korea (11^th), Hong Kong (13^th), China (14^th), Japan (15^th), Australia (22^nd) and New Zealand (25^th).

Besides Singapore (8^th) and the Philippines (54^th), the other Southeast Asian countries on the list performed as follows: Malaysia (35^th), Vietnam (42^nd), Thailand (43^rd), Brunei (71^st), Indonesia (85^th) and Cambodia (98^th).

India, to which the Philippines is frequently compared when it comes to business process outsourcing, placed 52^nd in this year’s report. — Denise A. Valdez

PH English Proficiency

Singapore tops Asia in English skills after 

Philippines, Malaysia,India

News Global

Pradeep Rana Wednesday,October 31st 2018

Singapore tops in Asia with 68.43 score in English skills. Graphics courtesy: EF EPI

Singaporeans possess the highest degree of English skills in Asia, followed by people from the Philippines, Malaysia, and India, according to a new study.

Globally, among the non-English countries, Singapore is third after Sweden and Netherlands on "Very High" English proficiency Index that lists ten countries from Europe, besides Singapore and South Africa, according to a ranking released by EF EPI. The EF English Proficiency Index attempts to rank countries by the average level of English language skills amongst those adults who took the EF test.

Singapore ranks 3rd among 12 countries in "Very High" English proficiency band Graphics courtesy: EF EPI

"With rapid growth in trade and technology, Asian countries with strong English proficiency are thriving. Singapore, which has consistently scored in the top 10 of the EF EPI, has had a trade to GDP ratio of over 300% since 1960. Although India is better-known for offshore services, it is the Philippines, with less than 10% of India’s population, which has the larger number of call centers," it says.

The ranking for the year 2018 was released after collating results from 1.3 million people spread over 88 countries and regions who took the test on its online proficiency testing portal. The proficiency is divided in five bands: Very High, High, Moderate, Low, and Very Low.

The study has thrown up some interesting results such as societies that speak English are "more open, less hierarchical and fairer to women." But it hastens to add that English per se cannot be said cause these societal improvements.

"The correlation makes sense. English breaks down barriers, fosters international exchange, and exposes individuals to the wider world," it says.

Women are found to speak better English than men. Though last year the men did narrow the gap, this time women are again in a clear lead.

But despite that "women speak less in meetings and negotiations than men and are interrupted more when they do speak."

"Research into how boys and girls learn foreign languages has shown that female students are more motivated, use a wider variety of strategies to retain new information, and are more willing to make mistakes. Women, on the whole, are also more likely than men to finish secondary school and attend university. Unfortunately, businesses are not benefitting as much as they could from women’s English skills," it points out.

Asia straddles all five proficiency bands with three countries in the upper quartile of the index and four in the bottom ten per cent. But English proficiency did not improve despite high level of investment in Asia.

"Singapore improved from an already strong base, moving into the third position in the overall ranking. China and Japan did not experience significant changes, and both remain in the Low Proficiency band. The lack of English skills in Central Asia became clearer this year with the addition of Uzbekistan to the index, which, along with Kazakhstan, falls in the Very Low Proficiency band," it notes.

Level of English proficiency vis a vis tasks that one can perform Graphics courtesy: EF EP

India missed High Proficiency band with one notch, thus sits at 28th global position atop Moderate proficiency band. The study points to inability of a very large, but poor workforce that can not afford decent education. Multiple ethnicity speaking 22 native languages also seems to have made English compete for space in India which made a head start in global IT outsourcing business because of its clear advantage of a large English speaking population. Its perceived rival in offshore business hiring, China, still sits in Low proficiency band despite major policy initiatives by the government ahead of Beijing Olympics.

EP EFI finds a high correlation between English proficiency and ability of a country to attract, develop, and retain skilled workers. "English proficiency allows local talent to participate in global conversations and is also critical in attracting talent from abroad. A 2017 HSBC survey ranked Singapore, Norway, Germany, and the Netherlands, all very high English proficiency countries, in the top five for their appeal to internationally mobile professionals. While attracting expats is not every region’s priority, nurturing local talent certainly should be." it says.

The eighteen countries listed in Asia are evenly divided between nine that improved and nine that did not. Singapore and Cambodia posted significant increases in their scores this year, while Bangladesh experienced a significant decrease. Only Sri Lanka and Macau SAR moved from a lower proficiency band to a higher one.

The study also claims English and innovation go hand in hand.

"More scientific journals are published in English than in any other language, and we’ve found consistent correlations between English and investment in R&D. This relationship is particularly interesting in light of recent research showing that companies with managers from many countries earn more of their revenue from innovation than less diverse competitors. English is changing the way that ideas flow from one place to another."

However, while EF EPI insists on numbers it is silent on the qualitative aspect of research and innovation as some of the revolutionary innovations have indeed come from countries that never use English as medium.