NEW technologies such as blockchain, artificial intelligence, big data, and cloud computing will allow the country to attain AmBisyon2040, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda).
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua said the government needs to continuously innovate and make its systems more resilient against future crises through foresight planning. This will include the full implementation of the Philippine Innovation Act in cooperation with the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).
Apart from being the country’s premier planning agency, Neda is also the vice-chair of the National Innovation Council (NIC), the highest innovation policy-making body in the country.
“The Philippines will soon be an upper-middle-income country in one or two years, and a high-income country over the next generation. What will underpin and sustain this growth is innovation. We look forward to working with the DOST and our partners in transforming the Philippines through the new lens of strategic foresight planning,” Chua said in a statement.
Chua said several nations such as Malaysia, South Korea, and Japan have already adopted foresight into their Science, Technology, and Innovation, or STI planning, and institutionalized this concept in their policy-making process.
“Following the experiences of other countries, we also aspire to improve our Global Innovation Index ranking by encouraging more research, development, and adaptation of new technologies,” Chua said.
Chua said that DOST’s PAGTANAW 2050 will complement the National Innovation Strategy, a 10-year foresight plan that aims to weave and harmonize existing policies and strategies with the evolving innovation ecosystem.
He said PAGTANAW 2050 highlights the efforts of the DOST through the National Academy of Science and Technology to provide an outlook of the possible development scenarios that could influence Filipino aspirations in the next 30 years.
Earlier, Neda said it intends to “walk the talk” and establish its own data science team to arrive at a “single truth” needed for policy-making.
In the Philippine Business Conference (PBC) plenary, Chua said apart from addressing the current crisis, the Neda is also employing “futures thinking” by looking beyond the pandemic.
Chua said these are just some of the innovations Neda is doing to support the efforts of the next administration. He said proposals for the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) will also include these innovations.