THE CATCH-UP GAME: The price of keeping PHL science competitive

FOR consumers, the arrival of something newer, particularly in technology—faster devices, smarter machines and more capable technologies—often makes the previous version feel obsolete.

What is easier to miss is everything that comes before the latest discovery reaches the market: years of research, advanced equipment, huge amounts of data and scientists with the tools to make it work.

That growing demand for research is reflected in how countries are putting more money and people into the field, according to data from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Per its March report, global research and development (R&D) spending rose to 1.92 percent of world gross domestic product (GDP) in 2023, from 1.71 percent in 2015. The number of researchers also grew from 1,141 to 1,486 per million people over the same period.

Meanwhile, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has pointed to the growing scale and complexity of research infrastructure, which can require substantial and sustained investment, technological development and international partnerships, particularly for work tackling what it calls “grand challenges.”

The scale of the money involved offers a glimpse of how large the global research enterprise has become. The OECD estimated global R&D spending at $3.8 trillion in 2024, with OECD economies accounting for about $2.3 trillion.

And when the Philippines enters the picture, the question shifts from the ability of Filipino scientists to produce world-class scientific innovation to whether the country has the infrastructure and resources to support that work.

We’re not being prevented from doing frontier research. The issue… is how do you create not only the R&D program, but create an infrastructure and innovation ecosystem that will convert the R&D and transfer it to the private sector for them to commercialize it.”— DOST Secretary Renato U. Solidum Jr., on the need to build the infrastructure and innovation ecosystem to move Philippine research from the laboratory to commercialization

A long way to go

PROGRESS in Philippine research has been made, but the country is starting from a relatively low base.

Leah J. Buendia, Undersecretary for Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST), acknowledged that the country remains behind its regional neighbors.

“Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, we’re still far. They’re really the pioneers. They’re the top in ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations),” Buendia told BusinessMirror.

The latest official national R&D data, published by the DOST in its Compendium of Science and Technology Statistics, put the country’s gross expenditure on research and development (GERD) at P41.96 billion in 2022.

This was equivalent to 0.19 percent of GDP, while the country had 269 researchers per million population on a full-time-equivalent basis.

Under the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2023-2028, the government aims to raise R&D spending to 1 percent of GDP by 2028.

Reaching 1 percent would mean raising R&D intensity more than fivefold from the 0.19 percent recorded in 2022. The peso amount required, however, would not necessarily increase at the same rate as the economy grows.

Even so, the target points to a substantial increase in resources that would need to go into research.

The PDP also identifies gaps beyond funding, including inadequate human resources in science, technology, and innovation and R&D, as well as an underdeveloped research culture and productivity.

Similarly, the 2026 Global Innovation Index (GII) also showed a reversal in that progress, with the Philippines slipping two places after four consecutive years of improvement.

What modern research costs
THE growing importance of data and the ability to make sense of it is one of the biggest changes in keeping pace with science and R&D, according to Buendia.

“The researchers now are very aware that they need data in order to come up with a good research output,” the DOST undersecretary explained to this newspaper.

But simply having data is no longer enough, with Buendia saying researchers need tools to analyze increasingly large and complex datasets. These may entail technological aids like artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, large language models and quantum technologies.

This opens another challenge, more particularly, how data itself is becoming an infrastructure problem. Buendia said government agencies are generating large amounts of data, but these remain dispersed across institutions rather than consolidated in a single repository.

On the other hand, there is the implication that the cost of modern research extends beyond the salary of the scientist doing it. It can include the laboratory, specialized instruments, computing systems, data infrastructure, technical personnel, and years of operating and maintaining those capabilities.

The price also varies sharply depending on the field. For his part, DOST Secretary Renato U. Solidum Jr. told BusinessMirrorthat some research projects can require less than P5 million, while larger, multiyear programs can reach P30 million to P100 million.

“There is no doubt” about the talent of Filipino researchers, the science chief said, but building the system around that talent requires more than individual research grants.

Beyond the laboratory
NOW, what happens after the research is produced?

“We’re not being prevented from doing frontier research,” Solidum told this newspaper.

“The issue… is how do you create not only the R&D program, but create an infrastructure and innovation ecosystem that will convert the R&D and transfer it to the private sector for them to commercialize it,” he added.

Government funding alone, Solidum said, would not be enough, with industry also expected to support research with commercial potential.

“If they want to compete, then they can also collaborate with universities or other organizations,” he said, citing joint or contract research as possible models.

The DOST’s proposed P30.9-billion budget for 2027, meanwhile, covers only the department’s programs and is not equivalent to the country’s total R&D expenditure.

National R&D spending also includes research funded or conducted by businesses, universities, government agencies and other institutions.

For Buendia, however, money remains the most immediate problem. Asked to strip away the question of talent and identify the single biggest constraint preventing the Philippines from doing more frontier research, the science R&D undersecretary answered plainly: “Inputs. In terms of funding.”

“The department is one of the lowest when it comes to funding of the government. So, what would you expect from R&D if there is no funding?” she said.

The problem is compounded by competing demands for limited government resources. “The fiscal space is also very limited. Because a lot of agencies are competing,” Buendia said.

Still, she argued that the country could do more with additional funding. “I think with what we have right now, we can do better if there’s funding. That’s one of the biggest constraints.”

Paying for the future
BEYOND the government’s 2028 targets, Solidum said the country should focus its research investments on areas where the country has pressing needs, rather than simply trying to match the spending of wealthier economies.

“Essentially, what we need to address first is our self-reliance on things that we need to develop to address the current problems that we have,” he said, citing food security, human security, health, smart agriculture and the circular economy.

Research that addresses domestic needs could also find applications abroad, Solidum said.

“We don’t compete with Europe, perhaps, but our technologies can compete in Africa,” he said.

For Buendia, priorities include what she calls the “industries of the future,” including artificial intelligence, quantum computing, robotics and Industry 4.0 technologies.

She also called for greater “convergence” among government agencies, rather than simply pursuing a broad whole-of-government approach, to align research efforts toward common priorities.