The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is requesting for an initial amount of P200 million to P300 million to fund initiatives under Republic Act 11293, or the Philippine Innovation Act signed this year.

The amount is a portion of the P1 billion funding to be sourced through the General Appropriations Act originally proposed for the first year of the measure’s implementation.

According to DTI secretary Ramon Lopez, the agency will ask for the initial funding as the new law wasn’t presented at the start of the budget cycle to be part of the proposed P4.1-trillion National Expenditure Program for 2020.

“We’re making an appeal to congress, the senate, as we deliberate to include this part that was included in the law but was not included (in the proposed budget) yet because they almost coincided.

The law was newly-signed at the same time the budget for 2020 was being deliberated,” Lopez said at the sidelines of the Inclusive Innovation Conference 2019 in Pasay City on Monday, 23 September.

Signed by President Duterte in April this year, the Philippine Innovation Act seeks to “foster innovation as a vital component of national development and sustainable economic growth.”

It also aims to “harness innovation efforts to help the poor and the marginalized and to enable micro, small and medium enterprises to be part of the domestic and global supply chain.” Under the measure, the government “shall adopt a broader view in developing its innovation goals and strategies covering all potential types and sources of innovation.”