While the Philippines ranked 56th out of 136 countries in the latest Global Innovation Index, up from 59th last year, Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines Director General Rowel Barba said he is not satisfied, although it's a welcome development.

"But we have to continue being dissatisfied — dissatisfied not just in our current posture in the global innovation map but in the current way of things around us, whether products, solutions, systems, processes, or practices," Barba said.

"We need to develop among Filipinos a mindset that continuously innovates to challenge the norm until such time that innovating becomes our norm," he added.

Across the seven areas of GII, the Philippines ranked highest in Business sophistication (38th), Knowledge and technology outputs (46th), and Market sophistication (55th). At the same time, it needs further improvements in Human capital and research (88th), Infrastructure (86th), and Institutions (79th).

The GII 2023 report stated that the Philippines also continued performing above expectations for its level of development based on its GDP per capita as it effectively turned costly innovation investments into more and higher-quality outputs.