Philippine Economic Zone Authority director-general Tereso Panga and Department of Science and Technology Secretary Renato Solidum Jr. signed a joint memorandum circular on the establishment of Knowledge, Innovation, Science and Technology Parks to strengthen the science, technology and innovation initiatives in the Philippines.
“KIST Parks will play a significant role in increasing R&D infrastructure, fostering collaboration in R&D with foreign partners, facilitating technology transfer, and upskilling our workforce towards innovation. Together with the DOST, we can do a lot to boost our knowledge and technology inputs-outputs towards enhancing our global innovation index ranking,” said Panga.
Solidumsaid the KIST Parks should be a center for technology transfer and commercialization and a platform to integrate various science, technology and innovation initiatives in the regions.
“It will be integral to the creation and growth of startups, spinoffs and S&T-based firms, complementing the efforts on technology business incubation and acceleration. And this is where science and technology and business will come together,” he said.
Both agencies earlier agreed to accelerate and increase the establishment of KIST economic zones inside higher education institutions across the country.
KIST Parks aim to transform idle lands owned by HEIs into more productive uses that will push STI initiatives.
One of the goals of the KIST program is to “open opportunities to business and start-up and spin-off companies to operate in a special economic zone to enjoy fiscal and non-fiscal incentives, provided for under the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises [CREATE] law and the Innovative Startup Act.”