COMSTE must focus on the country's
global economy market niche- Angara

Senator Edgardo Angara in an organizational hearing suggested that the Congressional Commission on Science Technology and Engineering (COMSTE) should focus on electronics, information technology and telecommunications, agriculture, and health sciences.

According to Senator Angara, "innovations in these areas will be the great enablers of the global economy, and will create job and investment opportunities for Filipinos."

"The baby boomers of the West, their scientists, engineers and professionals that created most of the world's wealth today, will soon be retiring. This presents us with an opportunity to leapfrog our human capital for the country's development," the senator and newly-elected chair of the COMSTE said.

"Our current edge in Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industries is an advantage for the country as it generates immediate jobs. But we can't depend on these industries in the long-term. In order to truly develop, our country must develop its own market niche in jobs, services and products," asserted Senator Angara.

Identifying the Philippines's market niche in a changing global economy, as well as preparing the country's education for this niche is one of the major tasks of the COMSTE.

"Our world has changed dramatically over the last decade, and it is still changing. There are two crucial aspects in this emerging world. First, technological advances will create new industries and new wealth. This search for innovation is now shaping the second trend, which is the shift towards a holistic use of the brain," said Senator Angara.

"Before, the economy was built on the people's left brains, which focuses on systemized and linear thinking. But now, it is shifting towards the right side, which brings out imagination, creativity and inventiveness," Senator Angara said.

According to Senator Angara, these two global trends will be used as the background situation by which the COMSTE will review and assess the country's science, technology and engineering research and development system.

Created through a joint resolution of the Senate and House of Representatives authored by Senator Angara, COMSTE will harness efforts of both private and public institutions to make science and technology a national priority, and provide the master plan to promote research and development, and develop the growth of science and technology.