THE DEPARTMENT of Trade and Industry (DTI) launched its Creative Philippines Program (Malikhaing Pinoy) in response to the different constraints that afflict the creative industries.
This was shared by Undersecretary Rafaelita Aldaba, from DTI Competitiveness and Innovation Group, during the “FiestaKucha Kadayawan 2023: Mugna! 1st Davao Region Creative Innovation Summit” on Sept. 26.
Aldaba said some of the constraints were the lack of statistics, limited access to capital, skills mismatch, access to new technology, and the country’s limited access to the global value chain.
“It’s really important if we want to export our services, our creative goods, we have to be able to take part and participate in the global value chains of these creative industries,” Aldaba said.
In terms of the Philippine Creative Industries economic performance, about 7% total value added was contributed by the sector starting in 2022, translating to P1.6-trillion.
The country has a total employment of 6.98 million in the creative industry, ranking 58th in terms of creative outputs based on the 2022 Global Innovation Index.
In line with this, the Malikhaing Pinoy Program seeks to implement interventions to further increase the economic and employment contribution of the industry.
In order to address the lack of statistics, Aldaba said they plan to carry out activities to strengthen institutions, particularly gathering market intelligence and insights, as well as more industry market reports.
In terms of limited access to capital, the program will establish a creative venture fund that offers grants, equities, and soft loans to creative groups and workers.
A creative learning academy will be established to address the mismatch of skills and to help build the competencies and capabilities of workers, as well as provide them with creative spaces.
The program will also put up more technology and innovation centers, and set up a chain creative market acceleration program to be able to promote trade and investment in the country’s creative industry.
Aldaba also urges partners to ensure support as this will help the economic recovery and long-term growth of the country.
“The world out there is so competitive and if we don’t embrace digital technology in what we do, we might not be able to become competitive,” she added.
The Malikhaing Pinoy Program is under the DTI’s Philippine Creative Industries Development Act (PCIDA), which mandates the development of the Philippine creative industries by protecting and strengthening the rights and capacities of creative firms, artists, artisans, and other creatives.
