DTI initiates study to develop RP's 'creative economy'

Looking into maximizing the creative talents of Filipinos, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is now conducting an intensive study to fully develop the "creative economy" in the Philippines.

The creative economy concept was introduced during the DTI leadership of Cesar Purisima and now being pursued by the Center for International Trade and Exposition and Mission (CITEM), said DTI undersecretary Carrissa Cruz.

Cruz was in Cebu Tuesday to grace the opening of the Philippine National I.T. Standards Foundation (PhilNits). She said that there is a need for the Philippines to seriously nurture the world-renowned Filipino talents in designing and creativity.

This already includes IT software development, Filipino-inventions, fashion designs, furniture and home furniture designs, among others.

She said the study aimed at professionalizing the design industry, and transform it into a creative economy, so that the innovative Filipinos can be developed further and become more competitive in the world.

The creative economy concept would also involve the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR), patents adoptions to Filipino inventors, designers whether in fashion, furniture, and software and animation in IT, so that Philippine-designs can be protected from copycats.

In a separate interview with Cebu-based fashion designer Mario Colmenares, he said that the design industry in the Philippines has not reached its potential primarily because of the lack of government support especially in terms of protecting their designs, among others.

Unlike in other countries, those governments are very supportive for their designers and are willing to invest, in order to bring their country's name in the field of designs.

Colmenares said Cebu for instance, has already started to take its ground the world design industry, with the success of fashion designer Monique Lhuillier, Kenneth Conbonpue in furniture, and other software programmers that made their names in Silicon Valley in the U.S. among others.

Although there are a lot of good Filipino designers that can ably compete with the world, what keep them from taking off in touching base in the world market is marketing and financial resources.

For his part, Jonathan Jay P. Aldeguer who is set to leave for London in United Kingdom this coming September 2005 as the Filipino finalist in the Global Search for International Design Entrepreneur of the Year (IYDY) said that there is really an urgent need to develop and professionally organize the design industry in the Philippines.

Aldeguer believes that one of the few niches left for the Philippines, to combat the threatening world competition is on the design capability.

Consequently, Aldeguer vowed to immediately work closely with CITEM after his U.K. trip next month.

"We need to cultivate our design sector, this is only edge over other countries, especially China," Aldeguer said.

Cruz admitted that Philippines' challenge now as it competes with other countries is to go into higher-end sector or "brain-power" sector, which involved largely on creativity, such as design.

More than manufacturing, which is already almost dominated by China, Cruz said Philippines would bank on "talent" as the countries competitive advantage.

Cruz on the other hand, did not mention on the target time frame of the "creative economy" concept study currently conducted by CITEM.