Councilor Levy Lloyd Orcales proposed the Research and Innovation Ordinance providing for city policies and strategies on research and innovation in the city. The amended version of the ordinance was already submitted for plenary discussion in the Council.
Once approved, all partners of innovation will converge through the City Research and Innovation Alliance for Baguio that will be created, Orcales said.
The objective is to come up with effective coordination mechanism between and among innovation partners in solving the problems in the city, he said. “This is also for the intention of Baguio to come up with long term plan or vision when it comes to research and innovation,” he said.
The councilor added that the ordinance, once implemented, would also support legislative measures and program development.
Architect Donna Tabangin of the City Planning and Development Office said the LGU with an international organization will also implement this year the Safe and Sound Cities for Baguio Project for youth innovation in solving urban problems.
Tabangin said they have engaged with Grade 7 students recently and asked them how to fix the roads in the city.
“It’s very nice po, once we get into conversation with the young people, the best ideas are with them in fact, and this is something that the city is going to adopt also,” she said.
She underscored that it is important to develop an ecosystem where everyone converge and participate in innovation.
“This is a call to everyone, be it the local government, the academe, and all residents po in the city. Innovation is something that we should also embrace because as we see, this is the trend towards this future already. Innovation is one way for us to look into how we can solve current problems, not only in our city but also to other places,” Tabangin underlined. (PIA)