DOST launches NAICRI – the PH central hub for AI research, advanced computing and innovation

The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) formally launched the National Artificial Intelligence Center for Research and Innovation (NAICRI) on 26 February 2026, consolidating years of fragmented AI research, computing infrastructure, and capacity-building efforts into a single, permanent national institution.

The event brought together senior government officials, leaders from Congress, academe, industry, development partners, and international collaborators. It featured a showcase of operational AI platforms and tools developed by DOST.

DOST Secretary Renato U. Solidum shares: “NAICRI will serve as the Philippines’ central hub for AI research, advanced computing, and innovation — designed to provide continuity, coordination, and governance beyond individual projects and funding cycles. The launch positions the Center as the institutional backbone for the National AI Strategy for the Philippines (NAIS-PH).”

From Fragments to Reality

For over a decade, Filipino scientists and engineers have been steadily building the country’s AI capabilities—from high-performance computing and weather forecasting systems to pandemic response platforms and agricultural research tools. Yet these efforts, though technically strong, have often operated in silos, shaped by individual projects, short-term funding cycles, or the work of specific teams rather than a sustained, coordinated strategy.

NAICRI aims to change that. By bringing these capabilities into a coherent institutional framework, the Center ensures that functional systems become enduring national assets—well-governed, scalable, and accessible beyond Metro Manila.

Operational Capabilities Already in Place

NAICRI is not starting from scratch. The launch will showcase AI infrastructure, platforms and tools already operational at DOST-ASTI, including:

• COARE, the national supercomputing facility that has powered pandemic surveillance (FASSSTER), rice genome sequencing with IRRI, climate modeling, and hazard mapping — with GPU utilization increasing 54 percent since 2020 and more than doubling in the past year alone.
• PREGINET, the country’s research and education network connecting academic, government, and research institutions to global research networks.
• NAIRA (Nexus for AI Research and Applications), a national AI-as-a-Service hub that consolidates access to computing resources, AI models, and deployment tools for government agencies, researchers, and MSMEs.
• DIMER (Democratized Intelligent Model Exchange Repository), a shared AI model repository where homegrown models for agriculture, disaster detection, and traffic analysis can be built once and deployed across agencies.
• iTANONG, a natural language interface that lets users search complex organizational data using everyday language — including queries in Filipino — demonstrating what democratizing access to information looks like in practice.

NAICRI is anchored at DOST-ASTI but designed as a national center whose success depends on partnership across government agencies, local governments, academe, industry, and international collaborators.