PH creative economy eyes global takeoff through IP

A new report, launched on Tuesday by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines (IPOPHL) and the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), found that the Philippines has built a creative economy with growing global competitiveness.

However, it said the country must boost the creation, ownership and commercialization of Filipino intellectual property (IP) if it hopes to become Asia’s premier creative hub by 2030.

The Creative Ecosystem of the Philippines: National Diagnostic Report examined the strengths and weaknesses of the Philippine creative ecosystem, from IP protection and governance to talent development, financing, infrastructure and market demand.

It found that creative industries contributed 7.8% to the country’s gross domestic product and 17.8% of total employment in 2025, highlighting the sector’s growing importance as a driver of innovation, jobs and economic growth.

“The Philippines is well positioned to move from a global service provider to a higher-value partner in the creative economy. Overall, the sector is advancing institutionally and is economically significant,” the report noted.

However, the report warns that long-term growth will depend on the country’s ability to generate, commercialize and own more IP assets rather than continuing to rely heavily on providing creative services for foreign firms.

IP system improves

One of the report’s strongest findings is the significant improvement in the country’s IP ecosystem.

IPOPHL was credited for modernizing registration systems, digitalizing services and strengthening online enforcement mechanisms. The country has also remained off the United States Trade Representative’s piracy watch list for 12 consecutive years and has not appeared on the European Union’s IPR watch list since 2019.

Copyright registrations surged to a record 6,552 filings in 2025, nearly 75% higher than in 2022, while trademark filings and other forms of IP registration continued to grow.

Despite these gains, the report said commercialization remains a major challenge.

The Philippines continues to be a net importer of IP services, meaning payments for foreign-owned IP exceed revenues earned from Filipino-owned IP.

The report also found a mismatch between high digital consumption and low legal purchases of creative content, suggesting many consumers continue to access creative products through informal channels while highlighting opportunities to strengthen the public’s understanding of creators’ rights.

“Converting strong export participation into Filipino-owned IP and scalable business models will be critical to enhancing competitiveness and building sustainable creative industries. Future policy should therefore be focused on the transition from fee-for-service production to ownership-based, creative business models,” the report said.

Low skills utilization as major bottleneck

The report identified a mismatch between talent and job structures as a key constraint, resulting in the underutilization of skilled workers despite their availability.

A Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) survey cited showed that 41% of workers in select creative industries could assume more complex roles, hinting at “significant unveiled human capital.”

Consultations with stakeholders also pointed to gaps in training in areas such as monetization, business development and original content creation.

Financing, investment challenges

While other countries have come a long way in accepting IP assets as collateral for loans and investments, such practice remains low in the Philippines, limiting domestic access to financing.

The report highlighted IPOPHL’s efforts to advance IP valuation and commercialization, including work on an ASEAN-wide IP valuation framework, as a potential pathway to broader IP-backed financing.

The Creative Industry Development Fund was also cited to help boost foreign direct investment in arts and culture by supporting trade promotion, workforce development and R&D spending which remains low by international standards.

Researchers also pointed to low levels of risk-taking and entrepreneurship, possibly suggesting that cultural support for experimentation and innovation remains limited.

Building a Filipino creative brand

“The next chapter of the Philippine creative economy is not just about creating for the world—it is about owning what we create. Our goal is to help Filipino creators, innovators and enterprises generate intellectual property that can thrive on the world-stage while creating lasting economic value at home,” IPOPHL Director General Teodoro C. Pascua said.

While traditional cultural industries remain important sources of employment and heritage preservation, higher-value sectors such as software, gaming, animation and digital content offer greater opportunities for innovation, productivity and export growth.

Researchers said stronger links among education, research, financing, commercialization and IP protection will be necessary to help creative enterprises scale.

“To fully unlock [artists’] potential, talent is not enough. We need clear data. We need to understand the gaps. And that is exactly what this National Diagnostic Report gives us. Developed through WIPO’s Creative Economy Data Model, this report is our tool to protect intellectual property, support our creative MSMEs and bring Filipino talent to the global stage with a clear, strategic map,” DTI Secretary Cristina A. Roque said.

The report is the first of its kind in the world to use the Creative Economy Data Model (CEDM), a tool designed by WIPO to assess the creative capacity of countries and evaluate the performance of their creative economy ecosystems.

It also marks a milestone in IPOPHL’s efforts to strengthen the creative economy by contributing key copyright, IP awareness and policy data to WIPO’s pilot Creative Economy Data Model (CEDM) study for the Philippines.

The initiative builds on earlier WIPO-supported studies on the economic contribution of copyright-based industries in the Philippines and advances efforts to develop more comprehensive, evidence-based policies for the country’s creative sector. (IPOPHL)