 There has been much talk about creating a culture of creativity and innovation in the global higher education sector and elsewhere. In fact, this June, June this year, more than 300, I mean more than 30 university presidents from 16 countries will convene in the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology for the first Times Higher Education Asian University Summit. The theme of the summit is how universities nurture creativity and innovation. I've been fortunate to have been invited to speak during the president's session on the topic culture, creativity and innovation. Specifically, and being asked to talk about how culture can affect the environment so as to nurture creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship in a university. Earlier this month, the fifth Asia-Europe meeting, Rector's Conference and Students Forum held in Prague. By the way, our Chancellor of Pupibagyo attended this forum as well as our student region. That forum or what we call ARC-5 conference focused on the need to equip young people with a more flexible, innovative and employable skillset. The forum pointed to the need for cooperation between universities and businesses to help students prepare for the labor market. The two conferences share a common vision of the future that of a vibrant culture of innovation, adaptability and creativity, a culture that is reflected in the outputs or products that result from the research and creative process and the ventures that bring these products out into the market and for the use of humanity. A culture that is seen in the caliber of the workforce who drives industry to new heights of development and a culture reflected in the resulting development of a country and the improvement in the quality of life of its people, especially those who are disadvantaged. This same vision brings us together today and tomorrow. We are here to remind ourselves that as diverse as our fields and perspectives are, we share a common vision, a vision to serve the same country and to fight for the same causes. By now, the words creativity and innovation have become buzzwords in both industry and agadim. These are important or there are important distinctions between the two, however. According to a survey of literature, creativity is the ability to produce work that is both noble and appropriate. There are three levels of creativity, discovery, which is the lowest level of creativity followed by invention and finally, creation. Innovation, on the other hand, refers to the process of bringing any problem-solving idea into use. It is the generation, acceptance and implementation of new ideas, processes or services. That is innovation. Artists, writers, musicians and humanists understand creativity. Scientists, engineers, technologists and systems analysts know innovation. Creativity is about imagination. Innovation is about action, putting creative ideas to work. Creativity is unquantifiable. Innovation can be measured. Without creativity, there can be no innovation. But it is true innovation that creativity can impact the world. Several studies have been made regarding the impact of culture on the ability of a country or an institution like a university to promote creativity and innovation. One study of European universities, I have to cite this for one of any study of Asian or Philippine universities, has found that the capability of a country to initiate innovation is related to its culture. Specifically, cultures that are less hierarchical and centralized and a more open flow of communication among levels of society are more likely to foster innovation. Cultures that are able to tolerate uncertainty, conflict and change and those that promote the so-called feminine values of tolerance, solidarity, trust and social emotional support over masculine values of independence, achievement and competition. These two promote culture of innovation, meaning the feminine values. It has also been found that cultures that value the family tend to be more conservative unless open to new ideas while cultures focusing more on relationships with friends and other persons with different backgrounds are more open and provide a resource of new ideas. Such studies provide a number of points to reflect on. Although this is a study of European universities, I think people are people. People are the same wherever they are and they are influenced, of course, by culture but they form culture as well. These studies showed that culture can help us in designing structures. We need to promote the kind... I mean, we can design the structures. We need to promote the kind of culture we need in our country as well as in our university given our goal of inspiring creativity and innovation. The kind that produces solutions and modes of expression that support national development. An important mandate of the University of the Philippines. It begins with a vision. The vision of a country that enjoys rapid, inclusive and sustained economic development. A country that is home to happy and productive people. As has been born by the Ambition 2040 Survey of the National Economic Development Authority. This is the vision of our country, the Philippines, the future of our country and people. A vision like this generates energy but without the proper structures in place. We have no way of transforming this energy into concrete realistic actions and progressive results. Structure that is the fundamental parts of a system and the way they function in relation to one another determine behavior whether at the individual or institutional level. Structures do not only include physical infrastructure. It also include policies and political structures, social structures and systems and processes. Our culture is part of this vast structure. In fact our culture along with our assumptions, beliefs, aspirations and the objective reality exerts the most influence on whether or not we welcome creativity and innovation. But as any engineer knows structures can be changed. We can redesign, retrofit, optimize, reshape and transform structures so as to reflect the flow of energy. Change our structures and we change our behavior and our culture and in turn change our future. It's about time we change our future. And in light of the imminent political shifts we must ensure that this truth is understood by our leaders in the university as well as our political leaders in the nation. This is what we are trying to do in UP. Building new structures and bolstering or redesigning established ones. We are doing this with our mandate as the country's low national university to perform our unique and distinctive leadership in higher education and national development. And we are harnessing our resources to aid our country's quest for true and inclusive growth. In UP we understand the most important ingredient in achieving our vision is our people our human resources our human and knowledge capital. We need a world-class workforce for our country with talent, passion, aptitude, attitude for learning and sheer fortitude able to navigate the world of work in this fast pace globally interconnected knowledge economy. We need a nationalistic citizenry whose sphere of responsibility extend not just to their own families and communities but to the country as well. I think this is an area where we are very much wanting. We say we are nationalists but our perspective can go beyond our own tribe, our own families. We never think of ourselves as Filipinos. We never think of ourselves as Ilocanos, Bisayans, Sibuanos, Tausugs, Maranau and that's why our country up to now is very much divided. Our basic education system is our primary means of building this workforce and citizenry. For this we have the K-12 basic education program which UP fully supports. In a society like ours where every batch of 100 students who begin schooling at grade one only 12, mind you a mere fraction of 12% will graduate from college. Thus a strong forward-looking basic education program is a fundamental need and we need to strengthen our basic education system to the K-12 program. We must also improve the quality of and access to higher education in our country. Prior to develop our human capital, our human and knowledge capital into the kind of innovative multidisciplinary leaders we need, not only in government but in all fields of endeavor in our country. Other than that we must create a strong culture of research and development and artistic work so as to produce the kinds of creations and innovations that generate inclusive economic and social growth and can put the Philippines in sync and in step with our more dynamic Asian neighbors. We are so far behind now and we realize that. Indeed for UP this both a function and an advocacy. Last March we launched a think paper produced by the UP Office of Vice President for Academic Affairs and the UP Center for Integrative and Development Studies under the guidance of the UP Office of the President. This think paper is entitled Knowledge Based Development and Governance challenges and recommendations to the 2016 presidential candidates. In this think paper we exhort our government which will be led by a new president in a couple of months from now to increase investment in higher education quite apart from investment in basic education and in research and creative work so as to increase our capacity the capacity of our university and the capacity of other research institutions in our country to undertake innovative activities. I don't know whether you are aware of the statistics our Asian neighbors are spending 2% to 3% I mean 5% of GDP for education. The Philippines still at the level of 2% to 3% although there has been a significant increase over the past few years. In research and development our neighboring countries spend an average of 1% we are at the level of 0.1 to 0.1 3% way behind. We need higher levels or higher level experts and expertise that just higher education but higher level experts and expertise those who go beyond bachelor's degree these are the experts and expertise that will constitute our country's supra structure that is the human and knowledge capital needed to build innovative capacity for without a strong supra structure we can only continue to limp along on our weak agricultural sector our low value manufacturing and on the remittances of our poor OFWs while our growing GDP continues to fail to trickle down to the great majority of our people only the rich will continue to become richer and the poor will remain where they are we need innovation to bolster our manufacturing sector because it's the manufacturing sector that can guarantee sustain and inclusive growth some of that massive investment I will now talk about some of the other specific remittances we are making in the think paper some of that massive investment in the supra structure should go to the large scale training of the best Filipino minds in leading knowledge institutions overseas we need to learn what's there already we don't need to reinvent the wheel and in providing sufficient and attractive incentives to come back home maybe not return service agreement per se but something more these should be complemented by investments in non formal education which will raise the skills of our workforce moreover continuous improvement in the basic education is also necessary to replenish and sustain the knowledge capital pool what else are we recommending in the think paper Filipinos returning with advanced degrees in various disciplines should be attracted to the country and they can form the vanguard of R&D and innovation in Philippine education and industry while we are still developing people who are homegrown but they should be given ample incentives and institutional support and encourage them to come back to the Philippines and do research and raise our productivity furthermore international experts and educators should also be brought in the country and our government should facilitate this to help their Filipino counterparts and Filipino students catch up with global standards of R&D and with the latest innovation and industry I'm not saying we should follow what Singapore is doing okay because they don't have the people so they have to rely on foreign experts NUS has about 50% of its faculty coming from foreign origin Nanyang technological university I think has 60% no, that's not the idea we need these international experts to accelerate our catching up process because we can develop our own eventually one notable recommendation in our think paper is that of a hub and spokes model of organizing the suprastructure this an organization that should be adapted at the national and regional levels the hub is an established center of strength an institution like UP or an individual who has knowledge and respectability and the spokes are other agents of learning and change in the area the hub and spokes organization provides a focus and coordinated use of knowledge from various sectors like government, industry civil society and akadim in framing development efforts with this kind of structure work I believe it can as a proof simply look around you then later take time to explore the exhibit boots posters video production products and creative works and presentations in this venue the layout of this knowledge festival is itself inspired by the hub and spokes model centered around UP's mandate vision and mission in sum this knowledge festival is a celebration in the true essence it is the celebration of what UP has accomplished in the past several years and what UP is capable of doing going forward this knowledge festival is a demonstration of what UP and other institutions like ours can accomplish with proper structure in place fostering a culture of creativity and innovation it is with pride that I invite you all to join us in celebrating our achievements and the capabilities of our scientists and artists in UP to create and innovate in ways that can transform the lives of our people Padayon let us move forward and seek strength from each other as one UP Padayon let us continue to network and share our resources together let us uphold our tradition of honor and excellence as we commit to continue with our task of shaping minds that shape the nation thank you Padayon UP