Rafaelita M. Aldaba, PhD, is an economist and strategic policy advisor with research leadership at the intersection of industrial policy, global value chains, artificial intelligence, Industry 4.0 technologies, digital transformation, and national skills and qualifications systems supporting education–industry integration. She is an Emeritus Research Fellow at the Philippine Institute for Development Studies and previously served as Undersecretary at the Philippine Department of Trade and Industry, where she led the design and implementation of major innovation- and technology-driven industrial policy reforms.
She is the author of influential research on the Philippines’ participation in global value chains and on innovation-driven industrial policy, including the design of performance-based, transparent incentive mechanisms to support industrial upgrading, technology adoption, and high-quality investment. Her research portfolio combines rigorous economic analysis, value-chain mapping, and institutional diagnostics to examine how economies move from low-value participation toward higher-value roles in global production networks.
Her work informs policy debates on economic security, supply-chain resilience, and workforce transformation for advanced manufacturing and digital transformation. Through her research and advisory roles, she supports effective governance of critical and emerging technologies by aligning industrial policy, skills systems, and institutional readiness.