Tears marked the moment Kat Borlongan learned she would be receiving one of France’s most prestigious state honors — a reaction she says reflected not the award itself, but everything it took to earn it.
“Well, I cried. A lot of people were crying…I think it was mostly because of the journey towards that,” Borlongan said, recalling the ceremony at France’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The French government conferred on her the National Order of Merit, the country’s second-highest civilian decoration, in recognition of her contributions to innovation and public policy — particularly her role in building France’s startup ecosystem into what it is today.
Philippine Ambassador to France and Monaco Eduardo de Vega said the distinction carries historic weight for the Filipino community. “As far as we know, she’s the first Filipino to get this award,” he told ABS-CBN News.
De Vega noted the award’s stature, explaining that its past recipients include cultural and political figures of global renown. “Mga recipients niyan include, among French, Charles Aznavour the famous singer, si Jacques Cousteau yung diver. And then some heads of state, including dating King Juan Carlos of Spain, the Queen of Norway.”
Borlongan’s path to that ceremony stage began with a departure — leaving the Philippines at 19, driven partly by the experience of being bullied, with little certainty about what lay ahead. A chance encounter with French students during an internship at the Ateneo de Manila University eventually pointed her toward France.
She arrived with minimal resources and no French language skills. Her first day of school was disorienting enough that she retreated to the bathroom to cry. “Going home was not an option for me,” she said. “For me, it was like, I have to make this work.”
She did. Borlongan went on to complete a Political Science degree at the Sorbonne, earned a scholarship, became Director of Reporters Without Borders in Canada at 23, and pursued a master’s degree in Communication Research at McGill University.
“Now looking back, now that I’m 20 years older, I think it was just, I just wanted to make a life for myself that was really mine,” she said. “There’s a part of it where I think I really wanted to prove to myself na kaya ko.”
Her entry into France’s government came through an unexpected recruitment. “I was scouted by the cabinet director of the minister for digital… they were looking for the new director of this thing called the French Tech Mission,” she said. “I got appointed. I wasn’t even French then. I didn’t have a French citizenship yet.”
Over four years leading the French Tech Mission, Borlongan helped shape the architecture of what France’s startup sector has become. She oversaw the expansion of the French Tech Communities network to more than 120 hubs globally, championed the French Tech Visa — still regarded as among the most accessible of its kind worldwide — and launched French Tech Tremplin, a program aimed at increasing access for underrepresented entrepreneurs.
“Over the last 10 years, France has become the startup capital of Europe… it happened in a very, very short period of time,” she said.
She has since served on the board of the European Innovation Council and now holds the role of its ambassador, contributing to the continent’s deep tech agenda.
At the awarding ceremony, Borlongan made a point of centering her Filipino identity. “It’s the first time that I was on stage…and I was really like 100 percent claiming my Filipino identity and roots,” she said.
She also used the platform to push back against rising anti-immigrant sentiment. “I decided to make my knighting a platform about immigration,” she said. “I was able to do it because people believed in me, because people helped me…The truth is that when I left for France, it wouldn’t have been possible if I didn’t have that help.”
Her mother, Dolly Borlongan, described watching her daughter receive the honor as both emotional and humbling. “I felt overwhelmed and then thankful to God… she has been through quite a journey to get where she is now,” she said. “She’s very bull headed, she’s very determined, she’s very resilient… what she wants she works at.”
For Ambassador de Vega, the recognition reflects a shift in how Filipinos are positioned on the world stage. While he acknowledged that many Filipinos in France work in caregiving, he said more are now making inroads into science, engineering, and technology. “So, here she is showing the French what the Filipino can do,” he said.
Borlongan has argued that the Philippines has the raw ingredients for a competitive innovation economy — a young population, high technology adoption rates, widespread English proficiency, and a creative workforce. What it may need, she suggested, is the kind of deliberate national strategy France deployed under President Macron, where innovation was treated as both an economic and a sovereignty imperative.
“In general, healthy ecosystems need a percentage of their national revenue coming from innovation…In France, that percentage is 12 percent. And if you look at countries like Sweden, it’s more like 30 percent,” she said.
Her ties to the Philippines have also taken practical form. During Typhoon Yolanda, she collaborated with the Office of the President on an open data volunteer initiative focused on technical solutions for rescue and recovery efforts, and has since engaged the local startup community through knowledge-sharing and training for local government units on open data use in disaster response.
