Regional meeting on science, technology and innovation policies with focus on green transition

Throughout the week, the “Regional Meeting on Science, Technology and Innovation Policies 2023: Towards a Green and Just Transformation” will take place at the Science and Technology Pole, organized by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). Organization of Ibero-American States (OEI). This event proposes to create a space for discussion and exchange on the challenges of managing science, technology and innovation in the green transition and to create conditions for the development of new national and international relations of cooperation. The meeting provides various sessions around six thematic themes, spaces for exchanging experiences and technical visits with the participation of high and middle level officials from ministries and/or STI councils of Latin American and Caribbean countries, and government officials/officers involved in designing, implementing and evaluating STI policies and tools , and experts in innovation for sustainability. The opening was chaired by the Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Daniel Filmos, and the Director of the Production and Business Development Division of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, Marco Lenas; Director of the OEI Office in Argentina, Luis Scaso; MINCYT Undersecretary for Institutional Coordination, Pablo Núñez; Undersecretary of the Ministry of Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation of Chile, Carolina Gaenza Cortés; It is the Innovation and New Technologies Unit of DDPE, Sebastian Rovira.

Filmos thanked the presence of the ambassadors of Guatemala, Panama, Cuba and Peru in Argentina, the Consul of Costa Rica, officials from the embassies of Bolivia and Chile, and the work of the OEI and the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. In this sense, he opened his presentation by referring to the concept of “empty box syndrome” developed by the economist of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, Fernando Vanzilber, at the end of the eighties on the variables of income distribution in Latin America. “An innovative and controversial work that proved that the variables of growth and income distribution do not occur at the same time,” and how “the countries of the East prove the reason for their progress in promoting development and transferring state investments to the private sector.” And the minister continued, with the nineties, “where there will be two gaps: countries have grown, but they have not been distributed equally. Argentina was one of these countries, but that was because it exported products without added value.” At the beginning of this century, “eight countries appeared in Latin America that grew and distributed. It is the countries that maintain exports and integrate CTI. He explained: achieving more development, more work and better distribution.

Returning to the ideas of the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean at the time, Alicia Barcena, regarding “the dangers of not delving into science, technology and innovation research and the link between basic research and transfer to the productive sector to change the productive matrix of the countries of our region”, Filmos expressed this by proposing The privatization of CONICET expressed in the framework of the current election campaign, “These sayings are in the center of attention because reality is stranger than fiction and such a crude statement must be made for arguments. If you want to be like the central countries, they invest in science and technology” and concluded that “In order to grow, you have to have continuity over time. That’s the way to go.”

In conclusion, the Argentine minister reaffirmed “the need for regional integration and defining common goals.” He explained that lithium will be central to the energy transition, and we do not explain it appropriately because what generates wealth is the ability to produce batteries and their components. He concluded by saying, “We are committed to continuing to work on the growth and distribution of wealth through science and technology.”

“I would like to express my gratitude to ECLAC, an organization that is a strategic partner of the European Initiative initiative in various fields, such as education, science and culture, in which we have collaborated on initiatives of a subversive nature. Sometimes politics and the state require Create new types of tools to develop intervention policies in areas that have evolved, modernized, and moved away from their previous state.In this sense, science ministries in the region have the ability to work in an area where cooperation is an essential element.Although the collaborative nature of scientific work may not be obvious At all times, however, collaboration remains inherent to this work.

He continued, “Through the OEI initiative, we are contributing to three core areas: developing and defining data that is made available to enhance analysis capacity; Create a science policy portal that promotes exchange and provides access to science policies of countries in the region; and promoting cooperation in the field of science among nations. In this sense, the collaboration with the Argentine Ministry of Science and its counterparts in other countries is noteworthy, since both the OEI and ECLAC are ready to contribute to regional cooperation to address common problems. In this context, it is necessary to highlight that in the midst of these transitional processes, the challenges that arise are of a global nature, which excludes partial solutions. In response, cooperation, complementarity and mutual assistance emerge as the best ways in which humanity can confront and overcome the challenges that arise in our path.

Meanwhile, he urged Marco Lenas to “work on a regional science, technology and innovation agenda for productive development and sustainability.” “The challenge of great growth in our region,” the decade that, in the director’s words, reached the lowest levels of growth in Latin America and the Caribbean. “The great challenge of productivity, in order to meet which it is necessary to bring about a structural change in the productive apparatus. A process that does not happen spontaneously” and detailed some of the points on the agenda such as technological expansion, digital transfer, entrepreneurship, bridging the human resource gap, and internationalization, “and how we combine these efforts with regional and local actors.” He said. To the extent that we deepen these efforts, we will be able to move the needle.”

In turn, Gienza Cortes welcomed “the meeting with the Argentine minister to discuss public policies that promote scientific development on our continent.” In 2019, the Ministry of Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation was created in Chile and “began to be important because of the role of science and technology in countries. Today it is not enough to invest in isolation. In Chile, the CTCI system has grown tremendously in the past 80 years thanks to public funding programmes”, He stated, “The scenario of the 21st century is full of fears. The development of CyT is a public duty of an informed and active community.”

For his part, Nunez thanked the 16 countries of the region that accompanied him, and expressed his hope that the meeting would be “a more dynamic work space of strategic importance and with greater coordination of work to deepen the axes of each country and think about how to strengthen them.” . “

Until August 25, there will be panel discussions dedicated to topics such as context, challenges and opportunities; governance and institutionalization; strategies, policies, actors and roles; Financing the climate initiative in the strategic sectors of the transition; Orientations and policy approaches, strategies and policies, actors and roles. Likewise, there will be visits to Tecnópolis, CNEA, IFYBINE and the Faculty of Exact Sciences at UBA. Some of the participating bodies and experts are the President of Y-TEC, Roberto Salvarezza; Director of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Celeste Saulo; Undersecretary for Institutional Evaluation in the Ministry, Gabriela Dranovsky; among other things.