Abstract
This article explores challenges and opportunities for science, technology and innovation (STI) policy in Ibero-America related to the COVID-19 pandemic, considering a multidirectional approach that combines: (i) transversality, for national innovation systems (NIS) integration with other subsystems; and (ii) coordination of STI across national and international spaces. We claim that a new approach to STI policy is required. Departing from the situation of the region, the sanitary and economic crisis, and the evolution of NIS and policy rationale, we propose some guidelines for a new STI policy agenda based on the region’s challenges ahead and the need for mechanisms of coordination.
Highlights
Este artículo explora los desafíos y oportunidades para la política de ciencia, tecnología e innovación (CTI) en Iberoamérica en relación con la pandemia COVID-19, reivindicando un nuevo enfoque multidireccional que combina dos dimensiones clave: i) la transversalidad, para la integración de los sistemas nacionales de innovación (SNI) con otros subsistemas; y ii) la coordinación de la CTI en los espacios nacionales e internacionales
The issue is that biomedical scientific research occupies a central place in the short-term solutions for producing vaccines and treatments, and research and development (R&D) assets have been mobilized in the international context, and in the Ibero-American countries, the pandemic has shown how a multifaceted health crisis requires a multi-faceted systemic response and involves addressing multiple socio-economic impacts
Total investment in Research and development (R&D) is around 0.75%, with an annual growth rate of 0.71% for the last decade. These figures contrast with the 2% observed for the European Union (EU), with an average annual growth rate of 2%
Summary
NIS is a concept that refers to the set of organizations, institutions and their interactions, that take part of the process of the creation and exploitation of knowledge, at the national level (Arocena and Sutz, 2020; Chaminade et al, 2018). EU trade data shows that both imports from and exports to Latin America are highly concentrated in less than 10 countries and represent nearly 5% of total EU merchandise trade (Eurostat, 2020) In this context, strategic planning of STI from the public sector is not strong enough to connect knowledge supply and demand, whether in terms of searching for technological upgrade among firms or providing solutions for development challenges. Around 188 million people live under the poverty line, that is 30% of the population of the region, and the income gap is increasing, while the level of informality is very high (ECLAC, 2020) This means that elementary capabilities, such as access to higher education, are very limited in some regions, and that different problems of development demand STI solutions connected to heterogeneous levels of technological complexity that ranges from the lack of healthcare systems to environmental degradation due to the use of genetically modified seeds. All of this accounts for the possibility of an articulated strategy, and strengthening the linkages between the NIS and the rest of the national systems will be a key challenge for STI policy
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