2023-06-13 03:00:00
MR. PRINCIPAL:
National research productivity is high, and much more so if we consider the meager 0.34% of GDP invested in this field. The main reason lies in the talents and academic capacities that the country has in its universities, which have been strengthened, from the implementation of public policies, such as: Mecesup Projects, performance agreements, Chile Scholarships.
The competitive system has been a relevant mechanism to generate excellence, but its application, without counterweights, produces very relevant gaps in the Chilean science and technology system that, if not resolved as soon as possible, will affect its harmonious development. In the first place, the system does not respond to a balanced territorial development, which guarantees an essential base for the development of science and technology in each region. Second, diversity is a substantive condition for the improvement of the system; and in Chile the gender gaps and the difference in opportunities for the youngest researchers are usually significant. Third, the diversity of disciplines is another requirement, which is not deeply attended to. Finally, incentives are required for the private sector to join the country’s effort to insert itself into the knowledge society.
Therefore, the minister of CTCI is correct when proposing a mixed system, which aims at excellence on the basis of competitive bidding and the closing of strategic gaps, through performance agreements; to which should probably be incorporated incentives for private investment. Thus, new resources for science and technology are essential; but these must be assigned with a strategic vision, such as the one she has proposed, if greater productivity and qualitative growth are to be achieved.
Emilio Rodriguez Ponce
Chancellor University of Tarapaca
#Strategy #science #technology