Generación y transferencia de ciencia, tecnología e innovación como claves de desarrollo sostenible y cooperación internacional en América Latina

Abstract

The advancement of scientific knowledge, technology and innovation is a transversal sustainable development aim within the context ofthe Sustainable Development Goals ofthe 2030Agenda. Evidence for LatinAmerica shows thatthe lack oflinkages between the research done by universities and scientific institutions and the investigations sponsored by the productive and industrial sectors is attributable to a combination of both structural and institutional factors. These factors have their roots in history — they derive from the university system itself and the scant institutionalization of the relationship between academia and the productive sector— and also in the inadequacy ofthe incentive systems and the set of risks and high opportunity costs that relations between university and the private sector imply. The definition and development of actions stemming from national policies for science,technology and innovation, and also from international cooperation, imply knowing both the opportunities and the limitations ofinteraction and knowledge conveyance within national innovation systems. This text,first, reviews in depth the conditions of the region regarding science, technology and innovation and, on the basis of evidence and previous research,reports on its characteristic heterogeneity.Also, it analyzes the opportunities, weaknesses and deadlocks common to the region’s systems. On the basis ofthis diagnosis, common challenges are identified, as well as the experiences that allow for contrasting the possibilities of international cooperation and the spaces available to deepen cooperation between Europe and Latin America.The paper concludes with the advantages of promoting greaterinteraction –both atthe national and international levels– on aspects such as the potential ofinternational mobility, the exchange of best practices and the collaboration for the development of endogenous capabilities.