UNESCO SCIENCE REPORT
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<strong>UNESCO</strong> <strong>SCIENCE</strong> <strong>REPORT</strong><br />
The countries of the Caribbean Common Market<br />
(CARICOM) (Chapter 6) have been hit by the post-2008<br />
economic slowdown in developed countries, on which<br />
they are highly dependent for trade. After meeting their<br />
debt obligations, there is little left over for the state to<br />
spend on socio-economic development. Many countries<br />
also rely heavily on volatile earnings from tourism and<br />
remittances.<br />
The region is vulnerable to natural disasters. A costly and<br />
ageing fossil-fuel-based energy infrastructure and acute<br />
vulnerability to climate change make renewable energy an<br />
obvious focus for future research. The Caribbean Community<br />
Climate Change Centre Plan (2011–2021) for climate change<br />
mitigation and resilient development is a key step in this<br />
direction.<br />
Health is another key priority, the region boasting several<br />
centres of excellence in this field. One of these, St George’s<br />
University, produces 94% of Grenada’s refereed publications.<br />
Thanks to the impressive growth in output from this<br />
university in recent years, Grenada is now only surpassed by<br />
the larger Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago for the volume<br />
of internationally catalogued publications.<br />
One of the region’s greatest challenges will be to develop<br />
a more vibrant research culture. Even the more affluent<br />
Trinidad and Tobago spends just 0.05% of GDP (2012) on<br />
R&D. Poor data hamper evidence-based STI policy-making<br />
in most countries. Existing pockets of research excellence<br />
in academia and business tend to owe more to dynamic<br />
individuals than to any particular policy framework.<br />
The Strategic Plan for the Caribbean Community (2015–2019)<br />
is a first for the region. This planning document advocates<br />
nurturing innovation and creativity, entrepreneurship,<br />
digital literacy and inclusiveness. CARICOM countries stand<br />
to gain a lot from a genuinely regional approach to STI by<br />
reducing duplication and promoting synergies in research.<br />
There are already some bases to build upon, including the<br />
regional University of the West Indies and the Caribbean<br />
Science Foundation.<br />
Socio-economic development in Latin America (Chapter 7)<br />
has slowed after a buoyant decade, especially for the<br />
region’s commodity exporters, but high-tech production<br />
and exports remain marginal for most Latin American<br />
countries.<br />
There is, however, a growing public policy focus on research<br />
and innovation. Several countries now have sophisticated<br />
STI policy instruments in place. The region is also leading<br />
efforts to understand and promote the role of indigenous<br />
knowledge systems for development.<br />
However, with the exception of Brazil (Chapter 8), no Latin<br />
American country has an R&D intensity comparable to that<br />
of dynamic emerging market economies. To narrow this<br />
gap, countries need to start by augmenting the number<br />
of researchers. It is, thus, encouraging that investment<br />
in higher education is on the rise; so, too, are scientific<br />
production and international scientific collaboration.<br />
Latin America’s modest performance in patenting reveals<br />
a lack of zeal for technology-driven competitiveness. There<br />
is a trend towards greater patenting in natural resourcerelated<br />
sectors such as mining and agriculture, however,<br />
largely through public research institutions.<br />
In order to harness STI to development more effectively,<br />
some Latin American countries have adopted measures to<br />
support strategic sectors such as agriculture, energy and<br />
ICTs, including a focus on biotechnologies and<br />
nanotechnologies. Examples are Argentina, Brazil, Chile,<br />
Mexico and Uruguay. Other countries are targeting science<br />
and research funding to expand endogenous innovation,<br />
such as Panama, Paraguay and Peru, or promoting broadbased<br />
strategies to foster competitiveness, as in the<br />
Dominican Republic and El Salvador.<br />
Technologies fostering sustainable development are an<br />
emerging priority throughout Latin America, especially in<br />
the area of renewable energy, but the region needs to do<br />
much more to close the gap with dynamic emerging markets<br />
in technology-focused manufacturing. A first step will be to<br />
instil greater stability in long-term STI policy-making and to<br />
prevent a proliferation of strategies and initiatives.<br />
Brazil (Chapter 8) has faced an economic slowdown since<br />
2011 that has affected its capacity to push on with socially<br />
inclusive growth. The slowdown has been triggered by<br />
weaker international commodities markets, coupled with<br />
the perverse effects of economic policies designed to fuel<br />
consumption. In early 2015, Brazil entered into recession for<br />
the first time in six years.<br />
Labour productivity has stagnated, despite a range<br />
of policies to revive it. Since productivity levels are an<br />
indication of the rate of absorption and generation of<br />
innovation, this trend suggests that Brazil has not managed<br />
to harness innovation to economic growth. The Brazilian<br />
experience is akin to that of the Russian Federation and<br />
South Africa, where labour productivity has stagnated since<br />
1980, unlike in China and India.<br />
Brazil’s R&D intensity in both the government and business<br />
enterprise sectors has grown but the GERD/GDP ratio failed<br />
to reach the government target of 1.50% by 2010 (1.15% in<br />
2012) and business stands no chance of contributing the<br />
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