Advanced Diploma in Science and Technology Policy and Management in Ibero-America

The Ibero-American Center for Research in Science, Technology and Innovation (CIICTI), the Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO), and the Federal University for Latin American Integration (UNILA) are organizing a diploma program in Science Policy and Management. The program aims to promote and strengthen this field of study in science and technology (STI) policy to contribute to the region's comprehensive development. It fosters exchange among specialists in academia and science to produce materials for social, political, and business leaders. Simultaneously, it seeks to promote the formation of interdisciplinary networks to build meaningful and relevant knowledge by identifying existing problems. The program's thematic areas are: Structure and funding policies of STI systems in Ibero-America; Governance and management of complex STI systems; The challenges of science policy in middle-income countries; Strategic areas for national development; Energy transition, biotechnology and nanotechnology, health, the space sector, and food; The role of the social sciences; and Sectoral strategies and partnerships for technological development. Open science and the role of STI in the public sphere. Science, politics, and society. Knowledge transfer, appropriation, and circulation. Strategies and challenges of public-private intersectoral collaboration. The role of universities and scientific and technological organizations. Geopolitics of knowledge: R&D and the role of STI policy. Science laws and plans. Regulatory frameworks from a regional perspective. Science, technology, and innovation in the era of multipolarity. National cases and comparative perspectives in STI. Experiences of regional collaboration.

Science and technology are fundamental aspects of sustainable well-being in modern societies; they are crucial inputs for the development of countries because they enrich the cultural heritage of nations, strengthen civic culture, stimulate the capacity to innovate, and create autonomous capacities with skills to solve socio-environmental problems.

Today, scientific and technological research has become a key aspect for the growth of countries and the improvement of their populations' quality of life. Innovation and development in science and technology are the main inputs for economic and social development policies. Only training in science and technology, research, and technology can guarantee innovation processes that allow us to meet the challenges facing contemporary societies.

The training for policy and management in the sector offered by this diploma program requires an overview of key indicators that reflect the current situation and dynamic context of science, technology, and innovation (STI) in Latin America. The analysis must consider the concentration of R&D investment worldwide: developed countries account for almost 95% of global investment. At a more disaggregated level, Latin America represents 3,5% of global investment, and focusing solely on Latin America and the Caribbean, the region accounts for 2,3% of the total investment.
The diploma program will focus on the STI policy requirements to address the specificities of the sector: the continuities and discontinuities of STI policies, the importance of the continuity of economic and human resources, the ecosystem of laws of each country and the region, the definition of the relevant variables for monitoring the situation of STI: budgets, training rates, HR, institutional formation and configuration, analysis of legal frameworks, jurisdictional structures, peculiarities of the problems of the management of the sector (jurisdictional crossings, training, “prestige”, endogamy, etc.).

This analysis will in turn make it possible to consider the problem of the system's connection with a- the educational field (the training dilemma); b- the productive system: problems of investment and productivity, of training and the attraction and retention of scientific vocations in precarious and unstable contexts; c- the subsumption of the knowledge agenda within broader horizons that have another logic; and d- the conditions raised by the productive matrix and the types of international insertion of regional economic systems in the world economy for integrated development in STI.

General objective:

To establish a field of study and analysis of science, technology and development in Ibero-America that can provide a socio-historical overview of the trajectory and management of science systems in the region and make contributions to the design of public policies in science.

Specific objectives:

1. To train professionals who can develop within the fields of scientific organizations and institutions that make up the sector
2. To strengthen the exchange between different disciplines, approaches and objects of analysis linked to the social problems of science, technology and development
3. To stimulate cooperation activities in research, teaching, outreach and transfer among members of different academic institutions in the region in joint sectoral development programs
4. To contribute to the design of public policies in science and technology that enable inclusive and sustainable economic development 
5. To offer tools to understand variables in the relationship between public and private investment in national science and technology systems in order to enhance their virtuous articulation
6. Review technology transfer and partnership management models to identify benefits and limitations for successful implementation
7. To promote the implementation of strategies for the democratization and social appropriation of knowledge through the study of public policies that manage to articulate between the scientific community and social actors

The Higher Diploma in Science and Technology Policy and Management in Ibero-America is aimed at undergraduate and postgraduate students; teachers at all levels; activists and members of trade unions, social movements and political parties; public officials; members and managers of non-governmental organizations and professionals interested in the subject.

The program consists of 5 modules of 3 weekly classes each, taught consecutively and linked together.

Total workload of 128 hours.

The modules that comprise the Higher Diploma are: