Biologists and economists, as well as a sociologist, a historian and a psychologist, integrate the new presidential commission "Science for the development of Chile", presented at the end of January by the chilean president Michelle Bachelet. They are 37 people, most of them scientists, who received the task of creating a proposal to strength Science, encourage the scientific culture and to advance on the strategy for the creation of a ministry in the area.

Thus, the President responds to a cross demand, originated in the lack of a strategy for Science and in a system that has been reported as fragmented and with little weight to obtain financing. Only 0.35% of Chilean GDP is invested in the area."It is a decision of this government to advance in the creation of a Ministry of Science and Technology. The Commission must prepare a proposal for a ministry project that is realistic in relation to the conditions, required time and resources”, said the president. The Commission's report should be finished in June, before the budget debate.

Jorge Babul, president of the Council of Scientific Societies of Chile and member of the Commission, is one of the critics of the current system. He sees the new proposal as a breakthrough, but points out that the effort in the area must continue. "We hope to establish a core to create a ministry and some state policy, not government. Thereby, the ideas that become crystallized on the committee will continue to being implemented and modified in accordance with the changes in science, life and culture in general", he said.

"We lived in the time of saltpeter and we wasted it. We do not want to do the same in copper’s time, and I believe that the country is more mature now to make a significant jump in the area of Science. It means designing a strategy. Is not enough to have money and create a ministry. We need good choices on the advanced capital and on how we’ll connect it to the technological development and business innovation", said Gonzalo Rivas, president of the National Innovation Development Council of Chile and leader of the committee.

Carolina Muñoz, scientific advisor of the Future Congress and part of the movement “More Science for Chile”, thinks that this is a good opportunity for Science to be validated in all sectors. "We hope that the idea of the Ministry will be validated and not rejected by economic parameters, high prices or because there are already many ministries. Science deserves a leading role”, she argued.

The Senator Guido Girardi, president of the “Future Challenges” Committee of the Senate, added that, besides giving a central role to Science, the budget of the Chilean Science Ministry "can’t be the lowest in Latin America."

Source: La Tercera/REUNA