Challenges

Ibero-American countries are leaders in agriculture and livestock production, with a history that involves some of the world’s finest research and technologies in terms of food production. Nonetheless, some Latin America and Caribbean countries struggle with poverty and food insecurity, which hinder government strategies for economic development and create a context of high vulnerability to climate change and natural disasters. Although a mainly urbanized region, overall, rural areas have poor access to services and digital platforms, and local cities are socially unequal and scarcely integrated; high-tech solutions are therefore unequally disseminated between communities, with the need for governments and private actors to converge in the formulation of adequate strategies.

Toward a Solution

The main objective of the Ibero-American Programme on Science and Technology for Development (CYTED) “is to contribute to the harmonious development of the Ibero-American region through cooperation mechanisms that seek scientific and technological results, transferable to production systems and social policies.…CYTED was created in 1984 through an Interinstitutional Framework Agreement signed by 21 countries of Spanish and Portuguese language. Since 1995, the CYTED Programme has been formally included among the Cooperation Programmes of the Ibero-American Summit of Heads of State and Government.”[1] “The beneficiaries of CYTED financing instruments may be universities, R&D centres and innovative corporations in member countries. The CYTED Programme also answers the calling to act as a bridge for interregional cooperation in Science and Technology between the European Union and Latin America.”[2]

 “The specific goals of the CYTED Programme are: encouraging the integration of the Ibero-American Scientific and Technological Community; strengthening the technological development capacity of the Ibero-American countries through the promotion of joint scientific research, the transfer of knowledge and techniques, and the exchange of scientists and technologists among R&D+i groups in the member countries; promoting the participation of business sectors from member countries interested in innovation processes…; and promoting the participation of researchers from the Region in other multilateral research programmes through agreements for this purpose”.[3] The programme works through “strategic projects”, which are scientific and technological programmes with relevant viewpoints and a duration of up to three years, selected after a competitive call for projects and funded with a maximum of €15,000 per year, and “thematic networks”, which are groups formed by experts to promote long-lasting scientific interactions, with a maximum duration of two to four years and that must contain at least six groups of participants from six different Ibero-American countries. These two flagship initiatives are complemented by the “entrepreneurial scholarships”, which are funding initiatives for companies in the start-up stage to develop their businesses within the scope of the Latin American trade and investment context; the “Iberoeka initiative”, which is a certificate for the companies of the region that are engaged in multinational work in the innovation field with social impacts; and the “CYTED forums”, which are meetings between businesspeople and scientists to analyse the demands of the technology sector and boost overall innovation. 

The results of the Programme include the generation of strategic research and development projects involving corporations and experts that, with the CYTED cooperation platform, can access important international funds. A total of six projects, four of them from Spain and two of them from Chile and incorporated into the programme, have already been implemented and evaluated, ranging from vegetal food, urban fronts and biofuels to nutrition, bacterial control and solar energy, all with meaningful impacts for social development.[4] CYTED formed nine thematic networks on agriculture, health, industry, technology, communications, science, energy, start-ups and sustainable development. A total of five entrepreneurial scholarship centres were created in company incubators in Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic and Spain. In the Iberoeka initiative, companies from 21 countries received proper certification for their activities in the field of science and innovation, aiming to develop and implement new processes, products or services. Also, there have been 42 CYTED forums to date, divided into nine mini-forums and 33 forums, which were held in multiple countries in both Europe and Latin America and centred on themes such as sustainable development, bioenergy, industry, mining and food.

The CYTED initiative converges with the SDGs and the agendas of countries of the LAC region. This project has a strong triangular cooperation component, with Spain and Portugal having an active role in providing funds and technologies for the projects, networks and scholarships, contributing with the exchange of good practices in a sustainable manner. It also has a South-South cooperation flow, with Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Mexico serving as hubs for business relations with less developed countries in the region, hosting the majority of certified companies and some of the most important innovation forums. This programme is sustainable and replicable because it promotes a perspective of social development and environmental responsibility, catalysing scientific research and innovation in a form that can be replicated in many regions, with adequate bilateral and multilateral political commitment.