Elements for science integration of Latin America and the Caribbean. José Antonio de la Peña Deputy Director for Science, CONACyT, México Chair of ICSU

Elements for science integration of Latin America and the Caribbean.

José Antonio de la PeñaDeputy Director for Science, CONACyT, México

Chair of ICSU Regional Committee for LAC.

Guatemala, July 2009.

Shared issues and problems at the LAC region

Low level at science assesments of students achivements;

Low investment in S&T; Low number of scientists; Brain drain; Increasing coverage of terciary education; Increasing number of indexed papers;

Garrahan (1990): In my country there are scientists but not science.

Programme for International Student Assesment (PISA)ACAD

EMIA MEXICANA DE CIENCIAS

Coverage of terciary education.

Europe

Latin America

Middle East and North Africa

East Asia and Oceania

South Asia

South Sahara Africa

Investment in Science as part of the GNP.

Science in Latinamerica. José A. de la Peña (México)

Europe

GIDE/PIB(%)Alemania 2.49España 1.07Francia 2.16Italia 1.11Reino Unido 1.88Suecia 3.95

América

GIDECanada 1.99E.U.A 2.68México 0.41México 0.41

Oriente

GIDEJapan 3.13

Investment in research and development. US dolars by researcher.

0

50

100

150

200

Argentina

Brasil

Canada

Chile

EspañaEstados Unidos

México

Uruguay

América Latina y el Caribe

Number of researchers.

EuropaPaís InvestigadoresAlemania 268,943España 92,523Francia 192,790Italia 71,242Reino Unido 157,662Suecia 47,836

América del NortePaís InvestigadoresCanada 112,624E.U.A 1,334,628México 33,907México 33,907

América del SurPaís InvestigadoresArgentina 29,471Brasil 59,838Chile 7,085

OrientePaís InvestigadoresJapón 675,330Corea 151,254

Source: G. Lemarchand (2008)

Increasing production in LAC

Scientific production in LACCountry Documents Cites Cites per Doc.

Brazil 197,705 1,036,204 6.5 Mexico 82,792 470,643 6.57 Argentina 64,630 422,383 7.08 Chile 31,137 234,489 9.02 Venezuela 15,416 80,335 5.6 Colombia 11,238 61,088 7.1 Cuba 10,342 43,335 5.03 Retrieved from: http://www.scimagojr.com. SCImago Research Group, Copyright 2007-2009.

Data Source: Scopus®


Publications of LAC countries per million hab.

Annual Growth Rate (AGR) and overall change of world share (Growth) for countries

Most dinamically growing countries in 1991-2003, with at least 500 papers in 1991.

RangoRango CountryCountry AGRAGR GrowthGrowth

11 South KoreaSouth Korea 18.8%18.8% 669.3%669.3%

22 TurkeyTurkey 16.6%16.6% 517.9%517.9%

33 SingaporeSingapore 13.5%13.5% 341.6%341.6%

44 China PRChina PR 13.4%13.4% 341.6%341.6%

55 PortugalPortugal 10.9%10.9% 243.5%243.5%

66 TaiwanTaiwan 9.4%9.4% 189.1%189.1%

77 MexicoMexico 8.5%8.5% 164.3%164.3%

88 RomaniaRomania 8.8%8.8% 161.5%161.5%

99 BrazilBrazil 8.1%8.1% 148.8%148.8%

1010 GreeceGreece 6.2%6.2% 103.3%103.3%

1111 SpainSpain 5.0%5.0% 78.3%78.3%

On slide shows.

12/02/2008 Science in Latinamerica. José A. de la Peña (México)

Collaboration in science in LAC.

Collaboration is closer with the US and Europe than among countries of the region;

E. Garfield: inside the latinamerican countries there are ‘islands of competition’. They dont share equipement, dont quote each other…

Increasing number of joint publications; Some efforts of networking at the LAC region; ICSU Regional Committee and Office.

Papers written in collaboration with nationals of other countries

Year LAC Eastern Europe Asiatic Region Pacific Region

____________________________________________________ 1996 | 40.297 32.023 19.925 35.324 1998 | 39.845 34.823 20.081 38.551 2000 | 34.571 30.316 18.505 34.499 2002 | 31.277 29.898 18.022 34.411 2004 | 42.205 38.665 25.502 47.837 2006 | 41.545 37.863 24.446 45.488 2007 | 38.496 37.961 22.998 47.889


Source: SCImago

Papers published by mexican in collaboration with nationals of other countries.

Otros, 31%

Argentina, 2%Japon, 2%

Brasil, 3%

Italia, 3%

Rusia, 3%

Canada, 4%

Alemania, 5%

Inglaterra, 5%

Francia, 6%

España, 8%

EUA, 28%

Historic collaboration of Brazil with other countries



Increasing coathorships among LAC countries

Historic efforts of integration in LAC• Since the 50´s there were efforts to have closer disciplinary contacts

among the countries in the region.• ELAF (Physics) and the ELAM (Mathematics) schools were

periodically organized since 1950.• Brazil’s system of scholarships to all south american countries;• In 1990 there were efforts by UNESCO to organize networks in

disciplinary subjects at LAC;• Networks in Biology and mathematics still working out of UNESCO

wing;• TWAS south-south fellowships (Brazil and Mexico participating • with India, China and South Africa).

UMALCA: a mathematical research network in Latin America.

• UMALCA is a network formed by the mathematical societies of the countries of the region with more solid communities:Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, México, Perú, Uruguay and Venezuela.•Founded in July 1995 in Río de Janeiro.•The societies members provide financial support for the activities of UMALCA.

ICSU national members and regional offices

Developing regional scientific programs in priority areas for Latin America and the Caribbean

o Support from ICSU, Brazilean Academy of Sciences and CONACyT, México;o 4 Scientific Planning Groups on priority areas: Biodiveristy, Natural Hazards, alternative energy, mathematical education.o Definition of Action Plans: recommendations to governments and programs to implement;o 12 meetings from December 2007 to August 2008

Mexican train system?

The neural system: from cells to brains.

Why networks?

Creating qualitative new levels of structure.

Weights of the nodes of a network

A network in mathematical sense is formed by a set of nodes connected by edges. Each node has a different ‘weight’ at the network according to the role of the node at the connectivity of the network. These weights are determined by the Perron Theorem. Which node (the red or the blue) has higher weight?

A famous application of the Perron algorithm occurs at the Google browser (compare with the neighbours-counting

algorithm of pre-Google times!)Science in Latinamerica. José A. de la Peña

(México)

Logic of academic networking.Revert the logic of competition among research groups. Look to connect research groups with similar interests

for the resolution of important problems of high difficulty. The groups and institutions of a network collaborate with experts from different areas who share equipment, resources and students.

The network transforms all the participants in colleagues, sharing ideas, resources, infraestructure, etc.

Essential information for planning and decision making (as aplication of the ‘weights’ distribution).

Integration of networks creates stronger and more competitive groups.

Acting in an integrated way.


CONACyT ‘s (recent and near future) contribution for LAC integration.

Since 3 years ago the scholarship system is open to students of any nationality registered at a high quality graduate program at mexican IHES;

Sandwich doctoral scholarships; Creation of doctoral (and postdoctoral) colleges

virtual centers of nanotechnology and biotechnology between Mexico and Brazil;

Starting this year at the Basic Science program 1 million US dls. will be earmarked for projects presented by groups integrating mexican and central american or Caribbean researchers.


Other efforts of integration.

‘La ciencia en tu Escuela’ program of science education initiated in México and spread to other countries with the support of SEP;

Networks (IANAS, UMALCA, …); Internatially financed programs (EU, IDRC,

NSF –as CIAM program-, IADB, OAS…);


Joint fundamental LAC projects.Human resources:o Common educational programs; o Fellowship programs;o Movility programs.Scientific programs:o Programs supporting joint activities (seminars, projects…);o Joint review processes and evaluations;Basic infraestructure:o Joint laboratories (CERN example!);o Enviroment network of observatories;Basic knowledge of the LAC reality:o who we are, how many, where, what we have, national policies?


The creation of a common (real and virtual) space

Movility: Existing movility programs and special virtual centers; (?) Funds for movility of researchers and students in

LAC region (centrally administered);Electronic journals: Existing national consortia for electronic journals

(CAPES, Colombia, Chile, Argentina, México (1/2)…) (?) LAC consortia opening the access to all countries and most institutions.


Basic needs to be considered.

o General access to information (who gathers, analizes, distributes information?);

o Adequate communication (taking care of Internet 2 project, ICT centers…);

o Profit international financial sources (European framework 7, IDRC, …);

o Stronger participation at international academic bodies (ICSU, disciplinary organizations…);


THANK YOU!
