The facilities of the Technological Laboratory of Uruguay (LATU) will host from the 6th to the 9th of this month the First Open Science Forum of Latin America and the Caribbean (Cilac – 2016), one of the most important regional meetings on this subject. The program foresees for this place and other centers in Montevideo the carrying out of a hundred simultaneous activities and the presentation of some 200 panelists from 20 countries.
Ministers and national authorities from the region and from other parts of the world, scientists, young entrepreneurs, business leaders, artists and scientific dissemination centers will participate in the First Open Science Forum of Latin America and the Caribbean (Cilac 2016), from the 6th to the 9th this month in Montevideo.
Ministerial representatives linked to science, technology and innovation from Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Spain, Guyana, Portugal, and Uruguay have already confirmed their presence at the opening of this meeting.
, as well as delegates from multilateral organizations such as the Organization of American States, the Union of South American Nations, the Ibero-American General Secretariat, Organization of Ibero-American States, Inter-American Development Bank, Development Bank of Latin America, Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean.
The activity is organized by the Regional Office for Latin America of Sciences of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Municipality of Montevideo, the National Agency for Innovation and Research, the University of República (Udelar) and the regional Association of Universities Group Montevideo.
The organizers consider that the results of these work days will constitute an important contribution to the debates on the development of public science, technology and innovation policies in Latin America and the Caribbean, and that they will also be fundamental inputs for the region for the next World Science Forum “Science for Peace”, which will take place in Jordan in 2017.
In parallel, the Forum of Rectors of Latin America and the Caribbean will be held, with the presence of thirty state university authorities, in which Udelar will be host at the LATU facilities. This meeting is convened by the Association of Universities of the Montevideo Group within the framework of the celebration of its 25th anniversary.
The rectors' forum will seek to strengthen cooperation on science, technology and innovation between universities in Latin America and the Caribbean to advance the design of a regional agenda on these issues.
Simultaneously, the Cilac – 2016 forum will use different places in Montevideo's public space to carry out demonstrations of science and innovation applied to everyday life, as well as presentations of art, music, among other shows. The proposal is to transcend the limits of scientific policies and practice, to find science in the most unexpected place.
Among the confirmed participants is the winner of the Unesco Kalinga prize for the Popularization of Science (2015), the Argentine biologist, communicator and scientific disseminator Diego Golombek.
Bardo Científico, a group of Uruguayan stand-up comedians, will also participate with their show “Feminiciencias: women and sciences” and “Química d+”, a program of activities aimed at children and adolescents. Featured creatives and the innovative Poper (Popularization with laughter) Scientist Stand Up initiative from Argentina will also be present.