republica.com.uy
The relationship between Academia and Industry is essential to enhance the productive development of a country, and ours is no stranger to this beyond the fact that many times this does not occur in the most effective and efficient way. In this framework, the Pando Technological Pole Institute dependent on the Faculty of Chemistry of the University of the Republic (UdelaR) plays an important role within this academy-industry articulation in Uruguay.
“There has been an increase in recent years in real values of contributions for the development of the science and technology system, although the percentage in relation to GDP remains very low. Support for scientific research and production in that sense also grew throughout Latin America,” said the director of the Polo, Dr. Fernando Amestoy.
He added that “this development had no impact on the industry, there was no generation of value in the productive sector, even in Brazil, which has 1% of its GDP allocated to this.” These exchange structures allow knowledge to be transferred from where it is generated to where it is needed. “These interfaces are weak and make it difficult to visualize the real contribution of this process,” said the expert.
We unite supply with demand
Regarding the Polo, Amestoy indicated that the 45% is financed with funds from UdelaR and for the rest they are seeking it through competitive funds and relationships with the industry. Asked how the budget cuts affect the Polo in the Accountability, he pointed out that “we have our budget frozen for 4 years. We are going to lose an annual 15% of the budget. That is why we are forced to interact with the industry to survive.” The director also asserted that “we seek to ensure that the knowledge we generate is socially useful, that it is used. We match supply with demand. And that has to be visualized, and it is not easy.
It is a complex problem. We are an interface, like the Ricaldoni Foundation, among other institutions.” He concluded by highlighting that "this is an important issue for the country and we want to generate contributions to scientific policies that lead to a new strategic plan for science and technology, or a new competitiveness agenda or law. We intend to contribute to that debate."
Today's exchange The UdelaR, through the Pando Technological Pole Institute, will participate in the 1st. Open Science Forum of Latin America and the Caribbean (Cilac 2016) that is taking place these days in our country within the framework of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
In this context, today at 2 p.m. at LATU, seven Ibero-American speakers will speak on different topics linked to Science for Business Innovation and Universities for Development. This proposal from the Pando Pole consists of a thematic session to discuss the role of the University and its relationship with the productive environment, particularly in relation to the academy-industry-government interfaces. In this instance, success cases will be presented with their respective conclusions in which the University has had a prominent role in generating value and improving regional competitiveness.