The Open Science Forum for Latin America and the Caribbean has built itself as a key regional space for debates and exchanges and is organized every two years, alternating in distinct cities throughout the region. It seeks to establish itself as a platform for the outlining of common positions and aspirations for a scientific, technological, and innovation agenda supporting sustainable development while simultaneously giving the region a strong voice in the global scope of the World Science Forum.

A conference unique in its genre, CILAC connects future researchers with renowned scientists, young entrepreneurs with business and corporate leaders, visionaries and innovators with political decision makers, artists, designers, inventors and engineers, scientific journalists and centers for scientific research…All summoned by the enormous challenges of our time which require the interdisciplinary and multisectoral collaboration between all of the Latin American and Caribbean society.

CILAC is characterized by multi-stakeholder dialogue and has two key components: the Open Forum for Science and the Open City for Science.

The Open Forum, defined by its focus on multilateral discussions, includes Plenary Conferences/Sessions led by renowned experts from the region and the world, Thematic Sessions and Parallel Events in which ministers, university rectors, businessmen, scientists, researchers, innovators, representatives from international and non-governmental institutions and civil society.

Simultaneously, the Open City for Science will be celebrated throughout Panama City's public spaces. Its decentralized activities, aimed at disseminating scientific knowledge and creating connections between science, culture, and society, are a direct invitation for civil society to engage with science, technology, and innovation through culture and the arts, including theatre, dance, informal discussions, performances and demonstrations.

The program includes a Posters exhibition, the installation of institutional Stands and the Technical Visits for any interested participant.

In this way, CILAC configures a plural, coherent, and articulated meeting of multiple reflective activities and proposals from the Latin American region within the framework of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

That is why the CILAC Forum calls upon multiple actors, linking civil society to scientists, academia, cooperation organizations, the private sector and governments from all regions to think together of the future. In this way, CILAC has become a global event, with the participation of colleagues and organizations from all continents, and seeks to contribute to the design of a planetary strategy in favor of science's role in sustainable development, based on five areas of intervention.

objective

The key objective of the Open Forum for Science in Latin America and the Carribean is to create a dynamic and inclusive space for debating, planning, and monitoring  between all the involved actors – governments, universities, businesses, researchers, social sectors -, the scientific and technological integration of the region and the role that the Science, Technology, and Innovation (CTI) system can play for the region's sustainable development.

The Forum provides a unique space for the alignment of regional priorities and policies of the various organizations (regional and international), as well as bilateral and multilateral cooperation agencies active in the fields of science and technology, together with educational systems and research.

Through the Forum, we intend to significantly increase the processes of management, development, and consolidation of the Latin American and the Caribbean Space for Higher Education (ELACES).