Uruguay wants to promote knowledge economy and avoid brain drain

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – In one of the historical moments in which technology and science are more protagonists than ever, Uruguay wants to bet on the knowledge economy with a view to a long-term development that avoids the brain drain.

This was stated this Thursday during the talk “Innovation and Knowledge Economy”, organized by the National Academy of Economics of Uruguay.

Read also: Check out our coverage on Uruguay

The former president of the Central Bank of Uruguay Ricardo Pascale, the former director for Latin America and the Caribbean of the World Intellectual Property Organization Carlos Mazal, the director of the Pasteur Institute of Montevideo, Carlos Batthyany, and the Minister of Education and Culture, Pablo da Silveira, participated in the event.

In this sense, Pascale emphasized that Uruguay lives “a tyranny of the short term” in which there is no time to project into the future, and this causes its planning to end up being shaped by other developed countries.

In Pascale’s opinion, Uruguay has two options: to continue to take care of macroeconomic balances or “not to give up” and take up the challenge of entering the knowledge economy.

For his part, Batthyany emphasized the need for the country to invest more in science and technology and showed examples of how the most developed countries have been those that have taken this as a state policy.

“We have to understand that the countries of the future are those that manage to transform knowledge into tangible products that can solve the real problems of society with a high added value,” he said.

The executive director of the Pasteur detailed the “Lab+ Venture Builder” initiative, which combines the capabilities of scientists with private investment to create and develop science-technology based companies based on life sciences that aim “at the global market”.

“The idea is to scale research projects that are exceptional because if anything was clear in the pandemic is that young Uruguayans were ready to go out and compete,” he said.

The idea is to open the first international call of this initiative in December, which expects an investment of 35 million dollars. A return of 6 to 10 times more is estimated.

Finally, Minister Da Silveira considered that “as never before” innovation and knowledge are essential factors, and these aspects are contemplated in the Government’s agenda.

However, he understands that resources are necessary but cannot be the only thing, since that would lead to “waste” and announced that one of his objectives is to have a symbolic gesture. The portfolio will be renamed the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Science.

Although he was not one of the speakers, the former Uruguayan Foreign Minister and former Ibero-American Secretary General Enrique Iglesias were present at the virtual chat, and he took the floor and reflected on the history of the country which, in his opinion, has had “innovative impulses”, but has lacked processes.