13/09/16

Cuba gets leaner science structure to boost impact

Copyright: Fiocruz

By: Leslie Salgado

We encourage you to republish this article online and in print, it’s free under our creative commons attribution license, but please follow some simple guidelines:

You have to credit our authors.
You have to credit SciDev.Net — where possible include our logo with a link back to the original article.
You can simply run the first few lines of the article and then add: “Read the full article on SciDev.Net” containing a link back to the original article.
If you want to also take images published in this story you will need to confirm with the original source if you're licensed to use them.
The easiest way to get the article on your site is to embed the code below.

For more information view our media page and republishing guidelines.

The full article is available here as HTML.

Press Ctrl-C to copy

<div class="article-wrap">
<div id="article-introduction">
<h1>Cuba gets leaner science structure to boost impact</h1>
<h4>By: Leslie Salgado</h4>
</div>
<br />
<br />

<div id="article-body">
<p>A reshuffle of the science system in Cuba reduced the number of science, technology and innovation (STI) institutions funded by the state.</p>
<p>This reorganization, as Cuban authorities called it, aims for “a more integral and economically sustainable management of STI”, according to legislation that came into effect in August 2014.</p>
<p>Prior to the legislation, 97.5% of the 232 institutions operating at the time were financed by the state; today, 60% of the 200 that are left after the reorganisation have become “enterprises or units”, according to information published by local press.</p>
<p>The changes are not only quantitative. As a result of this legislation, science institutions are now classified as research centres, scientific-technological service centres or development and <a href="https://www.scidev.net/enterprise/innovation/">innovation</a> units — and this has implications for the way each institution is managed.</p>
<blockquote class="quote list-right">
<h3>
		“Any impact from the results of scientific research requires time, typically years, to be reflected in improvements in the well-being of the population. This is the case even for the results of relatively small R&D projects.”</h3>
<h4>
		Emilio García Capote, Science Academy of Cuba</h4>
</blockquote>
<p>For example, the 18 <a href="https://www.scidev.net/enterprise/technology/">scientific-technological</a> service centers should, according to the new law, self-finance their work by commercialising all their products or services.</p>
<p>The new scenario represents a challenge for the scientific community. Emilio García Capote, member of the Science Academy of Cuba and an expert in S&T <a href="https://www.scidev.net/governance/policy/">policy</a>, believes that “it is not possible to sustain, from the budget of the state, everything that until now was financed, except social, clinical and fundamental research activities, many of which are still to be defined”.</p>
<p>“The researchers of the institutions that will begin to self-finance will try to face the situation realistically,” he said. “It is new to most of them.”</p>
<p>Several documents distributed by the Cuban Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment (CITMA) between 1998 and 2015 showed weak R&D interaction between universities and enterprises. They also showed insufficient demand by the business sector for science, according to an article published in the magazine <a href="http://www.congresouniversidad.cu/revista/index.php/congresouniversidad">Congreso Universidad</a>, edited by the Ministry of Higher Education in Cuba.</p>
<p>According to local press, Elba Rosa Pérez, minister of CITMA, said that this change in legislation aims to direct “the [country’s] scientific potential towards the real needs of the country”.</p>
<p>The impact of the changes on society may not be immediate, Capote warns. “Any impact from the results of scientific research requires time, typically years, to be reflected in improvements in the well-being of the population. This is the case even for the results of relatively small <a href="https://www.scidev.net/enterprise/rd/">R&D</a> projects”.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.scidev.net/america-latina/financiamiento/noticias/cuba-reduce-estructura-cientifica-para-potenciar-impacto.html"><em>This piece was produced by SciDev.Net’s Latin America and the Caribbean desk</em></a></p>

</div>
<div class="quick-links-wrapper">
<h3>You might also like</h3>
[related-articles]
</div>
<p>This article was originally published on <a href="https://www.scidev.net" target="_blank">SciDev.Net</a>. Read the <a href="https://www.scidev.net/global/news/cuba-leaner-science-structure-impact/" target="_blank">original article</a>.</p>
<script type="text/javascript">
(function(e,t,n,r,i,s,o){e["GoogleAnalyticsObject"]=i;e[i]=e[i]||function(){(e[i].q=e[i].q||[]).push(arguments)},e[i].l=1*new Date;s=t.createElement(n),o=t.getElementsByTagName(n)[0];s.async=1;s.src=r;o.parentNode.insertBefore(s,o)})(window,document,"script","//www.google-analytics.com/ga.js","ga");var _gaq=_gaq||[];var _gaq=_gaq||[];_gaq.push(["_setAccount","UA-3223906-8"],["_trackEvent","article interaction","republished","https://www.scidev.net/global/news/cuba-leaner-science-structure-impact/",null,true])
</script>
</div>

A reshuffle of the science system in Cuba reduced the number of science, technology and innovation (STI) institutions funded by the state.

This reorganization, as Cuban authorities called it, aims for “a more integral and economically sustainable management of STI”, according to legislation that came into effect in August 2014.

Prior to the legislation, 97.5% of the 232 institutions operating at the time were financed by the state; today, 60% of the 200 that are left after the reorganisation have become “enterprises or units”, according to information published by local press.

The changes are not only quantitative. As a result of this legislation, science institutions are now classified as research centres, scientific-technological service centres or development and innovation units — and this has implications for the way each institution is managed.

“Any impact from the results of scientific research requires time, typically years, to be reflected in improvements in the well-being of the population. This is the case even for the results of relatively small R&D projects.”

Emilio García Capote, Science Academy of Cuba

For example, the 18 scientific-technological service centers should, according to the new law, self-finance their work by commercialising all their products or services.

The new scenario represents a challenge for the scientific community. Emilio García Capote, member of the Science Academy of Cuba and an expert in S&T policy, believes that “it is not possible to sustain, from the budget of the state, everything that until now was financed, except social, clinical and fundamental research activities, many of which are still to be defined”.

“The researchers of the institutions that will begin to self-finance will try to face the situation realistically,” he said. “It is new to most of them.”

Several documents distributed by the Cuban Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment (CITMA) between 1998 and 2015 showed weak R&D interaction between universities and enterprises. They also showed insufficient demand by the business sector for science, according to an article published in the magazine Congreso Universidad, edited by the Ministry of Higher Education in Cuba.

According to local press, Elba Rosa Pérez, minister of CITMA, said that this change in legislation aims to direct “the [country’s] scientific potential towards the real needs of the country”.

The impact of the changes on society may not be immediate, Capote warns. “Any impact from the results of scientific research requires time, typically years, to be reflected in improvements in the well-being of the population. This is the case even for the results of relatively small R&D projects”.

This piece was produced by SciDev.Net’s Latin America and the Caribbean desk