Twisted Wires

What are the main pillars of the recently launched National Strategic Plan for Science, Technology, and Innovation 2015-2019?

The plan was approved by the Council of Ministers in January 2015. It is a plan that was developed by different segments of society. It is not simply a five-year plan; it now comprises a 25-year policy framework. We did not develop a plan by area; instead we have taken a completely different approach. Our objective is to use science to support the sustainable development of equity, and central to this goal is health and education. With the funds that we were assigned by the government of the Republic of Panama, we will continue with the development of human capital in fields such as engineering, science, and mathematics not only in primary and secondary schools, but also in advanced degrees at the master’s and PhD level. The pillar of innovation seems to be embedded in a culture that needs to be developed locally, because businesses can get complacent while external competition remains ferocious. Panamanians are only now beginning to understand that, and we need to constantly remind them that innovation is key. The plan also focuses on the governance of the whole National System of Science, Technology, and Innovation of Panama, because the issue is that this topic has not been well articulated. SENACYT is also an administrative agency that gives support to the research facilities in different parts of the nation. Science has to be integrated into the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Environment, and even the Ministry of Commerce. What we would eventually like to see is all of the government entities creating an office dedicated to science and technology within their organizational structure. We cannot think that by just giving money to SENACYT, the field of science has been sufficiently addressed.

How do you promote interest in the STEM subjects among students?

We promote STEM subjects through a variety of ways. Together with the Ministry of Education we coordinate Science Clubs and a National Robotic Competition. SENACYT recently joined the international campaign and educational program called “Hour of Code” to promote computer science nationwide. We also use other tools to promote STEM, such as Scratch, a program developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. As part of the Science Clubs, we organize the National Competition of Chemistry in the Kitchen, which allows students to learn chemical reactions through the art of cooking. There is a lot more to do, and we are now launching an aggressive campaign to move forward in an effort to teach students that science is not something entirely abstract and that technology affects every aspect of their lives. This is going to take time.

What needs to be done to promote commercialization of the research and advancements in technology taking place in Panama?

In 2015, we granted funds to 72 research and development projects. This was a tremendous change, after having gone through a period over the last two years during which the previous administration did not provide funding for any projects. The funding varies so much that it is another disadvantage for our country. We plan to increasingly regulate funding in order to support more projects. Panama is still in the early stages of commercializing its emerging R&D culture. We seem to have gone through a phase of just producing scientific and academic papers, but this is about to change, as the incubators and entrepreneurial associations are starting to develop. SENACYT is involved in helping the efforts of the Technological University of Panama in this regard. Innovation is what we need to work on, and to do that we need to convince ourselves that we have the necessary talent to be innovators. In order to be an innovator, a certain level of education is necessary.