There are more and more researchers, but the resources of science and technology are not increasing proportionally

The The development of science and technology in Mexico It’s a critical moment, explained Alfonso Avila Robinson, PhD in Technology and Innovation Management, in his column at the EGADE Business School – Graduate School of Business at Tecnológico de Monterrey.

This is due to what some callInvestment withdrawal“In science, technology and innovation (STI), which means a gradual decrease in public spending in this sector.

To give an example of a situation where spending on science, technology and innovation (CTI) finds itself, for example, according to the latest data from world bankupdated to 2018, Mexico ranked penultimate in spending on science, technology and innovation with an average of 0.31% of GDP, while in the same year, Israel, which spent the most on science, technology and innovation, spent 4.94%.

According to the data of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), in Mexico in 2019, the budget in research and development was implemented by the three levels of government (GBARD) It amounted to 0.22% of GDP.

this number It puts us apart from world leaders, such as South Korea, which spends close to 1% of GDP, but also from other economies in the region, such as Argentina, which spends 0.4% of GDP on scientific and technological development.

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All the Union Expenditure Budget For 2022 it adds an amount of more than 7 billion pesos (7,088,250,300,000) and corresponds to the total income approved in the Income Act.

Branch 38, the National Science and Technology Council, corresponds to 29,564 million pesos for This is 2022. In 2021 Fixed 27,559 million pesos was spent, and the budget increased by 2 billion pesos.

Now, although this increase appears to be positive, the problem is that It does not correspond to the increase in the number of graduate researchers Which is increasing, as explained in an interview by Philip Caballero, Ph.D. in Materials Science and Technology at National Polytechnic Institute.

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“There are more and more PhD graduates, for example, and donation by number researchers The ones we form are decreasing and the bags available are decreasing and smaller. Then you have to Distribute less money among more people The expert said.

“We haven’t seen directly Scholarship Reductionbut at the National Polytechnic there was a shortage of scholarships and they had to request it directly from Conacyt, so that it could be completed,” Caballero explained.

The specialist explained to us that this budget limits It is also important because it forces researchers to achieve their stated goals more passively.

Moreover, inside budget allocationsMost of the technical equipment is not considered to be purchased in United StateIn dollars, but budgets do not adapt to changes in the economy, so every time hard to get.

“When you have Ph.D. graduates, you obviously try to put them in, and you first try to get them to go out for Ph.D., for example, reduce the number of postdoctoral scholarships, which You have fewer people doing postdocsdespite the fact that you have more and more people willing.”

Felipe Caballero explained that this situation has consequences such as brain imigrantebecause many graduates They end up doing their research abroadIn addition, in the years of the epidemic there were no scholarships abroad, “which is necessary to give people a greater training capacity.”

until the program Repatriation and Detention The CONASET – The mechanism of maintaining research in national projects or attracting those in another country – as there were no invitations for 2019 and until 2021.

The Peciti 2021-2024 program corresponds to the national project

On December 28, it was published in the Official Gazette of the Federation Special Program for Science, Technology and Innovation 2021-2024 (Peciti)which lays the foundations for public policy in the sector Humanities, Technology and Innovation.

The Peciti 2021-2024 is a mandatory compliance tool and is the result of the design and inter-organizational coordination implemented by Conacyt.

In this program the general themes of National Development Plan 2019-2024which seeks to transform the humanities, technology and innovation sector to find effective and sustainable solutions to the problems facing Mexico.

These actions “require the detailed work of the CONSET with public institutions, the productive sector and the national community (…). adhere to the principles National interest, social justice, republican austerity, and the fight against corruption“, pointing to Konsett statement.

east program Contributes to achieving 14 sustainable development goals and 29 goals of the 2030 Agenda for the Arab Republic of Egypt United nations Focuses on promoting scientific communityFrontier sciences Strategic national programs Technology development and transfer Promoting universal access to knowledge and its benefits, information and a scientific future with social impact.

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Science at the heart of the debate

for the Doctor of Technology and Innovation Management, Avila RobinsonThe situation that Kunasset faced on everyone’s lips, is an example of the CTI in Mexico heading for a regression.

“The Cancellation of economic resources To the Scientific and Technological Advisory Forum, the extinction of 65 scientific funds, the abolition of economic incentives for researchers from private universities affiliated with national search systemreferring to the private initiative as corrupt in the management of research and development (R&D) funds” are alarming cases of the development of science in our country.

But Kunaset is not the only one facing difficulties. At the end of January 2022, the students The Center for Economic Research and Teaching (CIDE) They closed the Mexico-Toluca highway for hours to protest the change to the statutes of this study center.

These amendments were approved at an extraordinary meeting convened by the Director of Conacyt, Maria Elena Alvarez Boellaand, according to the students, threaten the academic independence of the institution.