Latin American and Caribbean Countries Will Discuss Policies for Innovation in a Digital World

“Innovation in a Digital World” is the motto of the Second Session of the Conference on Science, Innovation and Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) of ECLAC, which will bring together representatives of government, the private sector and international organizations on September 12 and 13 in San Jose, Costa Rica.

The meeting, organized by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and Costa Rica’s Ministry of Science, Technology and Telecommunications, has the support of the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) and the European Commission.

The opening event, scheduled for Monday, September 12 in the afternoon, will coincide with the inauguration of the World Information Technology Forum (WITFOR 2016). On Tuesday, September 13, four sessions will take place addressing matters such as the disruptive effects of the Internet in production: challenges for science and innovation; on demand economy: digital innovation and SMEs; hyper-connectivity Infrastructure; and competencies and collaboration to lead the digital transformation and innovation.

Based on examples and good practices, the meeting aims to identify common areas of action to move towards a regional work agenda.  

The Conference, created in 2012 as a subsidiary body of ECLAC, aims to promote the development and improvement of national policies on science, technology and innovation and of those related to the progress of the information and knowledge society in the region.

It also boosts international, regional and bilateral cooperation among national offices and international and regional organizations to facilitate the transfer of technology and knowledge, as well as the realization of joint activities in the field of science, technology and innovation.

The first meeting of the Conference was held in Santiago, Chile on June 9-10, 2014. It was attended by ministers, deputy ministers and other representatives from the region who discussed, among other matters, the spaces for cooperation regarding the training of human resources and the need for institution-building.

One of the meeting’s reference documents is The New Digital Revolution: From the Consumer Internet to the Industrial Internet, presented by ECLAC in 2015 and which addresses the effects, challenges and opportunities, for Latin America and the Caribbean, of the ongoing technological revolution.