ECLAC Inaugurates School for Policymakers in Science, Technology and Innovation

(6 October 2010) With the high-level conference "The importance of public policies for innovation", the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) will inaugurate next week the School for Policymakers in Science, Technology and Innovation at its headquarters in Santiago, Chile.

The school, to be held from 13 October to 5 November, seeks to provide training for government officials in charge of designing, following up, assessing and implementing policies in science, technology and innovation, and enable the sharing of knowledge and experiences.

It is organized by ECLAC in cooperation with InWent -Internationale Weiterbildung und Entwicklung gGmbH (International Training and Development), an agency of the German government that develops human resources and organizations within international cooperation- and the German cooperation agency GTZ.

The school will be inaugurated on 13 October at 9 a.m. with a high-level conference that will include the participation of Antonio Prado, Deputy Executive Secretary of ECLAC, Mario Cimoli, Director of ECLAC's Production, Productivity and Management Division, and ministry officials in charge of science and technology from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Ecuador, Mexico, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic and Uruguay.

Conference participants will examine the scope of public policies in innovation and the initiatives carried out in Latin America and the Caribbean in that area.

Government officials from the region will also discuss innovation policies and their importance for consolidating a path towards long-term sustainable development.

The media is welcome to attend the conference to be held at ECLAC headquarters (Av. Dag Hammarskjöld 3477, Vitacura, Santiago).

More information, including the school programme, is available on the ECLAC webpage.

For enquiries, please contact ECLAC's Public Information and Web Services Section.
Email: dpisantiago@cepal.org; telephone: (56-2) 210-2040.