Last Wednesday the 23rd, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), through the subsidiary body Conference on Science, Technology and Innovation, organized a seminar under the motto “Design and evaluation of STI programs: The Horizon Europe case”. The event, which brought together nearly 200 attendees, aimed to share the results of the project evaluation, allowing public policy makers in Latin America and the Caribbean to adapt the lessons learned to the respective local contexts.
Marco Llinás, director of the Productive and Business Development Division, was in charge of opening the meeting, highlighting the need to connect Science, Technology and Information (STI) with Productive Development policies to achieve higher levels of well-being in the region . He stressed the relevance of the international exchange of good practices, which, he said, “allows the region to provide itself with quality references.” His words were joined by those of Iván Luna, Director of Science of the Ministry of Science of Colombia, who pointed out the importance of participation in programs such as Horizon Europe to strengthen research and promote key sectors for the social and economic development of the country. “From the Ministry of Colombia we reiterate the commitment to international cooperation to build a sustainable, equitable and peaceful future not only for Colombia, but for the entire world,” he concluded.
Subsequently, the team of researchers from the United Nations University (UNU-MERIT) presented the Horizon Europe evaluation. Before getting into the matter, the researchers contextualized the magnitude of the project, which today has a budget of 95.5 billion euros and whose objective is to promote scientific excellence, promote industrial leadership and address the most urgent social challenges. .
Regarding the research framework, Tommaso Ciarli, UNU-MERIT researcher, explained that the analysis focuses on the design and evaluation of STI programs, in order to understand how innovation is done, and the impacts of these policies in companies. “Macroeconomic objectives are established, areas of interest are prioritized, and conceptual models and key variables are defined, such as risk and expected impact,” Ciarli explained. All of this analysis was done following a systematized methodological variety, which made it possible to identify both the positive aspects and areas for improvement.
Ad Notten, also from UNU-MERIT, explained that Horizon Europe (2021-2027) succeeds Horizon 2020, with a focus on research, innovation, industrial skills and high-risk projects. He also mentioned international collaboration, especially ‘The Americas and the Caribbean Regional Multiannual Indicative Program 2021-2027’, which promotes the green transition and alliances in governance, security and human development.
In the second part of the seminar, the methodology of program evaluation was discussed. Notten explained that work is regulated through the “Better Regulation” framework, a way of working that guarantees that political decisions are made in an open and transparent manner. “All of this is done under the criteria of effectiveness, efficiency, relevance, coherence and the need to have added value for the EU,” he added.
The expected results are evaluated through nine indicators called “key impact pathways” that allow measuring the impact in three categories – scientific, social and economic-technological. Each of these categories contains three specific pathways, providing an evidence base to comprehensively evaluate compliance with program objectives.
The seminar concluded with a round of questions in which researchers discussed how to adapt these research frameworks to more limited budgets, particularly in Latin America and the Caribbean. ECLAC announced that in future meetings the analysis of return on investment, the impact of scientific excellence and mobility will be explored in depth.
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