Experts debated innovation applied to natural resources

Regional and local experts met to debate the topic "Latin American technological innovation for natural resources", in an international workshop organized by CAF, Development Bank of Latin American, together with the Universidad de la República (Udelar) and the Corporación de Estudios para Latinoamérica (Cieplan).

For a full day which included several workshops and round tables, the applied experience in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico and Uruguay was analyzed, including the policies of each government with respect to the generation and application of technology, and the existing institutional framework to promote innovation. 

Gladis Genua, CAF's Director Representative in Uruguay, pointed out, "to carry out analyses and design adequate public policies it is necessary to know the reality. For a long time now we have been immersed in this task, supporting research, the generation of Latin American knowledge, and putting it at the disposal of our countries". 

In this respect, Genua celebrated the research alliance carried out with Cieplan in order to strengthen the incorporation of innovation and technological development to natural resources in Latin America, thus changing comparative advantages into competitive advantages, to reach a higher level of competitiveness and development.  

Pablo Piñera, Executive Director of Cieplan-Chile called to find the paths to take advantage of the natural resources that are characteristic of the continent to promote innovation, which he called "a crucial component to strengthen the growth and competitiveness of the countries". 

The importance that Uruguay gives to the generation of public-private alliances was mentioned by Alvaro Ons, Representative of the Office of Planning and Budget (OPP, for its acronym in Spanish), in the government's Ministerial Cabinet for Competitiveness, who highlighted that "there must be a joint and more comprehensive vision regarding productive development, innovation, and international insertion. Uruguay is a very small country, so this integrating vision between the State and the private sector is key". 

Agriculture was the example chosen to illustrate the advances and challenges faced by the country with respect to innovation in a round table called "Agriculture and livestock innovation networks in Uruguay". The main speaker was Cristina Zurbriggen, doctor in Political Sciences and member of Udelar.  

During her speech, Zurbriggen focused on the traceability of the livestock and its importance in the Uruguayan meat sector, as well as the capacities generated by the State as a result of this innovation. In this line, she highlighted that Uruguay is the only country in the world with 100% of the cattle registered and electronically identified, which enables monitoring all the chain of production from the National System of Livestock Information and the Meat Industry's Electronic System. 

In addition to safety in the mobilization of the livestock, the certification of Uruguayan meat, and the eradication of several cattle diseases, the innovation process allows for the use of the generated capacities for the traceability of the soil and agro-chemicals.  

The Argentinean case was also analyzed from the agricultural and livestock perspective, while the Brazilian situation was addressed based on the development of the oil and gas industry. Mexico was analyzed focusing on the manufacturing sector, and Chile based on copper production.