Ibero-American investment in R&D remains low compared to industrialized countries, and currently represents only 2.6% of the world total, according to a report published by the Organization of Ibero-American States (OEI), in collaboration with UNESCO, which collects updated indicators on science and technology in the region.
According to this report, entitled “The State of Science”, in relative terms to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), while Korea or Israel allocate almost 5% of their GDP to research and development, the group of countries Ibero-Americans made an investment that represented only 0.70% of the regional GDP in 2019.
The study also indicates that during the decade 2010-2019 the region’s economy grew more than investment in R&D, which explains the low productivity, as stated in the recent report “Higher education, competitiveness and productivity in Ibero-America” , also prepared by the OEI and published last May.
In terms of research, the study report indicates that in the same period there was an increase of 37% in the number of Ibero-American researchers. Most of these, 59%, carry out their activities at the university level.
Likewise, in those years, researchers in the region have achieved a 79% increase in the number of articles published in scientific journals registered in SCOPUS, the largest database of such publications at an international level.
In the conjuncture of the last year and a half, with the pandemic of COVID-19, the report underlines the importance that science and technology have acquired in contemporary society, but also the need for clear, precise and abundant information.
To carry out the study, the OEI Observatory of Science, Technology and Society has updated the science indicators in Latin America collected by the Latin American Network of Science and Technology Indicators (RICYT).
The RICYT has been carrying out this task for 26 years hand in hand with the governments, other public institutions and those responsible for the scientific statistical production of the Ibero-American countries.
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