"Historic": Congress approves creation of Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation

"Historic": Congress approves creation of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation

01/06/2018

With a total of 130 votes in favor, the lower house approved the creation of the new portfolio, whose announcement could be part of the public account of President Piñera, this Friday 1 in June.

After almost two months of work and after being unanimously approved by the mixed commission last Tuesday, today the Chamber of Deputies approved the project that creates the Ministry of Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation, leaving the regulations in conditions to be promulgated into law, after a legality check by the Constitutional Court.

The announcement of the new portfolio could be part of President Piñera's public account this June 1.

Su aprobación y creación ha sido valorada por los parlamentarios como un «salto histórico y sustancial» y calificado por el ministro General de la Presidencia, Gonzalo Blumel, como la mayor reforma institucional para la ciencia, desde la creación de Conicyt hace 50 años.

«Claramente tiene un efecto importante en la producción de conocimiento, ciencia e innovación, porque una de las cosas que hace es cambiar el sistema de patentamiento y protección de propiedad intelectual. En la actualidad había una restricción muy grande para patentar y que ese conocimiento se pusiera luego al servicio de la sociedad y eso se resuelve de buena manera», explicó.

Patenting and intellectual property was precisely one of the main agreements reached by the joint commission. Along these lines, regarding the intellectual property of research and innovations, for projects financed by Fondecyt, a mechanism was proposed that requires publication in the event that the result is not patentable, otherwise, the funds must be returned to the State.

If the investigation generates patents, the person or institution can request protection by notifying the agency, where the State would enjoy a non-exclusive, non-transferable, irrevocable and onerous license for the sole purpose of supplying the national market.

Another item that was in question and resolved by the mixed commission was the decentralization of the Ministry, through regional ministerial secretariats.

Along with the creation of the ministries, five seremías will be installed, which will be completed - one per region - within a maximum period of ten years.

In another order, the objective of creating an advisory committee of the new ministry is to collaborate in the design of instruments and proposals of law, that among its functions count the responsibility of forming the technical committees or experts. They will be integrated in a pluralistic way, promoting gender equity and an adequate representation of disciplines.

On the other hand, the president of Conicyt, Mario Hamuy, valued the majority support to the regulations and anticipated that an institutionality is created, the installation of the ministry must be this year and during 2019 that begins to work.

Source: Diario Financiero