Paper on Innovation and productive development proposes peacebuilding based on science and innovation
CAPAZ Administrative Director, Dr. Carlos Nupia, has just published, the working paper entitled: “Science, technology and innovation: where we are now and where we could go” with the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in Colombia (FESCOL). The paper reviews Colombia’s production policy, the country’s position in the Global Innovation Index, the recommendations of the last Misión de Sabios run in 2019 and aspects related to the production of knowledge in the context of the Peace Agreement signed between the Colombian Government and the FARC-EP guerrilla.
Based on these public policy references, the paper analyses the possibilities for the productive growth of Colombian companies, considering a long-term mission such as sustainable peacebuilding. It also emphasises that science, technology and innovation (STI) play an important role in this purpose and outlines paths that can be followed to this end.
According to Nupia, defining a country mission on science, technology and innovation for peace should include the following components: linking business and peace, strengthening agricultural innovation and environmental research in areas affected by the conflict, promoting forensic investigation to expedite the search for missing persons, and reconverting the defence sector as a proactive agent for peacebuilding and business innovation.
“Achieving peace through STI could be our great task as a society for the next twenty years at least. This would require sustained efforts that combine traditional academic research (the production of peace-related knowledge) with co-produced content (joint production of knowledge between academics and people in conflict-affected areas)”.
The paper is part of a broader project on structural change and productive development led by José Antonio Ocampo for Fundación FESCOL, and is available free of charge in the Fundación FESCOL publications section or can be downloaded directly here (only available in Spanish).
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Balanzó, A., Nupia, C.M., Centeno, J.P. Conocimiento investigación científica y construcción de paz (Knowledge, scientific research, and peacebuilding). CAPAZ, PB 5-2019. Bogotá, 2019, 10 p. ISSN: 2711-0346