Science and technology in Colombia refers to the development of scientific research and technological innovation in Colombia, and how these in turn affect Colombian society, politics, and culture. Colciencias is a government agency that supports fundamental and applied research in Colombia.
Colombia has more than 3,950 research groups in science and technology. [1] Colombia was ranked 66th in the Global Innovation Index in 2023. [2] iNNpulsa, a government body that promotes entrepreneurship and innovation in the country, provides grants to startups, in addition to other services it and institutions provide. Co-working spaces have arisen to serve as communities for startups large and small. [3] [4] Organizations such as the Corporation for Biological Research (CIB) for the support of young people interested in scientific work has been successfully developed in Colombia. [5] The International Center for Tropical Agriculture based in Colombia investigates the increasing challenge of global warming and food security. [6]
Some leading Colombian scientists are Joseph M. Tohme, researcher recognized for his work on the genetic diversity of food, Manuel Elkin Patarroyo who is known for his groundbreaking work on synthetic vaccines for malaria, Francisco Lopera who discovered the "Paisa Mutation" or a type of early-onset Alzheimer's, [7] Rodolfo Llinás known for his study of the intrinsic neurons properties and the theory of a syndrome that had changed the way of understanding the functioning of the brain, Jairo Quiroga Puello recognized for his studies on the characterization of synthetic substances which can be used to fight fungus, tumors, tuberculosis and even some viruses and Ángela Restrepo who established accurate diagnoses and treatments to combat the effects of a disease caused by the Paracoccidioides brasiliensis , among other scientists. [8] [9] [10]
Colombia is seventh of the eight Latin American countries to have satellites in orbit. On April 7, 2007 Libertad I (CubeSat), was sent from Baikonur cosmodrome, to orbit around the planet offering telemetry information and as a research purpose. It represents a milestone in the history of Colombia and the first step of the Colombian aerospace development.
With the establishment in Colombia of the Aeroleaver factory more than 50 years ago, and with a joint effort of the government, it was managed to develop the first Colombian airship, completely with Colombian technology and elaborated in the country, the "Sparrowhawk". At the moment Armed Forces of Colombia uses some of these airplanes, and others are of commercial use.
Colombia also builds a completely new version of Lancair Legacy aircraft for its Air Force. This is the first aircraft to be made in Colombia by the government and serves as trainer aircraft. [11] [12] [13]
Colombia has one of the largest if not the largest Shipyards in Latin America located in Cartagena. It produces Fluvial Support Patrol Ships, like the ARC TF Juan Ricardo Oyola Vera which were developed by Cotecmar Co. [14] These ships are intended to patrol rivers and littoral waters and features a helicopter deck.
The IAN-R1, which was donated by the United States and is currently located in Bogota, is a small nuclear reactor that was reactivated recently after being inactive for a few years. The IAN-R1 is used for research purposes. This reactor is used in the production of neutrons and every year it provides 4,400 samples for analysis. [15] The electricity production in Colombia comes mainly from renewable energy sources. 69.97% is obtained from the hydroelectric generation. [16] Colombia's commitment to renewable energy was recognized in the 2014 Global Green Economy Index (GGEI), ranking among the top 10 nations in the world in terms of greening efficiency sectors. [17]
As of 2007 Colombian medicine has been recognized as one of the most advanced in the world.[ citation needed ] The refractive surgery keratomileusis was developed by Ignacio Barraquer in 1964 in Bogotá. On January 10, 1985, Dr. Elkin Lucena performed the first successful In vitro fertilization, which allowed the birth of the first Latin American test tube baby Carolina Mendez. On December 14, 1985, the Dr. Alberto Villegas performed the first heart transplant in Latin America to Antonio Yepes. [18]
On May 20, 1994 Manuel Elkin Patarroyo received the Prince of Asturias Awards by his technical and scientific research in the development of synthetic malaria vaccine. Dr. Jorge Reynolds Pombo is credited with having helped in the design of the first successful internal pacemaker in 1958.
Colombia ranks 22nd on the World Health Organization’s list of the best healthcare systems. [19] Health standards in Colombia have improved very much since the 1980s, healthcare reforms have led to massive improvements in the healthcare systems of the country. Although this new system has widened population coverage by the social and health security system from 21% (pre-1993) to 96% in 2012, [20] health disparities persist.
A study conducted by América Economía magazine ranked 21 Colombian health care institutions among the top 44 in Latin America, amounting to 48 percent of the total. [21] A cancer research and treatment centre was declared as a Project of National Strategic Interest. [22]
Colombia has begun to innovate in military technology for its army and other armies of the world; especially in the design and creation of personal ballistic protection products, military hardware, military robots, bombs, simulators and radar. [23] [24] [25]
Peace deal fostering sustainable development Colombia’s economy slowed at the end of the commodities boom in 2014. Although the drop in demand was partly offset by domestic consumption and investment levels, the growing imbalance between exports and imports still eroded GDP. [26]
Accession to the OECD in May 2018 should help Colombia to boost its exports. By 2018, growth had rebounded to 2.5% then 3.3% in 2019. The most momentous event in Colombia’s recent history has been the signing of a peace agreement between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia–People’s Army (FARC–EP) that was ratified by parliament in 2016. This agreement will contribute to the fulfilment of the SDGs, through the following initiatives: [26]
By the end of 2019, 22 bio-expeditions had been undertaken in different regions as part of Colombia Bio, to enrich the scant taxonomic record. Colombia Bio is supporting bioprospecting to foster the development of products and services with high added value. It is also analysing the entire value chain as a preamble to making recommendations for how to mainstream the sustainable use of biodiversity at the institutional level. In parallel, the project is striving to develop a ‘biodiversity culture’ to ensure popular support for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. [26]
In 2019, the government created the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation to replace Colciencias. Colciencias had been in charge of policy-making and evaluation. Since it had also fulfilled the vital role of implementation agency, the ministry established an autonomous unit in December 2019 in charge of implementation. In 2020, the government was contemplating establishing an independent implementation agency. [26]
The new ministry has taken over all of Colciencias’ portfolios, including those mentioned above and the Health Research Fund (FIS). The latter is a sectoral fund benefiting from a permanent source of income in the form of government revenue from casinos and lotteries. [26]
Regional pacts targeting equity Colombia’s modest research intensity has slipped further since 2015 but numbers of researchers are on the rise. Although these dual trends have reduced the amount of funding per researcher, the country’s scientific output actually grew by 52% over the 2015–2019 period. [26]
The National Development Plan 2018–2022: Pact for Colombia, Pact for Equity is structured by regional ‘pacts’ that seek to nurture the strengths of each region. These pacts are essentially cross-cutting agreements on strategic issues that include sustainability, peacebuilding, digital transformation, decentralization and STI. All the pacts are aligned with, or at least related to, the Sustainable Development Goals. [26]
In December 2019, the International Mission of the Wise established by the government delivered its final report on how to place knowledge at the heart of Colombia’s sustainable development. The report made recommendations on three key topics: biodiversity; productive sustainable development; and social equity. It also recommended raising domestic investment in R&D. [26]
This article incorporates text from a free content work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO Text taken from UNESCO Science Report: the Race Against Time for Smarter Development , Gabriela Dutrénit, Carlos Aguirre-Bastos, Martín Puchet and Mónica Salazar, UNESCO. To learn how to add open license text to Wikipedia articles, please see this how-to page. For information on reusing text from Wikipedia, please see the terms of use.
The Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO (IOC/UNESCO) was established by resolution 2.31 adopted by the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). It first met in Paris at UNESCO Headquarters from 19 to 27 October 1961. Initially, 40 States became members of the commission. The IOC assists governments to address their individual and collective ocean and coastal management needs, through the sharing of knowledge, information and technology as well as through the co-ordination of programs and building capacity in ocean and coastal research, observations and services.
Science and technology in Brazil has entered the international arena in recent decades. The central agency for science and technology in Brazil is the Ministry of Science and Technology, which includes the CNPq and Finep. This ministry also has a direct supervision over the National Institute for Space Research, the National Institute of Amazonian Research, and the National Institute of Technology (Brazil). The ministry is also responsible for the Secretariat for Computer and Automation Policy, which is the successor of the SEI. The Ministry of Science and Technology, which the Sarney government created in March 1985, was headed initially by a person associated with the nationalist ideologies of the past. Although the new minister was able to raise the budget for the science and technology sector, he remained isolated within the government and had no influence on policy making for the economy.
The National Council for Scientific and Technological Development is a government agency under the Ministry of Science and Technology of the Brazilian federal government. The council is dedicated to the promotion of scientific and technological research and to the formation of human resources for research in the country.
Icesi University is a private university located in Cali, Colombia. The campus is located in the area of Pance, south of the city. Founded in 1979 by a group of businessmen in the region. Icesi University with a campus of 141,334 square meters, offers undergraduate programs, specializations, masters and doctorates.
Calestous Juma was a Kenyan scientist and academic, specializing in sustainable development. He was named one of the most influential 100 Africans in 2012, 2013 and 2014 by the New African magazine. He was Professor of the Practice of International Development and Faculty Chair of the Innovation for Economic Development Executive Program at Harvard Kennedy School. Juma was Director of the School's Science, Technology and Globalization Project at Harvard Kennedy School as well as the Agricultural Innovation in Africa Project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. His last book, Innovation and Its Enemies: Why People Resist New Technologies, was published by Oxford University Press in 2016.
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The University of Valle, also called Univalle, is a public, departmental, coeducational, research university based primarily in the city of Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia. It is the largest higher education institution by student population in the southwest of the country, and the third in Colombia, with more than 30,000 students. The university was established by ordinance No. 12 of 1945, by the Departmental Assembly as the Industrial University of Valle del Cauca, under the leadership of Tulio Ramírez Rojas and Severo Reyes Gamboa.
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The Administrative Department of Science, Technology and Innovation, also known as Colciencias, was a Colombian government agency that supported fundamental and applied research in Colombia. The department was officially integrated into the newly established Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation. This integration was enacted through Law 2162 of 2021. The key purpose of this merger was to centralize and streamline efforts in these fields under one unified governmental entity. This change aimed to foster a more coordinated and strategic approach to science, technology, and innovation, thereby enhancing the efficiency and impact of governmental policies and initiatives in these crucial areas.
The Commission on Science and Technology for Sustainable Development in the South (COMSATS) is an inter-governmental organization, having a membership of 27 developing countries from three continents, Latin America, Africa and Asia. Twenty-five S&T/R&D institutions of developing countries are affiliated with COMSATS as members of its Network of International S&T Centers of Excellence for Sustainable Development in the South. The organization aims at sustainable socio-economic uplift of the developing countries through scientific and technological means while adopting North–South and South–South cooperation.
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Silvia Blair Trujillo is a Colombian scientist, known for her research on antimalarial compounds found in traditional plants from her country. During her research career, Blair has received various awards and recognitions, such as the Héctor Abad Gómez Medal to merits in Public Health in 1992, an honorable mention in the area of Basic Experimental Sciences in 2000, a Francisco José de Caldas Medal for University Excellence in 2008, and was named Emeritus Professor of the University of Antioquia in 2017.
Ángela Stella Camacho Beltrán, is a Colombian physicist and president of the Colombian Network of Women Scientists. Camacho's main work is in the fields of condensed matter physics, solid state physics, and low-dimensional physics. She was the first Colombian woman to obtain a PhD in physics.
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The Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation (MinCiencias), a successor to the Administrative Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (Colciencias), is the body of the National Government of Colombia for the management of public administration, rector of the sector and of the National Science System, Technology, and Innovation (SNCTI), in charge of formulating, guiding, directing, coordinating, executing, implementing and controlling the State policy in this matter, in accordance with the development plans and programs, in accordance with Law 2237 of 2022, through which its creation was made official.
