The average investment in science in the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) is less than 1% of GDP, with only two member states, Portugal and Brazil, being above average, a director of the organisation said on Tuesday.
In a presentation on “The Role of Science Funding Agencies in the Financing of Common CPLP Projects: Creation of a Scientific and Technological Cooperation Fund”, the CPLP’s Director of Cultural Action and Portuguese Language, João Ima Panzo, said that “the so-called developed countries invest on average around 3% of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in science, technology and innovation” and that the European Union “follows this paradigm”.
As for the CPLP, the data collected “points to a variation between 1.7% and 0.2% of GDP in the different countries, with Portugal and Brazil leading the way, with investments that meet the minimum recommended by international organisations”.
“The average for the CPLP countries as a whole concerning Gross Domestic Product is less than 1%,” he said, stressing that this figure is “not to say worrying, a figure to reflect on”.
According to the OECD and Unesco, the world average is around 1.7% of countries’ GDP, “but with great disparities between them,” he added. There is a recommendation that investment in this field should be around 3.0%.
He said the data collected from the CPLP countries “in itself raises challenges”.
Among these challenges, João Ima Panzo stressed that “there are budgetary limitations and a lack of adequate infrastructures for science, technology and innovation” in the organisation’s member states.
As for the opportunities, he considered them ‘related to strengthening inter-institutional cooperation and optimising available resources”.
“The very name of the network of investment agencies and similar structures demonstrates the will to integrate and to follow a democratic line so that all member states, regardless of their status, can participate in this dialogue on science funding in the CPLP area,” which is important for the economic and sustainable development of the states, he said.
Portugal’s Secretary of State for Science, Ana Paiva, and the CPLP’s executive secretary, Zacarias da Costa, gave the same message in their speeches today.
The 1st Meeting of Science Funding Agencies and Similar Structures of the Member States of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) is taking place between today and Wednesday at the organisation’s headquarters in Lisbon, in person and by videoconference, with a live broadcast on the CPLP’s YouTube channel.
The opening session was attended by the CPLP’s executive secretary, Zacarias da Costa, the Permanent Representative of Sao Tome and Principe to the organisation, Ambassador Esterline Gonçalves Género, representing the community’s current presidency, and Portugal’s Secretary of State for Science, Ana Paiva.
At the start of the meeting, a declaration of commitment and statutes of the Network of Science Funding Agencies or Similar Structures of the CPLP Member States were signed.
The event includes five round tables on the themes of best practices in funding scientific research, strategies for innovation and technology transfer, capacity building and training of human resources in science and technology management, international cooperation in science funding, recommendations, the joint action plan, and drawing up and signing the final declaration.
The CPLP’s member states are Angola, Brazil, Cabo Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique, Portugal, Sao Tome and Principe and Timor-Leste.
Lusa
