'INKA' Promises Bold Future for Science and Technology in the Americas

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January 27, 2025

Washington, DC: The Initiative for Knowledge in the Americas (INKA) presented its initial design on December 4 at the Foro CILAC 2024, a regional science forum in San Andrés, Colombia. Convened by UNESCO, the event brought together hundreds of experts from around the world to discuss opportunities to support scientific research in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Through greater international cooperation, INKA sets out to significantly increase scientific research and innovation in strategic sectors in the Americas and to improve the region’s higher education capabilities to keep pace with rapid scientific and technological advances. This initiative–to promote, expand, and consolidate international cooperation in knowledge generation and utilization–was positively received by the participating scientists, engineers, and representatives from governments and international organizations, several of which have been involved in the early stages of the initiative.

The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars is coordinating the initial steps to establish INKA. Other participating institutions include UNESCO, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Canada’s International Development Research Center (IDRC), the UN Development Program (UNDP), the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), and the Latin American Development Bank (CAF). Francisco Sagasti, a former president of Perú, and Juan Carlos Navarro, an expert on science, technology, and innovation policies, presented the initial INKA design at the Foro CILAC 2024.
Next year, a Steering Committee including representatives of the participating institutions will engage in intensive consultations with institutions involved in science and technology across the Americas, at multinational institutions, and in the United States and Europe, including through engagements at summits involving senior government officials and other important INKA stakeholders.

Contact: Beatriz García Nice
Email: Beatriz.Nice@wilsoncenter.org

Latin America Program

The Wilson Center’s prestigious Latin America Program provides non-partisan expertise to a broad community of decision makers in the United States and Latin America on critical policy issues facing the Hemisphere. The Program provides insightful and actionable research for policymakers, private sector leaders, journalists, and public intellectuals in the United States and Latin America. To bridge the gap between scholarship and policy action, it fosters new inquiry, sponsors high-level public and private meetings among multiple stakeholders, and explores policy options to improve outcomes for citizens throughout the Americas. Drawing on the Wilson Center’s strength as the nation’s key non-partisan policy forum, the Program serves as a trusted source of analysis and a vital point of contact between the worlds of scholarship and action. Read more