“We have seen a lot of interest in science funding”

The pandemic has made the scientific world become one of the protagonists of all discussions.

On Tomorrow will be another day we talk with Carolina Torrealba, the Undersecretary of Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation, on the $ 5,300 million investment that the State will make for science-technology-based ventures.

To start the conversation, Torrealba commented that “The Ministry not only has to take charge of knowledge, but also how we disseminate it.”

The Undersecretary of Science said that “Most of the technology companies in Chile are related to biotechnology.”

In addition, he stressed that some of the challenges of these projects are their long developments and their unpredictability.

“Scientific and technological endeavors are extremely risky. They are very expensive and it is difficult to predict which one will do well”, Carolina Torrealba.

On the other hand, he stressed that Chile needs to invest to lead the international career in the scientific world.

“To compete internationally, we need to generate a critical mass of knowledge. Our country has to start creating large science ventures.”added the undersecretary of Science, Technology, Knowledge and innovation.

Gaps and new interests

Despite all the pandemic news, the secretary mentioned that “In the last 6 months we have seen a lot of interest in scientific funding.”

In addition, he referred to the gender inequalities that exist in the scientific world, noting that “There is a giant gender gap in the scientific world, and especially in science endeavors.”

Controversial Mobility Permit

This weekend, President Piñera announced that a new “Mobility Pass”, a special permit to increase the mobility of people vaccinated with both doses of the Covid-19 vaccines.

Likewise, Carolina Torrealba said that “There is some doubt about the temporary nature of the Mobility Pass.”

“As it has happened to us more than once, during the weeks it will probably be evaluated whether or not to continue with the Mobility Pass”, The Undersecretary of Science ended.