Hernán Thomas

Latin American Science and Technology Policy: New Scenarios and the Research Community

The paper begins by analysing the antecedents of the transformations now being faced by the Latin American Science and Technology Policy (STP). A parallel with the STPs of advanced countries is drawn in order to make explicit some aspects that have barely reached the notice of the Latin American research community. Based on a forecasting approach, which implies introducing in science and technology (S&T) decision-making, satisfaction of social demands, the paper suggests some of the implications of this scenario. Besides many other requisites, now hardly feasible for the reorientation of STP, the paper emphasises the importance of a viable and unilateral first step: the resignification of the research community.

Technologies for social inclusion in Latin America. Analysing opportunities and constraints; problems and solutions in Argentina and Brazil

Brazil and Argentina have managed to grow almost continuously since 2003 and to sustain partial improvements in a number of social indicators: poverty, unemployment, access to basic services, and primary education. At the same time, Argentina and Brazil have increased their R&D expenditure and set new priorities as regards training of human resources in Science and Technology. However, this scenario contrasts with the persisting inequality in income distribution, as well as with the persisting structural shortcomings (decent housing, transport, access to sanitation services, power and environmental problems, etc.). This contrast raise questions over the relation between S&T policy strategies and its effects on social inclusion: Are current welfare policies sufficient for eliminating social exclusion? Which role does Science and Technology policy play in solving social problems? And, more importantly: Is it possible to propose alternative social-inclusion strategies? Is it possible to turn locally generated scientific and technological knowledge into feasible solutions for the region? This paper will undertake a critical analysis of the strategies for fighting social exclusion currently applied in Latin America with regard to Science and Technology policy and the local production of technologies aimed at social inclusion.

The Sociotechnical Alliance of Argentine Quality Wine How Mendoza’s Viticulture Functions Between the Local and the Global

Constructivist research in Science and Technology Studies (STS) is committed to revealing the heterogeneity of technological change and the fluid boundaries between the elements involved. Its major theories, the Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) and Actor Network Theory (ANT), have however both been criticized for limiting themselves to the micro-level of cases, impeding a structural analysis of technological systems. This article seeks to bridge any such divides. We research the recent changes in the viticulture of Mendoza, Argentina, which underwent radical changes over the past decades: once governed by low-cost yield maximization, grape production now revolves around “quality.” To show how the particular quality definition developed, we depart from a social-constructivist framework, following the sociotechnical shaping of problem-solution relationships across the wine production system. To include relevant social groups from different settings around the world, we gradually incorporate the ANT concepts of obligatory passage points, enrollment, convergence, delegation, and codes into the analysis. Combined into the concept of “sociotechnical alliance,” our analysis follows the dual process of creating agreement while establishing heterogeneous practices across settings at different levels. It shows that functioning involves alliance building and highlights the hybridity and continuous dynamics of systems at large.

How the vineyard came to matter: grape quality, the meaning of grapevines and technological change in mendoza's wine production

According to those involved, Argentine wine has changed radically over the past few decades. Limiting itself to the Mendoza region, this paper wants to analy...

Theoretical and policy failures in technologies and innovation for social inclusion: the cases of social housing, renewal energy and food production in Argentina

The relationship between technology, innovation and social inclusion has recently acquired new relevance in social development forums and institutions. Nowadays it is possible to find a diversity of new concepts, approaches and initiatives of inclusive innovation. However, it is not clear how to avoid the failures of previous experiences in the development of technology for social inclusion. Two kinds of common failures in Latin America can be identified as theoretical and policy failures. The former is mainly based on the use of linear models of innovation and old technology transfer conceptions that tend to reduce poverty and social exclusion to a technical problem. The latter is associated with this problem but also adds the difficulties of lack of human resources, discontinuity of funding, and inability of social development institutions to conceive or sustain long-term strategies based on learning improvements. The chapter works on cases from Argentina in the areas of social housing, renewal energy and food production in order to understand: 1) what kinds of theoretical problems practitioners face; 2) how practitioners recognize the limitations and failures of their approaches and policies; and 3) what kinds of strategies practitioners attempt to implement to overcome these emerging issues.

Repensando los bienes comunes: análisis socio-técnico sobre la construcción y regulación de los bienes comunes

El presente articulo analiza los bienes comunes desde una perspectiva socio-tecnica. Puntualmente, invita a repensarlos en funcion de algunos cambios tecnologicos recientes. A partir de esta perspectiva es posible observar como los bienes comunes son parte de un proceso continuo de luchas, negociaciones y redefiniciones politicas entre diferentes grupos de actores. Analiza como estas luchas politicas son parte de un proceso de co-construccion entre el diseno tecnologico y las nuevas formas de regulacion.

Producción pública de medicamentos: desafíos para una política estratégica en materia de salud

The public production of medicines could be the solution to a problem of availability of medicines and their accessibility by large sectors of the population. It is a strategic sector that needs the implementation and articulation of public policies that integrate the areas of science and technology with those of production and development in health. In this article, we analyze some of the techno-productive and socio-institutional capacities of the public production of medicines in Argentina. We also show their strengths and weaknesses to become a strategic sector in the health area. This type of analysis allows a better understanding of the local possibilities of productive development to solve social problems. On the other hand, it provides elements to guide the administration of policies and technologies linked to the strategic development of a country

Biotechnologies for inclusive development: scaling up, knowledge intensity and empowerment (the case of the probiotic yoghurt ‘Yogurito’ in Argentina)

ABSTRACT This paper analyses how technological and institutional innovation strategies were deployed towards achieving a high-scale, sustainable, knowledge intensive, locally grounded project, through the experience of an Argentinean biotechnology-based nutritional supplement delivered in schools to solve child malnutrition led diseases. The paper focuses on how the case of ‘Yogurito’ managed to address three challenges within recent Innovation for Inclusive Development literature: (1) involving heterogeneous actors in the innovation process within knowledge intensive technologies, (2) gaining scale while fostering participatory technology development processes, and (3) promoting the articulation of science, technology and innovation (STI) programmes with wider (social, sanitary and productive) policies. Through the trajectory of the probiotic yoghurt, the article examines learning and innovation strategies in technological design and institutional arrangements. We argue that the organizational strategies deployed to articulate scientific and locally grounded capacities were key elements that allowed the programme’s working, its sustainability over time, and the unfolding of a regional development policy scheme.

The Socio-Technical Construction of Technology in German-Argentine ICT Cooperation

The purpose of this chapter is to present and apply an analytical framework to study the relationship between science, technology, and politics in international cooperation processes. An interdisciplinary theoretical and methodological framework is elaborated, with an analytical focus on the complexity of the process captured by the notion of “socio-technical”. Allowing for a broad understanding, the model is based on a combination of concepts from different fields of social science, particularly International Relations Theory and the Social Studies of Technology. To understand how international cooperation comes about, two dimensions are identified: (a) the of technologies, both at the international and national level; (b) the dynamics of interaction between human and non-human elements (research teams, technologies, governmental institutions, forms, texts, etc.) explained as different configurations of techno-political-economic networks. This framework is applied to the analysis of a cooperation case between Argentina and Germany in the field of Information and Communication Technologies during the 1990s (A more complete description and analysis of this case was developed in Kern 2008). This case study serves to shed light on relevant features of cooperation between developed and developing countries.