A Ministry of Science, Technology and Technological Innovation in Peru?

By Espinosa Bellido Abogados

During his inaugural address on July 28, 2021, Peru’s new President Pedro Castillo announced that his government will encourage the creation of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Technological Innovation in order to promote development, the generation of knowledge and technological independence for the country.

Although no further plans were discussed or explained, Castillo’s announcement was welcomed by the Peruvian Chamber of Electronic Commerce (Capece). “The establishment in Peru of such a Ministry will help accelerate the modernization and digital transformation of the country,” said Helmut Cáceda, Capece’s President, to Gestión.

In the World Intellectual Property Organization latest Global Innovation Index, Peru ranks 9th among the 18 economies in Latin America and the Caribbean and 76th among the 131 economies featured in the index. Consisting of roughly 80 indicators, grouped into innovation inputs and outputs, the 2020 Global Innovation Index aims to capture the multi-dimensional facets of innovation.
Peru has high scores in four out of the seven index pillars: Human capital & research, Infrastructure, Market sophistication and Business sophistication. Conversely, Peru scores below average in three pillars: Institutions, Knowledge & technology outputs and Creative outputs.

According to a recent report from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, Peru’s innovative potential goes beyond the existence of a set of scientific entities, a research budget or a national science, technology and innovation plan. “This potential depends on the degree of development of various subsystems (political, scientific, productive, financial) and their capacity to interconnect and interrelate, producing, distributing and utilizing scientific and technical knowledge, creating synergies, promoting competition and establishing a macroeconomic, legal, institutional and even cultural framework which provides incentives, resources and support for innovative activities,” the report states.