Navigating challenges: STI policies for sustainable and inclusive development in Latin America

This paper explores the challenges and opportunities for Latin America in adopting sustainable development strategies, with a particular focus on Science, Technology and Innovattion (STI) policies. It gathers the insights of a group of distinguished scholars on STI policies, social inclusion and sustainability from the region who participated in the panel organized by the UNESCO Chair during the LALICS* conference held in Asuncion, Paraguay, on 19-21 June 2023.
It addresses the challenges that hinder Latin America’s inclusive, sustainable and innovative development process from different perspectives. Highlighted challenges include strong inequality, high informality levels, and low R&D expenditure, heterogeneous productive structure posing obstacles to innovation and their governance. Scholars highlight the role of STI policies and the engagement of academia, government, and business in reducing inequality and promoting social protection, and discuss the technological capabilities needed to address climate change and digitalisation in the region.