Scientific research must first be applied to later turn it into innovation, which is the way to promote, without a doubt, the engine of sustainable development

The confrontation with the COVID-19 and the contribution to achieve food sovereignty once again demonstrated the value of science.

Las Tunas, Cuba.- Today, when Science Day is celebrated in Cuba, the call of our president Miguel Díaz-Canel is to take it to all socio-economic development so that it can command the future, because as he himself emphasized “many of the complex problems that the country has, can only be solved through science and innovation.”

The advance in the integration of the centers of the system for the promotion of food production with more science, the creation of the group to attend the Food Sovereignty and Nutrition Education Program, in addition to the restructuring of the Scientific Productive Pole, marked the main tasks of the territorial delegation of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment (CITMA) in Las Tunas during the past calendar.

Actions between the University of Las Tunas and various service entities stand out among the results for establishing new forms of science management. This favors the transfer of goods, services, technologies and other intangibles derived from I&D (innovation and development), carrying out 36 projects that respond to strategic sectors with an emphasis on food production, according to Amara Morales Cordero, deputy delegate of Science, Technology and Innovation at CITMA.

"The implementation of the new policies, which range from the reorganization, programs and projects of the science, technology and innovation (STI) system, intellectual property, the preservation of historical memory, metrology, to food safety, validate this performance, which urgently needs to be expanded to all sectors with a view to achieving gradual socio-economic development from the local level ”, he emphasized.

The sub-delegate of this field underlined the role of Cuban medicine with all its components, universities and companies in its marked vocation to be science centers by promoting alliances, networks, and projects that favor the best solutions to problems and limited the need in them to stimulate innovation.

At the same time, she reiterated the importance of perfecting our system "with greater integration and rapprochement between the generation and application of scientific knowledge, putting into practice, in our conditions, elements of the so-called knowledge-based economy, in a context of social and economic transformations.”

As a premise, she urges the promotion of dialogue between scientists and government actors; perfect the university-company relationship and obtain a timely and real change of mentality in the cadres and decision-makers until they reach a true scientific vocation. As required by the country's highest leadership, STI must be  tools for government management.

To reverse this situation we are called, "the non-existence of a comprehensive approach to government management oriented to innovation has limited the impact of knowledge of science and innovation in the advancement of the country," Díaz-Canel said in one of his meetings with Cuban scientists. Whenever a solution is needed, scientific research must first be applied to later turn it into innovation, which is the way to promote, without a doubt, the engine of sustainable development and meet the objectives of the National Development Plan in this future of science.