On December 14th, 2020, CONACYT prepared the draft project of the New General Law of Humanities, Sciences, Technologies, and Innovation, and it was approved by the General Council for Scientific Research, Technological Development, and Innovation.
The CONACYT or National Council of Science and Technology is a decentralized public body of the Mexican Federal Government, dedicated to promoting and stimulating the development of science and technology in Mexico.
CONACYT’s mission is to promote and strengthen the country’s scientific development and technological modernization by training high-level human resources, supporting specific research projects, and disseminating scientific and technological information.
With the new initiative, the Mexican Government determined the projects that would receive financing.
The Mexican Government established the main research areas to be developed, obeying its own political agenda, which affects the freedom of research and the financing of scientific activities, while limiting the autonomy of the institutions to develop scientific and technological research, according to their own interests and standards.
On May 15th, 2019, the third article, fraction V of our Constitution was amended, establishing that everyone has the right to enjoy the benefits of the science development and technological innovation, where the Mexican State is obliged to support the scientific, humanistic, and technological innovation research, as well as to guarantee open access to the information derived from it; for this reason, it must provide sufficient resources and incentives, in accordance with the coordination, linkage, and participation bases established by the laws on the matter.
In the new initiative, these resources are conditioned for scientists to investigate what the state demands, and not what researchers consider to be of greater importance at their free will.
The preliminary draft seems to be centered fundamentally on the government’s vision, limiting the role of the research centers to the will of the General Directorate of CONACYT, reducing the participation of the autonomous institutions, scientific associations, and technological development centers of both, social and private sectors.
Together, these investigation centers currently contribute with most of the scientific and technological production, knowledge, and training of human resources to strengthen the sector.
The importance of the new General Law for the future of Mexican science creates the need and demand, which cannot be postponed, for legislators to listen and dialogue with the members and representatives of the scientific, technological, and innovation community.
It is necessary to open a broad, informed, objective, inclusive, and transparent debate on the design and content of the new General Law, and the various proposals that have been presented in this regard must be taken into account, without forcing or imposing scientists to investigate the needs that the state believes relevant, since science is about innovating, discovering, creating new knowledge and, above all, it is autonomous.
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