Argentina has the largest number of scientific researchers per capita in Latin America: “We have very high level developments that we are exporting”

“The key players in the process of improving a country's productivity and competitiveness are scientists,” Daniel Filmus said in a dialogue with Infobae. On the occasion of the Day of the Scientific Researcher, the Ministry of Science and Technology pointed out that Argentina has the largest number of scientific researchers per capita in Latin America, with 3.18 per thousand economically active people. “We have very high level Argentine developments that we are exporting today,” the minister stressed.

Every April 10 is the Day of the Scientific Researcher and, in addition, the Day of Science and Technology. This date was chosen as a tribute to Dr. Bernardo Houssay (1887-1971), who was the first Nobel Prize in Latin America in science for his work in associating diabetes with the pituitary gland. A breakthrough that revolutionized the treatment of this disease. However, that was not all, since it was also the driving force behind the creation of the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET).

Argentina: the country with the most scientific researchers per thousand PEA

In 2020, as noted by MINCyT, 90,397 people dedicated to research were registered, including not only researchers, but also fellows of all levels of professionalization of the career. Of this number, 21,850 belong to CONICET, while the remaining 68,547 comprise other public and private entities, including universities, national commissions (CONAE, CONEA, among others) and institutes (such as INTI and INTA), as well as companies and organizations.

As they explained from the national scientific portfolio, Argentina is at the forefront of Latin America in terms of number of scientists. “To make the international comparison, the indicator used is researchers expressed in full-time equivalent to every 1,000 members of the economically active population (EAP),” they said. According to estimates by MINCyT, in 2020 there were 1992 people investigated per million inhabitants.

In addition, the Ministry of Science and Technology, with regard to scientific human resources, stated that in Argentina there are 3.18 people who research for every thousand PEA. It is followed by Brazil (with 1.68 researchers per thousand economically active people), Uruguay (1.41) and Chile (1.01). Although, as far as the world is concerned, it is still below Spain (with 6.25 researchers per thousand economically active inhabitants), Canada (with 8.4), the United States (with 9.51) and Portugal (with 9.55). There are even nations that have more than 10 scientists for each SAP, such as Germany, France or South Korea.

According to data issued by the national Science and Technology portfolio, in the main national research body, CONICET, 23,264 researchers were registered in April 2022, of which 11,876 are scholarship recipients. Of the total, 5,835 (25%) work in Agricultural, Engineering and Materials Sciences; 6,195 (26%) in Biological and Health Sciences; 4,860 (20%) in Exact and Natural Sciences; 5,790 (24.8%) in Social Sciences and Humanities; and 584 (2.5%) in Technology. Of course, 53% are researchers and 60% are scholarship holders, respectively.

“The enormous responses that scientists have given in the context of the COVID-19 crisis, for example, are a clear reflection of the process of improving productivity and competitiveness,” Filmus said in a dialogue with Infobae. At the same time, he assured that “we have very high level Argentine developments that we are exporting today, and this could be done because there is a basic science in Argentina, which is very good”.

The national official also said: “I am very proud of our Argentine scientists, their work, their commitment and their adaptability. On this day, I hope that as a Ministry and as a society, we will have the capacity to awaken early vocations in science. Our goal is to make science fashionable, and I hope we never lose sight of it. We have to be proud of these achievements, which is why on this day, all the researchers in the country, I thank all the researchers in the country.”

8 files of missing scientific researchers were reconstructed by CONICET

On March 24, as part of the National Day of Memory for Truth and Justice, the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET) reconstructed, for the first, the history and information of the files of eight members of the agency victims of State terrorism, who were handed over to relatives and relatives.

The event was attended by the President of the Nation, Alberto Fernández; the Minister of Science and Technology, Daniel Filmus; and Horacio Pietragalla Corti, head of the Human Rights Secretariat; as well as members of the CONICET Board, national ministers and ministers, directors of CONICET from all over the country, authorities and representatives of national universities and science and technology organizations, and human rights referents.

The 8 scientists who had their files reconstructed were: Dante Guede, member of the Support Personnel Career (CPA) at the Argentine Institute of Radio Astronomy (IAR); Alicia Cardoso, CPA of the Institute of Astronomy and Space Physics (IAFE); Liliana Galletti, fellow at the Faculty of Humanities of the Universidad Nacional de La Plata (UNLP); Mario Oreste Galuppo, fellow at the National Technological University (UTN) Rosario; Federico Gerardo Ludden, fellow of the Faculty of Exact Sciences of the UNLP; Martín Toursarkissian, researcher at the Argentine Museum of Natural Sciences “Bernardino Rivadavia” (MACN); Manuel Ramón Saavedra, librarian at MACN; and Roberto Luis López Avramo, CPA at the “Ángel H. Roffo” Institute of Oncology.

In the technical report presented by the CONICET Memory Committee, reviews were made of all the Agency's resolutions between 1976 and 1983, and those “dismissed, exiled, discharged and who were prevented from continuing their investigations by the military government” were recognized.

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