US embassy cable - 05QUITO1159

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 QUITO 001159 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ECON, EAGR, ETRD, KSCA, PGOV, TPHY, EC 
SUBJECT: PALACIO PROPOSES HUGE INVESTMENT IN SCIENTIFIC 
RESEARCH 
 
 
1. Summary.  In a conversation with the director of 
Ecuador,s national scientific research institution (SENACYT, 
or Secretaria Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia), we learned 
that the Palacio administration has proposed a $40 million 
infusion for scientific research.  The director, while 
pleased, was realistic:  He assumes he will never see it. 
Instead SENACYT will continue its work under its current $3 
million budget, leaving little hope that Ecuador will ever 
rank anywhere but its current last place in the annals of 
Latin American scientific publication.  End Summary. 
 
SENACYT 
------- 
 
2. On May 12, 2005, the ESTH officer met with Dr. Roberto 
Aguiar Falconi, the Director of SENACYT, the largest public 
organization funding scientific and investigative research in 
Ecuador - akin to the U.S. National Science Foundation.  By 
law, SENACYT is supposed to govern all the other 
investigative agencies in Ecuador.  In reality, Dr. Aguiar 
explained, the other agencies operate independently, vying 
for the extremely limited pool of research funds.  The 
competition is stiff and, he lamented, often antagonistic. 
 
3. The budget for SENACYT in 2005 was $3 million.  SENACYT 
divides its budget into four target areas: $1 million for 
innovative technology; $1 million for scientific 
investigation; $500,000 for scientific scholarships; and 
$500,000 for strengthening scientific standards in Ecuador. 
 
4. The innovative technology allotments are usually joint 
ventures with businesses that require equal matching funds. 
The scientific investigation allocations are done with 
universities, requiring a 20% matching donation from the 
targeted university.  The scholarships are post-graduate and 
require a 25% matching donation from the receiving 
university.  And the earmarks for strengthening scientific 
standards are geared towards specific projects. 
 
5. Dr. Aguiar noted that the majority of projects funded 
through SENACYT are agro-industrial.  For example, SENACYT 
funded a research project designed to enhance tilapia 
production, a fish suitable for farming.  By utilizing 
existing research (most, he commented, done in the U.S.), the 
researchers were able to develop a method for determining the 
sex of tilapia eggs.  By producing more male offspring, 
tilapia production was vastly enhanced because male tilapias 
are much larger and more robust than females. 
 
6. SENACYT is currently in negotiations with the 
Inter-American Development Bank, trying to secure a $10 
million, 3-year loan for additional research.  The $10 
million would be spent on the four target areas: 40% 
innovative technology, 30% scientific investigation, 20% 
scientific scholarships, and 10% strengthening scientific 
standards. 
 
A Nice Gesture 
-------------- 
 
7. The Palacio administration announced when it came to power 
that science would be a higher priority.  As part of this 
scheme, the Palacio administration is set to propose 
allocating 10% of FEIREP funds to the promotion of science. 
The $40 million for SENACYT for 2005 would come from that 
earmark.  The funds would be targeted for the four areas: 30% 
innovative technology, 30% scientific investigation, 30% 
scientific scholarships, and 10% strengthening scientific 
standards.  While pleased with the gesture, Dr. Aguiar 
realistically assumes that SENACYT will never see a dime of 
this money. 
 
8. However, if somehow by divine intervention the $40 million 
does appear, SENACYT plans to continue targeting 
agro-industrial research, focusing on increasing production 
in the shrimp, banana, cacao, palm oil, potato, and flower 
sectors, building on the tilapia success.  Dr. Aguiar 
mentioned that he would also like to fund projects that 
promote the use of fewer chemicals in production and other 
environmental improvements.  He also mentioned biotechnology, 
genetic research, and pollution as other possible areas of 
study. 
 
Publish or Perish 
----------------- 
 
9. Dr. Aguiar,s visions may be out of line with the research 
potential of Ecuador.  He showed us a journal showing that, 
in Latin America, Ecuador was dead last in research 
publication.  In 2003 and 2004, all researchers in Ecuador 
combined published only 376 articles in international 
journals, with the top five producers being on social issues 
and seismology.  Dr. Aguiar admitted that original research 
was lacking in Ecuador, and he plans to institute an award 
scheme as an incentive for more research and publication. 
That is, he noted, if he is still around -- the Palacio 
administration might decide he has to be replaced. 
Comment 
10. We also wonder whether FEIREP funds will ever make it to 
SENACYT.  Many priorities will compete with science, and the 
budget is rather tighter than the Palacio government believed 
when it made its initial statements about uses for the FEIREP 
(septel).  We also suspect that banana magnate Alvaro Naboa 
could afford a few hundred thousand to enhance banana 
production.  This kind of targeted agriculture research might 
be considered a subsidy. 
 
KENNEY