In this webinar, YSI and Carlota Pérez invited Francisco Sagasti to discuss his experience as President of Peru, while coming from an academic background. In the first half, Dr. Sagasti will talk about “Knowledge, politics and policy: an outsider’s view from the inside”. In the second half, the floor will be open for the audience to interact with the speaker and derive lessons about the challenges and satisfactions in policymaking. Former President of Peru (2020-2021), Dr Sagasti is a fellow at the Wilson Center for International Scholars, senior affiliated researcher at the Instituto de Estudios Peruanos (IEP) and professor at the Graduate School of the Universidad del Pacífico in Lima, Peru. He has been a member of the Congress of the Republic, president of the STI Commission, chairman of the Board of the Science and Technology Program at the Prime Minister’s Office in Peru. He was the founder and executive director of two policy-oriented think-tanks (GRADE and FORO Nacional Internacional); has been consultant to numerous private, public and international civil society organizations including working as an advisor for the World Economic Forum and for economic development at the International Development Research Centre, has been Head of Strategic Planning at the World Bank and President of the Advisory Council on Science and Technology for Development at the United Nations and has published more than 25 books and 250 academic articles. We are very happy to have Francisco Sagasti as our first guest in this season which will monthly bring together young scholars and highly qualified speakers to discuss the experience of working in the public sector, putting in practice STID policy in Latin America/Caribbean. LA-STID Discussion Group on Policy Experiences in Latin America & the Caribbean relating to Science, Technology, Innovation and Development (LA-STID) The Webinar Series aims to bring together students, scholars, practitioners and policymakers to discuss and derive lessons from concrete experiences in the design and implementation of science, technology, innovation and development (STID) policy in Latin America & the Caribbean (LA) and its connection with development strategies. The socioeconomic challenges LA faces require new approaches in the public sector, particularly in STI areas. In this role, the State is paramount to leading both society and the economy towards better socioeconomic and ecological outcomes. Many students are being trained in the STID areas and are already aware of it, but it does not seem to be enough. Interactions between the policy and academic spheres are still very weak. More knowledgeable civil servants and policymakers with great skills and competence are necessary and they can learn from each other. Our main concern is that many of the top LA researchers in training right now a) do not get in contact with current policymakers and miss the opportunities of interacting with them and learn about the challenges of public policy in the region; and b) end up following the path of many previous research students, being isolated in academia, very often publishing in top journals, in English, with little interaction with the reality of policymaking. https://www.lalics.org/category/la-stip/ https://www.linkedin.com/groups/12450178/ http://ysiproject.org/pol
