British Embassy San Jose supports Science and Innovation projects in Costa Rica
Investment aims to position country as a world leader in areas like renewable energy, climate change and innovation policies.
In the course of the financial year 2015-2016, the British Embassy in San Jose financed nine projects in the field of science and innovation in Costa Rica in the amount of one million pounds sterling. The investment seeks to encourage Costa Rica’s economic development and wellbeing through science and innovation, research and capacity building.
The million-pound contribution from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Latin American Fund for Science and Technology aims to encourage new ideas that can create opportunities leading to economic growth. It is also expected that these projects will enhance cooperation among the governments, scientific community, business community, academia and civil society of the United Kingdom and Costa Rica, boosting their capacity to face global challenges like climate change and energy security.
According to Ross Denny, Her Majesty’s Ambassador to San Jose, “The Science and Innovation Fund sought to identify pragmatic, high-impact interventions that would encourage the sharing of best practices and, where possible, lead to the application of similar projects in other regions. By funding this group of projects, we hope to contribute to resolving some of our common concerns.”
The 2015-2016 Science and Innovation projects began in July 2015 and will end in March 2016 with a Science and Innovation Fair to be held at the Roberto Sasso Sasso Auditorium in the Veritas University on 18 March from 10:00am to 5:00pm. Implementers include the Central American Network of Engineering Institutions (REDICA), Earth University, Energy Service Company in the Americas (ESCOIA), Federation of Social Organisations (FOS), Huli Health, Ministry of Foreign Trade (COMEX), the Ministry of Science, Technology and Telecommunications (MICITT), Start Up Costa Rica, STC Group and the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE).