Welcome to Gender Summit 12

The Gender Summit is an international platform for dialogue where researchers and representatives from academia, public policy and government, business and civil society examine new evidence on how gender (in)equality impacts on outcomes and solutions in science and technology. The aim is to make gender equality in research and innovation a key element for promoting the quality of scientific and technological activity.

The Gender Summit began in Europe in 2011 and has helped influence how these issues are addressed in Horizon 2020, the European Union’s largest research and innovation program. It has also been held in Asia Pacific, Africa and North America with promising results for progress towards gender equality in science, technology and innovation (STI).

Chile will be hosting the 12^th version worldwide, which will be the first for Latin America and the Caribbean. We seek to collectively reflect on the need to develop strategies aimed at reducing and eliminating gender gaps in science, technology and innovation, particularly in the field of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2015-2030 proposed by the United Nations.

This meeting is a further step in the efforts being made by Chile and the Region to reduce the gender gap in STI. Although 45% of all researchers in Latin America and the Caribbean are women –a higher figure, for example, than Europe and North America, according to the UNESCO Institute for Statistics– differences persist between the Region’s countries and many dimensions of this reality may be transformed and improved.

The Gender Summit is not just a conference, it seeks to create synergy and coordination, and use evidence to call for action in generating a science, technology and innovation without limits, where diversity may contribute to the development and well-being of all citizens.

The meeting will discuss four main themes: the challenges and benefits of gender equality in science, technology and innovation; the importance of the gender dimension in scientific research and knowledge; the contributions from global perspectives on gender equality for regional integration; and the role of science, technology and innovation without limits in making sustainable development possible for all.

On Wednesday, December 6 and Thursday, December 7, 2017, around 500 people will participate in the Gender Summit – Latin America and the Caribbean, in Santiago de Chile. It is a great honor to invite you to this first event to be held in our region, where we will have the opportunity to participate in rewarding, evidence- and experience-based discussions to advance “Science, Technology and Innovation Without Limits!” Because we are convinced that… “It will change our lives.”

The Gender Summit 12 – Latin America and the Caribbean 2017 is organized by the National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research (CONICYT) and has the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Economy, Development and Tourism, the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Women and Gender Equity, as well as international organizations such as UNESCO, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), ECLAC, Portia Ltd, and civil society organizations such as ComunidadMujer, Laboratoria and the Ingeniosas program.