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Current and Planned Initiatives
Chile
The MSI had its debut at a major convocation in
Chile
in 1998. By January of 1999, three MSI Institutes and five
smaller MSI Nuclei, chosen competitively, were up and running in
Chile. Embedded outside the traditional science establishment,
the MSI survived a change in national government and received a
new influx of loan and government funds. By 2001, five more MSI
Nuclei had been created. Since the program's initiation, two MSI
scientists have been awarded prestigious Chilean
national science prizes. A competition for five new Nuclei
concluded in July 2003. In 2005, 3 new Nuclei were
approved and 3 new Institutes were named. Five additional Nuclei
and 3 renewals were awarded in January 2007. The Chile MSI is
governed by a Secretariat based in Santiago (to read an
interview with the Executive Director of the Chilean MSI, please
click here). Details, including
synopses of scientific work underway at the MSI Institutes and
Nuclei, are available at the
Chile
MSI website. The World Bank's evaluation of the Chile
MSI is available
here. return to top
Mexico
Mexico inaugurated the MSI in 2001 with four
competitively-selected MSI Institutes. The Mexico MSI
also is developing programs to encourage interactions between
scientists and the private sector. In May 2004, SIG and CONACYT co-sponsored a conference at the Universidad Autonóma
de Nuevo León in Monterrey, Mexico
entitled Science and Technology in Mexico: Bringing
Innovation to the Marketplace. Should the Mexican
government and scientific community decide to continue the MSI,
the next round competition is likely to emphasize research that has the potential to be commercialized.
return to top
Brazil
The Brazil MSI, established in 2002 through the redirection
of an existing World Bank education loan, consists of
competitively selected networks of centers of excellence in a
variety of fields. Each of the more than 30 networks
comprises a host center and as many as 27 affiliated centers
around the country in the same or complementary fields. MSI
networks, chosen in competitions held in 2001 and 2005, are
listed
here. return
to top
Africa
Uganda | African Mathematics
MSI
The concept for a regional MSI in sub-Saharan Africa was
developed by a group of African scientific and academic leaders
who represent a variety
of fields and nationalities, brought together by the
Science
Initiative Group (SIG) and with the participation of
the TWAS, the
African Academy of Sciences, and
the World Bank . Over a series of four
meetings, proposals for three initiatives, each addressing an
area of strategic importance for the region, were developed and
then further refined upon extensive consultation with local
scientific communities and potential financing agencies. This
process led to proposals for initiatives in
biotechnology (Uganda, Cameroon, Botswana and Namibia); instrumentation and
information and communications technology (ICT) (Tanzania); and
mathematics (involving both Anglophone and Francophone
sub-Saharan Africa). return
to top
The concept has evolved further in the
course of implementation. While the
mathematics
initiative has proceeded along the lines originally
envisaged, the other two are taking on broader dimensions.
What began as a four-country biotechnology initiative is
becoming a full-scale, World Bank-financed, MSI competition in
Uganda, with financing for biotechnology initiatives in the
other countries to be pursued separately. And the ICT
initiative initially planned for Tanzania may evolve into a
competition for centers of excellence in a variety of fields. return
to top
Uganda
The MSI in Uganda is a central
component of the Government's strategy to strengthen the
country's scientific and technological capacity. The five-year,
US$33.35 million program, co-financed by the Government of
Uganda and the World Bank, is the result of several years'
planning by the Uganda National Council for Science and
Technology (UNCST), Uganda's Ministry of Finance, Planning and
Economic Development (MFPED), and the World Bank. The initiative
had its origins in a series of meetings convened by SIG
beginning in 2001, and SIG continues to be involved through
representation on the Uganda MSI Technical Committee. return
to top
World Bank documents on the Uganda MSI
are available
here. For UNCST
information on the MSI click here.
African Mathematics MSI (AMMSI)
AMMSI is a
network of mathematics research and training, with
emphases on graduate education and applied mathematics. The
network comprises five regional offices in Ibadan, Nigeria; Gaborone, Botswana; Nairobi, Kenya; St. Louis, Senegal; and
Yaoundé, Cameroon. A
Program Committee consisting of a representative from each
region managed AMMSI. AMMSI also works collaboratively
with the African
Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS)
in South Africa. More information is available at the
AMMSI web site. return
to top
Other
Initiatives Under Discussion
SIG has been invited to explore the possibility of establishing
MSIs in a number of other countries and regions and is engaged in discussions with the governments,
scientific community and financing organizations.
Bangladesh
SIG has held exploratory discussions with the Government of
the People's Republic of Bangladesh, the World Bank and
the local scientific community, including a group of women
scientists. The research areas under the MSI are expected to
have strong relevance for the poverty reduction efforts of the
government. The MSI will also include a component to support
women scientists.
return to top
Vietnam
SIG, the
Vietnam Education Foundation and the
Vietnamese Ministry of
Science and Technology have been working closely together to
develop an MSI in Vietnam, envisioned as a competition for
centers of excellence designed to serve as
magnets to attract home Vietnamese students who have studied
abroad and as training grounds for new generations of Vietnamese
scientists. A proposal based on both the experience of the
MSIs in Chile and Brazil and on a thorough review of Vietnam's
science and technology landscape, is under review as of late
2006.
The MSI in Vietnam will complement programs of the
Vietnam Education Foundation,
particularly its
Graduate Fellowship Program. return
to top
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