Chilean universities launch Vincula: the collaboration network between academia and Congress developed by Innovación IMFD

May, 2023. With the attendance of representatives of the Executive, Legislative and academic world, the Vincula project made its official presentation on May 26 at the Central House of the Catholic University, with the aim of strengthening the legislative task through collaborative work, data intelligence and better access to scientific evidence.

The platform facilitates the meeting between the People of the academy and the congress participants and their advisors, through a system created by the Innovation area of the Millennium Institute Foundational Research on Data. This web application applies natural language processing (NPL) techniques that, using the information generated by both universities and Congress, allows links to be made between the topics of interest and academics who specialize in those areas, so that scientific knowledge and evidence are within easy reach of those working on the creation of our country's legislation. 

"With this, we are fulfilling one of the objectives we have had since the creation of our institute: to use the knowledge we generate to contribute to advances that benefit society as a whole," says Marcelo Arenas, director of the Millennium Institute. Millennium Institute Foundational Research on Data. Vincula is a pioneering and unique initiative in Latin America, but there are other entities with which it collaborates and collects best practices at the international level, such as Research Impact Canada, Universities Policy Engagement Network (United Kingdom), Advancing Research Impact in Society (United States) and Africa Research and Impact Network. These five initiatives are part of the Research Impact Network, Vincula being the only Latin American representative. 

For Francisca Reyes, manager of the Vincula platform and academic at the Institute for Sustainable Development of the Catholic University of Chile, cross-cutting collaboration between institutions can be understood as a watch, which requires many interconnected gears to work well: "In this way science is mobilized for the benefit of society as a whole.

"This is a first step in recognizing the importance of science, but also understanding that academics and researchers must contribute to the changes that are needed in society and in public policies," said the Vice Rector for Research and Development of the University of Concepción, senior researcher at the Millennium Institute Foundational Research on Data and co-director of Vincula, Andrea Rodríguez Tastet, at the presentation.

In the panel after the presentation of the platform, Pedro Bouchon, UC Vice Rector for Research, pointed out that "it is very important for universities and our academics to understand how the legislative process works and its timing. Otherwise they could be too early or too late", while the Chilean Minister of Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation, Aisén Etcheverry, emphasized that the language and timing of universities and politics often differ. "We must evaluate what is the type of scientific knowledge that will be required for the design of public policies."

"The sciences must be connected to the People and to the institutions. Sometimes universities are very endogamic," said Congresswoman Helia Molina, who has served as an academic at various universities, such as the UC and the University of Santiago. 

Source: UC News