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

May 2023. With representatives from the executive, legislative, and academic worlds in attendance, the Vincula project made its official presentation on May 26 at the Catholic University's Central Campus, with the aim of strengthening legislative work through collaboration, data intelligence, and better access to scientific evidence.

The platform facilitates encounters between People and congressmen and their advisors through a system created by the Innovation Department of Millennium Institute Foundational Research on Data. This web application applies natural language processing (NLP) techniques that, using information generated by both universities and Congress, allows links to be made between topics of interest and academics who specialize in those areas, so that knowledge and scientific evidence are readily available to those who work on creating legislation in our country. 

"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 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, with Vincula being the only representative in Latin America. 

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

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

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

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

Source: UC News