NEWS

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OPEN INNOVATION 

SKY IS NO LONGER A LIMIT

VISIONNAIRES DU 21eme siècle

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SANTIAGO PENA  

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Ministre des Finances du Paraguay

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Interview Francophone: How to integrate innovation to create shared value and territorial growth?

Santiago Pena: Paraguayans understand that there is a need to advance in the country’s production model and to support innovation in order to increase productivity and achieve our long-term development goals. As a country, we believe that in the medium-term we need to move from a mainly agricultural-based economy to a knowledge-based economy. This understanding is embodied in one of the main strategic objectives of our National Development Plan (NDP). In order to achieve this national objective, through the establishments of Excellence in Education Fund and the National Council for Science and Technology, we are vesting resources on investments in human capital. Like never before, we have committed funds specifically for advancing education infrastructure, training world class teachers, and promoting scientific research and innovation. We have also implemented a National Scholarship Program (Becas Carlos Antonio Lopez) for young Paraguayans to pursue their graduate degrees in the best universities around the world. The flow of ideas and knowledge resulting from these investments we are making today are key for promoting innovation and, as a country, will allow us to reach a higher growth path.

 

Interview Francophone:: How can you encourage innovation and especially cooperation across sectors? 

Santiago Pena: From the National Government, we are actively and continuously encouraging cooperation across sectors.

For instance, a cornerstone of the current Government is the development of the NDP – Paraguay 2030 which sets the course of public policy. This plan is the result of an unprecedented effort to generate a national vision of the Paraguay we want for our children and ourselves. The development of this national vision was achieved through an extensive consultation process than involved representatives from more than 2,000 sectors and from all corners of the country.

We have several examples of success stories in cooperation across sectors and participative governance.We are using an inclusive approach to implement the NDP Paraguay and the National Strategy for Financial Inclusion, to assemble working groups, such as the Public-Private Council working on extreme poverty, the National Team to develop and monitor progress towards the NDP and the National Council to Manage the Excellence in Education Founds, and to enact the Public-Private Partnerships law to implement strategic infrastructure projects.

 

Interview Francophone:: What is your opinion on the PARTICIPATIVE GOVERNANCE of some cities like Paris to involve citizens’ opinion in the decisions for infrastructure and innovation investments?

Santiago Pena: Paraguay embarked on a process named by the press as the “Information Spring”. For the first time IN HISTORY, the government of Paraguay made the citizens active participants in the decision making process and the real comptroller of public funds.

To date, all public institutions, have in their web portals information concerning officials, resources and remuneration. In addition, citizens can make requests for information through electronic means. These actions of the government are framed in a process of government innovation to combat corruption.

Since 2011, Paraguay is also a member of the international initiative "Open Government Partnership", which seeks to support the interaction between governments, civil society organizations, and the public based on values such as transparency, collaboration, participation, accountability, empowered citizens and integration. Since then, among several impactful initiatives, the government enacted two laws that represent a turning point towards the democratization of information; the first establishes the obligation to provide information on the use of public resources related to salaries, payments and other remunerations assigned to public servants of the Republic of Paraguay, the second grants citizen free access to public information and promotes government transparency.

 

 

Interview Francophone:: How would you encourage the development of the solutions to make innovation actors better work together in spite of their time asymmetries?

Santiago Pena: The process of democratization of information, the inclusive approach to policy making, and the leveling of the playing field through the promotion of access to quality education are good examples of ways to mitigate these asymmetries; working in these three fronts we leverage the combined strength of citizens, the civil society, and the private and public sectors in order to identify realistic goals and work in coordination to achieve them.

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Interview Francophone:: How would you like to develop the relations with France and Europe?

Santiago Pena: France and Europe are famous for their excellence in education, art and sciences. Through our National Scholarship Fund, we are facilitating the exchange of innovative ideas and promoting the entrepreneurial spirit across our nations. This year alone, we have sent 94 students to start graduate program in top French universities. We see these students as ambassadors for Paraguay and as key catalyst for the chance we need to achieve our development goals. 

Over the last five years, Paraguay has received over US$ 2.1bn in accumulated foreign direct investment. This is not surprising given that the country has a historical track record of one of the highest FDI yields and a financial sector with the highest ROE in the region. Paraguay’s attractiveness builds on its proximity to large consumer markets, investor friendly policies, and important comparative advantages such as cheap clean energy, a very attractive tax scheme, and a young and trainable workforce. Overall, improved business conditions in the country have been captured by an improvement in the Ease of Doing Business Indicator, positive economic trends have been reflected in continuously improving sovereign ratings, whereas sustained improvement in social indicators are captured by improvements in the Prosperity Index, the Corruption Perception Index, and the declining poverty and extreme poverty rates. We see European countries as potential partners for implementing strategic infrastructure projects, through both Public Private Partnerships and traditional public financing. These important projects will improve the lives of our citizens and will help us reach our development goals.     

 

Interview Francophone:: How do you support the 21st Century Generation in the digital era?

Santiago Pena: As mentioned before, we are making unprecedented efforts to invest in human capital and promote scientific research. We believe that the way to make the most of the digital era is to empower our youth with a world class education that will prepare them best to meet the challenges of the future, to contribute to the development of future technology, and to exploit technology for the betterment of society. 

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