When Enrique Peña Nieto was sworn in as Mexican president last December, he promised to boost Mexico’s science and technology infrastructure. One year later, the Mexican Congress approved a 20% rise in the 2014 budget of the National Council for Science and Technology (CONACYT) in Mexico City.
President Peña Nieto is also pushing several other pieces of legislation through the pipeline: an intellectual-property bill that will allow researchers and universities to commericalize their publicity funded work and tax breaks that could incentivize private investment into research and development. The most important change was the creation of a scientific institution and the development of an executive-branch office modelled on the US Office of Science and Technology Policy that will advise the President on scientific matters, coordinate policies between science ministries and propose legal reforms.
