The Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Daniel Filmos, and the Minister of Social Development, Victoria Tolosa Paz, chaired the Knowledge Meeting for the Improvement and Integration of the People’s Economy of the Technical Exchange Network with the People’s Economy, at the C3 Science Cultural Center.
The aim of the meeting was to create a space for exchange between the knowledge of the people who make up the world of popular economics and the knowledge of those who are part of the scientific-technological system, in order to improve working and living conditions. from the sector. The day was organized around three themes: 1) Technical exchange test cases. 2) transversal topics of popular economy; 3) Characterization, problems and challenges of the various branches of popular economy. On each axis, various seminars were organized with the participation of representatives from the public, private, academic, scientific and popular sectors of the economy.
During the inauguration, Filmos celebrated the meeting and said, “When the economy grows in concentrated hands, we are subject to the decisions made by the power sectors regarding people’s income. We need to create another type of economy – that includes not only the people’s economy but also the network of small and medium-sized businesses – And this is in a position to dispute. The only form of democratic distribution is the state. We are for it. The idea of organizing and managing public policies is to make discretionary decisions and a decision to add value. Every time we make a decision, we are faced with sectors that want us to be only producers of raw materials. ” .
The minister explained that the views of the popular movements “seek to solve regional technologies rather than solve specific problems. It is a virtuous alliance where the two ministries work in the same direction and the interdependence between the popular economy and the universities makes us grow and imagine a different country model.”
For his part, Tolosa Paz indicated that our strategic ally is without a doubt Daniel Filmos as Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation. It is this house and all the accompaniment that makes the network not only a university, but RITEP as a strategic partner. We believe in production because we believe in the knowledge and capabilities of our people, and because there is very important support from the Ministry of Social Development on this path. It encourages me to say that more than 90% of the administrative units that make up Potenciar Trabajo want to continue to allocate funds to the productive network, which, as we all understand, is the only way to improve Argentina.
Also present at the opening ceremony was the coordinator of RITEP, Santiago Oliveira, and the deputy secretary of the Union of People’s Economy Workers (UTEP) and the National Reference of Barrios de Paye, Norma Morales.
In his speech, Oliveira emphasized that the meeting represented “a milestone for the popular economy, which a few years ago began to take a more visible form and with a greater identity. Along this path, the UTEP was created, and later in coordination with the universities, a network was formed to promote the popular economy , RITEP”.
In turn, Morales emphasized that these meetings are “essential for the development we are doing in the popular economy and it is important to continue to communicate with the state. This experience that MINCyT accompanies is one experience, but it is not enough to reach every corner of the state. From the popular economy, we work and make The capacity of the people is visible and we turn the structural problems into popular neighbourhoods. The popular economy is here to stay and we have to make it understand what it is about.”
At the closing ceremony, Minister Vilmos and Rector of the National University Tres de Febrero (UNTREF); Anibal Guzami signed a letter of cooperation agreement between the two institutions for the 2023 Call for Technology Modernization Projects for the Grassroots Economy. Secretary of Social Economics at the Ministry of Social Development, Emilio Miguel Persico; and President of the National Institute of Industrial Technology (INTI), Sandra Mayol.
About the meeting of knowledge for the improvement and productive integration of the people’s economy
The focus of the Witness Cases for Tech Exchange touched on issues of manufacturing, grassroots commerce, urban recyclers and recoverers, family farming, and social and community welfare services, among others. People’s commerce, public work, personal services and other professions, construction, social infrastructure, and environmental improvement were among the areas in which the problems and challenges faced by the people’s economy were described.
Within the axis of cross-sectional topics, the participants were able to learn about the results of the technical evaluation and exchange of the productive units of the popular economy presented by the Interdisciplinary Center for Advanced Studies of UNTREF. Similarly, a panel discussion was held, during which different speakers exchanged the criteria for building state policy for the popular economy.
In this context, MINCyT’s Minister of Planning and Policy Diego Hurtado pointed out the absence of the world of work in what has historically been considered the politics of science and technology. In this sense, he highlighted that “this dimension is included in the National Science, Technology and Innovation Plan 2030, and as a variant with an increasingly important component, the popular economy”. In addition, the Secretary mentioned the three guidelines set by the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training (MINCyT) for the sector: the National Program for Social Inclusion Technologies, the Program for Technological Modernization of the Grassroots Economy, and the Social Production Gardens Initiative.
This committee also included Juan Graboa, leader of the MTE and UTEP party. businessman Gustavo Grobocopatel; Alexandre Roig, President of the National Institute for Connectedness and the Social Economy (INAES); Dina Sanchez of UTEP and Agustín Salvia, of the Argentine Social Debt Observatory.
On the advocacy of people’s economy technological modernization projects
The Call for Technological Modernization Projects for Popular Economy is an initiative of the National Directorate for Technological Development and Innovation accredited to the Undersecretariat for Policies of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MINCyT) with the Technical Exchange Network with Popular Economy (RITEP) and the National University of Tres de Febrero (UNTREF). It aims to recognize and promote the initiatives of technological modernization of the productive units of the people’s economy throughout the country which are jointly developed with universities and other institutions of the National Science, Technology and Innovation System (SNCTI), people’s economy workers, RITEP, Union of People’s Economy Workers (UTEP), organizations and other government agencies at various levels.
