Finnish Research, Higher Education and Innovation Cooperation with Latin America and the Caribbean: Roadblocks and recommendations for future action

In recent years, there has been increasing political discussion on the importance of the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) regions in Finland. While education, research, technology and innovation have been mentioned as potential areas in which mutually beneficial cooperation between Finland and the LAC region has special growth potential, collaboration efforts have often been subject to a lack of both strategy and funding. In recent years, Finnish development cooperation programmes in the now mostly middle-income LAC region have ended and the focus has shifted strongly to trade and commercial relations, including education export. At the same time, the significant cuts made to national research, development and innovation funding have affected the ability of Finnish Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and research institutes to operationalize cooperation potential, especially with partners from regions like LAC, which are not specifically prioritized by Finnish authorities. On the positive side, a substantial amount of experience and knowledge have been gathered through Finnish involvement in the European Union and Community of Latin American and the Caribbean States (EU-CELAC) Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) policy dialogues, as well as through the various activities implemented and supported by the FinCEAL initiative (Developing Finnish Science, Technology and Innovation Cooperation with Europe, Africa, Asia and the LAC regions), which has been funded by the Ministry of Education and Culture since 2013. In light of all the above, the aim of this report is to offer an updated overview on the policy context and state of Finnish higher education, research and innovation cooperation with the LAC region, as well as to offer suggestions for strengthening it.