評論
打印
Science and Technolgy
科技
Science in Argentina
阿根廷的科研
Cristina the alchemist
煉金術士克里斯蒂娜
Argentina is trying to build a scientific establishment
阿根廷努力打造一個科研機構
SOUTH AFRICA is not the only middle-income country which aspires to join the world's scientific powers (see article).
和南非一樣， 阿根廷不僅是一個中等收入國家同時也尋求在世界科學研究領域的地垃。
Argentina would like to as well. The place is proud of its three Nobel science prizes-the largest haul of any Latin American nation-even if the most recent was awarded in 1984.
這里的人們都以曾獲3次諾貝爾獎為殊榮- 這是拉美國家里所獲該獎最多的- 即便最近的1次是在1984年。
But many researchers fled in the 1990s, when budgets were slashed.
可是在90年代，因為預算削減，很多科研人員都流失了。
Now the government is trying to attract them back, and to encourage younger talent to consider a scientific career.
現在阿根廷政府正試圖吸引人才回歸，同時鼓勵那些有天賦的年輕人投入科研生涯。
When Néstor Kirchner, the predecessor and late husband of the current president, Cristina Fernández,
克里斯蒂娜.費爾南德茲是現任總統; 她的亡夫同時也是前任總統內斯托?基什內爾，
took office in 2003, Argentina was spending just 0.41% of its GDP on research and development (R&D). Now, that figure is 0.64%. (Brazil, by comparison, spent 0.95% in 2003 and 1.18% in 2009.)
在2003年就任的時候，阿根廷的科研費用只占了總GDP的0.41%， 而現在則是0.64%.(以巴西為比照，2003年是0.95%，而2009年是1.18%)
Kirchner raised researchers' salaries, launched a scheme to repatriate departed scientists and gave tax breaks to software companies.
基什內爾提高了科研人員的工資，還啟動了一個旅外科學家回歸計劃，同時減免了軟件公司稅收。
Ms Fernández followed suit by creating a science ministry and putting a biologist, Lino Bara?ao, in charge of it.
費爾南德斯夫人延續了該政策并建立了科技部還委任了一位生物學家利諾?巴拉尼奧為部長。
She also increased grants to firms that try to develop new products.
同時對于研發新產品的公司，她還增加了相應的政府補貼。
Many of the Kirchners' critics were sceptical, seeing the ministry either as a political marketing ploy or as a soft touch for lobbyists seeking unjustified subsidies.
許多基什內爾的政治評論家對此政策持懷疑態度，認為這個部門不是個政治秀就是政客們撈取黑錢的把戲。
But the strategy seems to be working.
但是實際上這個策略似乎行之有效。
With help from the Inter-American Development Bank the government has, since 2004, lured back 854 expatriate scientists.It has done so by providing new laboratories and equipment for them, moving their families, and forking out extra money for their salaries.
自2004年開始，在泛美銀行的幫助下，通過提供新實驗室和設備，幫助家庭落戶，支付額外的工資補貼等方式，吸引了854名旅外科學家回國。
As a consequence, according to Dr Bara?ao, Argentine researchers have published 179 articles in leading journals in the past decade, compared with just 30 in the 1990s.
據巴拉尼奧博士稱，在去年10年中，阿根廷科研人員在學術期刊上發布的論文達到了179篇, 而在90年代僅有30篇。
Most of the returners are academics. But commercial science has benefited, too.
雖然大多數回歸的都是理論研究學者，但是應用科學也同樣受益。
Indear, a joint public-private biotechnology-research centre based in Santa Fe, recently worked out how to transfer a gene for drought resistance from sunflowers to crops such as maize, soyabeans and wheat. That can increase yields in droughts by up to 40%.
一所位于圣達菲的公私合營的生物科技研究所Indear,最近提出了通過轉基因技術把向日葵的抗旱性移稙到玉米，大豆和小麥上，這樣在旱季可以增產40%。
And the government has also doled out $54m in grants for the development of products that include coagulant factors to treat haemophilia, transgenic cattle which secrete valuable hormones in their milk, and better ways of probing for oil deposits.
同時政府已投入5.4億美元在諸多產品研發領域，包括治療血友病的凝血劑，產奶里富含荷爾蒙的轉基因牛，還有油床勘探技術等。
Help for high-tech innovation comes in other forms, too.
對于科技創新，科技部給予多種多樣的扶持形式。
The state offers, for example, to pay the cost of patenting inventions in foreign jurisdictions and of hiring lawyers to defend those patents.
比如，對于在國外的專利發明的成本費用以及雇傭律師保護專利的費用，都予以國家補助。
It also acts as a headhunter for information-technology firms seeking employees with PhDs, and will pay part of the salaries of such recruits.
科技部也扮演獵頭角色并為那些信息科技公司尋找擁有博士頭銜的雇員，同時為這些雇員支付部分薪水。
None of these programmes has faced allegations of corruption.
目前在這些項目里還沒發現有貪污現象。
Whether all this activity will have the effect of stimulating high-tech industry, as Ms Fernández hopes, remains to be seen.
這些措施能否如費爾南德茲夫人所期望那樣促進高科技行業的發展，還有待觀察。
Argentine scientists are happy to take taxpayers' money but according to Luis Dambra, a professor at the IAE business school in Buenos Aires, they look down their noses at the idea of actually getting their hands dirty by going into industry.
但據一位來自布宜諾斯艾利斯商業管理學院的教授劉易斯.鄧波拉稱，阿根廷的科研人員都心安理德地拿納稅人的錢，卻又自命清高不愿意真正進入產業領域。
Mr Dambra, though, says industry is equally to blame.
然而鄧波拉也聲稱產業界同樣也擔負責任。
In 2009 (the latest year for which data are available), only 21% of Argentine R&D was paid for by the private sector, compared with 44% of Brazil's. Firms that might recruit academic scientists often do not see the point. Even those that do may struggle to accommodate people with a non-commercial background into the business world.
在2009年（最新可用數據）阿根廷的研發支出只有21%是來自于私人資本，而巴西則是44%. 但那些可能雇傭理論科研人員的企業總是忽略這些，即使那些想把非商業背景人才引入商業領域的企業也為此猶豫不決。
Attitudes can change, of course.
當然，態度總是可以改變的。
In the 1980s many British academics were as snobbish about commerce as Argentina's are now.
在90世紀80年代許多英國研究學者和現在的阿根廷一樣都自命不凡。
These days, Britain's top universities are gung-ho for spin-outs and the revenue they can provide.
而現在，英國的頂尖學府都熱衷于分拆和賺錢。
But it takes time and consistent policy to make such changes and Argentina is notorious for sudden alterations in the political weather.
但這些改變都是需要時間和政策的持續性，而阿根廷最讓人詬病的就是政策的搖擺不定。
That makes the country a perilous place to invest, whatever the current climate.
無論現在的情況是怎樣，這些因素將惡化阿根廷的投資環境.
