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Plan incorporated science and technology into the country's economic development strategy. The Mexican government recognizes that it still faces challenges in how it can introduce its public to the significance of S&T and, more specifically, how it can play a more important role in S&T in the 21st century. The plan, therefore, includes steps to enhance support for advanced research and to attract young people to scientific careers.
Developing and creating links and opportunities for partnership between the academic community and industry is another priority of the plan. The plan aims to catalyze these collaborations by creating new multinational programs for research. One positive goal will be the promotion of international meetings that focus on encouraging university-industry links. The government will increasingly be asking for financial and political support from industry in order to promote and implement its S&T policies. Contributions will be requested in the form of the creation of R&D laboratories and quality application programs for emerging technologies.
The Mexican government spends approximately 0.34 percent of GDP on science and technology. Overall S&T expenditures rose from $1,473 million in 1993 to $1,938.5 million in 1998. R&D expenditures grew from $886 million in 1993 to $1,382 million in 1997.
In 1999, Mexican legislation overhauled R&D funding. The new law is intended to promote and rationalize support for S&T research by establishing a unified, government-wide mechanism for planning and budgeting for R&D. The law creates a permanent forum of scientists, academics and industrialists to advise the executive and legislative branches of government. The forum is to help ensure a high-level voice in policy discussions of important S&T issues and funding decisions. The new law also changes the way public research centers are administered. It grants more autonomy to ministries to allocate research funds, removing budget caps to permit centers to raise funds from private industry, and allowing ministries and centers to invite and fund proposals from anywhere, including universities.