The province of Havana will host the central event for Cuban Science Day on Wednesday 15 January, announced Armando Rodríguez Batista, Minister of Science, Technology and Environment (Citma).

In a meeting with journalists and representatives of the sector via video conference, Rodríguez Batista pointed out in particular the existing institutional capacities in the capital’s territory for the development of programmes and projects to obtain products and services that benefit the population and their export possibilities.

Its field of action, he pointed out, includes 151 Science, Technology and Innovation Entities, nine High Technology Companies, a Scientific and Technological Park, a Foundation of the University of Havana; three Science, Technology and Innovation Interface Companies and 15 university centres, with the support of the social and humanistic sciences.

He indicated that Pinar del Río, Sancti Spíritus, Camagüey and Holguín obtained the status of outstanding provinces in this kind of emulation.

Osleidys Torres Valdespino, Citma’s delegate in Havana, summarised her information in the sense that last year’s management was characterised by positive results in the implementation of programmes and projects, and participation in competitions, among which was the fact that of the 84 prizes awarded by the Cuban Academy of Sciences, 61 belonged to Havana entities.

In addition, examples of concertation and coordination with those involved in decision-making on the implementation of scientific policies in strategic sectors and places, and exchanges with specialised, innovative and rationalising groups, he said at the request of the Cuban News Agency.

The event in question will be held on Wednesday 15 January at the Havana Convention Palace, a city that has organised it for the third time since its establishment in 1990, three decades after Commander-in-Chief Fidel Castro foresaw that the homeland would have brilliant men and women who would accumulate knowledge to use it for the benefit of the people, shortly after the triumph of the Revolution and when the Literacy Campaign had not yet begun.

That disturbing clarion call came in a speech he delivered at the 20th Anniversary of the Speleological Society of Cuba, in the auditorium of the former Academy of Medical, Physical and Natural Sciences of Havana, the successor to the current one.