Ibero-American Nations Adopt Open Science Innovation Plan
The newly signed Alicante Declaration establishes a collaborative strategy to align regional research with foreign policy.
Updated on Oct. 29, 2026 in Science — General
Live Poll
Do you believe international scientific cooperation agreements effectively improve shared regional challenges?
Ibero-American nations adopted the Alicante Declaration to launch an Action Plan for Open Science and a collaborative Innovation Strategy. This international framework focuses on coordinating efforts across five core sectors, including food, climate, and energy transition.
Why it matters
The declaration establishes a formal mechanism to align scientific capabilities with foreign policy. By integrating regional expertise, the participating nations aim to address shared challenges such as inequality and environmental shifts through collective diplomacy.
The framework establishes five targeted missions for the Ibero-American Innovation Strategy: food, climate change, digitalization, health, and the energy transition. These goals are slated for progress monitoring under the existing IBEROEKA program.
The players
Walter Baluja Garcia
The leader of the Cuban delegation representing national interests in higher education and science policy.
IBEROEKA
A collaborative Ibero-American technology program tasked with monitoring progress on regional innovation missions.
The details
The Alicante Declaration creates a science diplomacy framework intended to bridge technical research with public policy. Participating nations will utilize the IBEROEKA program, a platform designed to facilitate technological cooperation, to oversee the implementation of their innovation missions. The agreement also mandates an updated Action Plan to promote Spanish and Portuguese as standardized scientific languages, aiming to increase the regional accessibility of research data.
Timeline
October 23, 2026: The Cuban delegation participated in the 2nd Ibero-American Joint Ministerial Conference held in Alicante, Spain.
The Tech Race
This development formalizes a multi-nation research alignment that seeks to catch up to larger regional scientific blocs. By prioritizing shared computing and language standards, the initiative aims to centralize regional research output within the IBEROEKA framework.
The framework aims to eventually standardize scientific data and language, which will impact researchers and institutions in Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries. Specific benefits, such as access to the proposed Ibero-American Supercomputing Network, remain subject to future implementation phases.
The takeaway
The Alicante Declaration marks the first concrete move to integrate regional scientific output into a singular policy-led innovation strategy. Researchers should track upcoming announcements regarding the Ibero-American Supercomputing Network for potential access opportunities.
Further reading
For broader trends in research policy, visit the Science — General section.
More information
Access the official declaration details via the Spanish Ministry of Science website.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Cuban News Agency.
Live Poll
Do you believe international scientific cooperation agreements effectively improve shared regional challenges?
