Science Policy and Institutionalization of Science. Public Policies of Nanotechnology in Latin America, the Cases of Brazil and Peru.

Very little is known about how science policy is been implemented in Peru. We have some notion, however, that this country has not been performing well due to lack of resources and proper infrastructure. However, the general public, the government and the corporate sector have not been very interested in (or even ignore) science policy as a key asset for development. In this paper, we explore why this happens through what we call institutionalization of science. We state that this concept is closely related not only to the implementation of public policies, but also to the legitimacy of science and technology in the country. For this purpose, we will conduct a brief review of the core characteristics of public policies of nanotechnology in Latin America, including the experiences of Brazil, Mexico and Argentina. We will focus specially on Brazil, since it's the country that has invested the most in the region. Finally, we will point out what is happening in Peru, taking into account that despite not having enough resources to develop nanotechnology at a great scale, something can be done to escape the current situation. We state that, before designing and implementing public policies of science and technology (nanotechnology in this case), it's fundamental to study and analyze the degree of institutionalization of science and its legitimacy, which is expressed through scientific culture.