On August 13, 2018, Chile published Law 21,105 in the Official Journal, creating the Ministry of Science, Technology, Knowledge and Innovation (MinCiencia). The law was promulgated on July 27, 2018, during the second government of President Sebastián Piñera. Chile became the sixth country in Latin America to establish a dedicated science ministry.
The new ministry was designed to advise the president on policies promoting science, technology, and innovation, and to coordinate national regulations in these areas. Under the same legislation, the National Commission for Scientific and Technological Research (CONICYT) was to be restructured into a new National Agency for Research and Development (ANID), which would serve as the ministry’s operational funding arm.
At the time, Chile spent approximately 0.38% of GDP on research and development. The ministry’s creation followed years of advocacy by the research community and five years of legislative discussion spanning three presidential terms. On December 17, 2018, President Piñera appointed neurobiologist Andrés Couve as the first Minister of Science. The ministry officially began operations on October 1, 2019, with five regional secretariats covering the national territory.