Millennium Science Initiative

Highly adaptable to circumstances, the initiative achieves its mission through a variety of vehicles, among them competitively chosen centers or networks of excellence in scientific research and training.

Meanwhile, the leaders of some of South America's Mercosur countries – Presidents Frei of Chile, Cardoso of Brazil, and Menem of Argentina – discussed their desire to build S&T capacity at a summit meeting in the fall of 1997.

The Science Advisor to the President of Chile was, by coincidence, a part-time Member of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton.

These approaches came together in a major convocation in Santiago, Chile, in 1998, supported by the Government of Chile and the Carnegie Corporation of New York, where the basis for the Millennium Science Initiative was formulated by an international panel of leading scientists, government officials, representatives of the private sector, and World Bank officials.

In Chile, the Iniciativa Científica Milenio is a governmental program run by the Ministry of Economy, Development and Tourism.