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Cuba publishes its General Science, Technology and Innovation Law, due to take effect in 60 days
Official Gazette No. 94 carries Law 182/2025 and three further rules; the text opens scientific activity to private companies and encourages collaboration by emigrated researchers, according to Granma and Periódico Cubano.
The General Science, Technology and Innovation Law was published on Monday in the Official Gazette and will take effect in sixty days, Granma reported. Periódico Cubano put its application on January 8, 2027.
The package, carried in Official Gazette No. 94, includes Law 182/2025, Decree-Law 139/2026 on the Cuban Academy of Sciences and decrees 154 and 155, which set out the rules for the law and for innovation and rationalization activity. It replaces earlier provisions, among them the 1982 Law on Innovations and Rationalizations.
The minister of Science, Technology and Environment, Armando Rodríguez Batista, told Granma the law is the fruit of collective work by Cuba's scientific community and that it introduces new structures to energize innovation, among them the National Science and Innovation Council, science and technology parks, science and technology foundations, interface companies at universities and high-technology firms.
The text recognizes universities, research centers, state and private companies, cooperatives, self-employed workers and associations as participants, within a structure directed by the state: Citma coordinates the system and the National Innovation Council, chaired by the president of the republic, recommends decisions. Article 75 encourages the participation of emigrated scientists and promotes the return of scientific talent, though it sets out no specific financial incentives, immigration arrangements or job guarantees, according to Periódico Cubano.
The law recognizes the right to choose research methods, collaborate internationally and express opinions, and bans discrimination, but it requires discretion over projects deemed sensitive for economic, sociopolitical or national security reasons, and lists among its purposes the improvement of the leadership of the construction of socialism, the same outlet reported.
The Science and Innovation Financial Fund is to be fed by a deduction of 10% of the profits tax of certain entities, along with seed capital, microcredit, venture capital and non-repayable funds. Granma added that the law addresses challenges such as the lack of hard-currency financing and the insufficient use of knowledge in decision-making.
The publication coincides with the entry into force, the same Monday, of Law 186, which reorganizes the Central State Administration and includes a Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation. In August, workers and specialists at the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment complained that staff had not been properly consulted, and the head of the National Seismological Service described the body's disappearance as a 'serious mistake,' according to Periódico Cubano.
Sources: Granma · Periódico Cubano · Periódico Cubano
Data updated: 2026-11-09T16:15:00.000Z