Cities of Knowledge and Big Science in Developing Countries: Luxury or Investment? The GCLSI Case

Abstract

This article analyzes the feasibility of having a second synchrotron in Latin America, to be located, in principle, in a city within the Greater Caribbean region but open to all the continent. It is shown that an initiative of this sort is compatible with the economies of the region and would require a marginal increase of the current regional investment in science, which is broadly below that of other regions of the world, with peaks of low financing precisely in the Greater Caribbean. The project is not only feasible, but, beyond its purely scientific interest. it would have an impact for the development of cities in the region. The article is mainly focused to analyze this impact from the social, economic, and political point of view. It is shown that the return of the investment would have its break-even point long before the end of the expected lifetime of the infrastructure, and that through a system of smaller accelerators, that would be part of the same project, the benefit would not concentrate on the country hosting the facility. These smaller facilities could contribute to the national development as possible nuclei of cities of knowledge, project which belongs to the priority of some countries/cities of the region.