In the midst of a crisis that has hit the economy, institutions and productive capacity of the country hard, it is urgent to rethink the role of our research and technological development centers and universities. Venezuela will not be able to get back on its feet if it does not strengthen the scaffolding of knowledge. The restitution of strategic sectors such as the oil, petrochemical and gas industries, as well as the agricultural, livestock and industrial productive apparatus, will not be possible without science, without technological innovation, without committed human talent trained with a vision of the future.
Today, more than ever, we need to recover the value of knowledge and experience as an engine to build the nation we deserve.
However, what should be the beating heart of a nation’s development, science and technology, has been systematically dismantled. Two institutions that once filled the country with pride for their excellence and their capacity to generate profound and transformative knowledge now lie abandoned, reduced to shadows of their former selves, placed at the service of political interests and not the good of the nation. The Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research (IVIC), the cradle of knowledge in multiple disciplines, and the Venezuelan Petroleum Technological Institute (PDVSA-Intevep), the architect of fundamental technological advances for our oil and petrochemical industry, have been distorted, stripped of their mission and their talented people. In its corridors, where the future of the nation used to be forged, today there reigns the silence of abandonment and the visible mark of politicization.
The case of PDVSA-Intevep is particularly critical and painful. The dismissal of highly qualified personnel and the massive brain drain have been devastating blows for an institution that, for decades, represented the best of technological innovation at the service of the country.
Founded in 1976 by an outstanding group of IVIC scientists, PDVSA-Intevep was born as the research and development arm of Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) and quickly consolidated its position as a world reference in high-level energy innovation. Its laboratories developed processes, catalysts and technologies applied to the exploration and production of conventional and heavy crude oil, as well as refining, petrochemicals and natural gas. PDVSA-Intevep also stood out for its technical capacity in the characterization of heavy and extra-heavy crudes, the development of additives, coatings and fundamental tools for the operations of the national oil industry. Many of these innovations, registered as PDVSA’s intellectual property, not only strengthened the country’s technological sovereignty, but also generated income through international licenses.
Strategic technologies that marked a milestone in the Venezuelan oil industry and consolidated PDVSA-Intevep as an international reference center, were conceived and developed at its facilities in El Tambor, in the city of Los Teques.
These include Orimulsion, a state-of-the-art technology developed to extract and exploit heavy and extra-heavy crude oils used as fuel in thermoelectric plants; the annular flow system, which allowed the efficient transport of Orimulsion through pipelines; and the processes of deep catalytic conversion and upgrading of heavy crude oils, such as INT-HDH and Aquo-conversion. There were also processes for treating residual fractions, such as INT-HHC in ultra-low sulfur diesel fuels, and technologies for transforming natural gas into clean fuels and waxes, such as DISOL. In addition, relevant advances in exploration and production consolidated the country’s technological capacity throughout the hydrocarbons’ value chain.
During PDVSA’s boom, PDVSA-Intevep not only had the technical muscle necessary to respond to the operational challenges of the different subsidiaries, but also played a key role in the formulation of technological policies and in the training of qualified talent.
This effort was complemented by another fundamental institution: the International Center for Education and Development (PDVSA-CIED), conceived for the integral training of human capital at all levels of the oil industry, from managerial and technical areas to specialized trades and craft development activities. In its classrooms, highly qualified professionals from PDVSA-Intevep shared knowledge with university professors and instructors from international companies, teaching training courses and postgraduate programs that integrated science, technology and practical training. Together, they created an academic and technical community committed to the progress of the industry and the country.
Today, both PDVSA-Intevep and the PDVSA-CIED facilities have been dismantled and distorted, occupied for purposes alien to their technical and educational nature. Spaces that were once centers of excellence for research and training of oil talent have been turned into headquarters for social missions and platforms for party propaganda.
Meritocracy has been displaced by clientelism, and rigorous research by ideologization. Formerly active laboratories remain paralyzed; training programs have been cancelled due to lack of budget and specialized personnel. The talent that once shone in these institutions was fired or pushed into exile, and today many of these professionals contribute with their knowledge in oil companies, universities and research centers abroad – a human capital that the country formed and lost due to negligence, abandonment and disregard for knowledge.
The IVIC, founded in 1959, has historically been one of the most important basic science centers in Latin America. Pioneering developments in biomedicine, physics, chemistry, microbiology, mathematics and other disciplines have emerged from its laboratories. It was also the seedbed of generations of scientists who excelled both in Venezuela and abroad.
That vision of science as a public and strategic good was replaced by an ideological discourse that scorned “non-productive” research, defunded laboratories, and degraded the working conditions of scientific personnel. The brain drain was massive. Today, many of its laboratories are inactive, research lines have been dismantled and the few projects that survive depend on specific international collaborations and the individual efforts of those who still resist within the country.
Venezuelan public universities, such as UCV, LUZ, USB, UDO, UC or ULA, have been victims of a systematic policy of budgetary strangulation, which seeks to undermine their autonomy and reduce their social impact. With miserable salaries, collapsed infrastructure, no operating budget or supplies, university research has become an almost heroic task.
But all is not lost despite the abandonment, Venezuela still has a moral, intellectual and scientific reserve of enormous value: professionals who have stood firm, both inside and outside the country, convinced that knowledge is the only possible path to renewal.
Venezuela urgently needs to re-establish its scientific-technological fabric. This is not a luxury, but an indispensable condition to recover its productive sector, diversify its economy and face challenges such as energy transition, food security and public health. This requires rethinking the role of the new State as a promoter of science and technology, guaranteeing institutional autonomy, reestablishing meritocracy, and channeling resources towards strategic areas with economic and social impact. Centers such as PDVSA-Intevep and PDVSA-CIED must be renovated and reintegrated to their original function: to serve the national industry with advanced knowledge and to train the human talent that will be the engine of its recovery. Likewise, IVIC and the universities must resume their role as generators of interdisciplinary, critical and long-term knowledge.
Countries are not built with speeches or with natural resources alone. They are built with solid institutions, strategic vision and human talent. The good news is that Venezuela still has a moral and intellectual reserve – inside and outside its borders – that has not given up on its country and is willing to put its knowledge at the service of the common good. We only need to open the way, build bridges and return science and education to the central place they should never have lost. Because without them there is no future, but with them, everything is possible.
