Editorial

Science, Technology and Innovation (ScTI) have been considered by developed countries as a source of development and economic growth (which has an impact also on the nation's social, cultural and environmental growth), and ScTI altogether has been regarded as the knowledge society, where the good use of scientifc knowledge as well as the impact on innovation are ever more recognized as sources of competitiveness and sustainable growth in the long run. In this sense, leading economies recognize that by investing more in the different areas of knowledge and also in innovative ideas, they are contributing directly to the recovery and development of new sustainable economic competences.

Likewise, in Colombia, in an attempt to solve nation-wide problems, the relevance of innovation has begun to be acknowledged, not only in terms of growth and economical development but also for the society's well-being. Stimulating technological competences is being valued as a potential tool to lead the nation's economy towards the way of growth and productivity, which in turn shall nurture activities of greater value accompanied by a better standard of living for all citizens.

Within the Colombian society, a marked scientifc and technological culture, aimed at the development and economic growth, is still to be clearly defned, since there is no defnite strategy for dealing with the so called Social Embrace of ICT. This lack of determination in the nation's policies results from limited fnancial resources, from the general public's poor command of the codes and the techno-scientifc language, from the lack of mechanisms and environments for ICT embrace to occur, and mostly from the "out-of-context image of science that has been instilled in the society by the media".

In the same way, and considering the diagnosis presented at the National Strategy for Social Embrace of Science Technology and Innovation event, it can be observed how the efforts (namely, time and fnancial resources) to disseminate scientifc and technological ideas in the last 20 years have been directed toward the construction of interactive museums (69%) and mass media coverage (19%); the latter has focused mainly on television (38%), press (26%) and scientifc ournalism (15%). In this context, the participation of the radio, as other mass media, has been only 7%, which indicates that this particular means of communication has not been as explored yet and has not been integrated into the strategy. Thus, university radio stations might play a crucial role in the whole strategy.

On the other hand, if we consider that the discussion around scientifc knowledge and also the ways of communicating such knowledge, showing it to the public and disseminating it have not been the most appropriate; and also considering that both scientifc language and content handle non-trivial theories and concepts (diffcult to communicate and diffcult to explain, sometimes seen as confusing and boring); it becomes necessary to build an instrument for favoring the scientifc-knowledge discussion through effective communication strategies that are clearly targeted at the society.

The National Science, Technology and Innovation system has been deploying different action lines intended to improve ICT communication processes. Among those lines we fnd programmes like Knowledge Transfer and Exchange, ICT Citizen Participation, Knowledge Management for ScTI Communication and Embrace. In 2002, as a national strategy COLCIENCIAS launched the National System of Science Technology and Innovation Specialized Publication Indices (also known as Publindex). Such a strategy emerged as a mechanism to create processes of scientifc communication and science dissemination among peer researchers that would facilitate the transfer of fndings and results from university laboratories to the scientifc community and also to the general public.

The establishment of an Index for Scientifc Publications (Publindex) has encouraged a great deal of studies that have improved the scientifc communication in many ways. This is closely related to visibility processes and information access (scope indicators), which infuence institutional policy decision making (effcacy indicators), contribute to the discussion on public policies (integrity indicators), and allow the construction of specialized scientifc communities (structural development indicators).

Nowadays, nobody questions the importance of having an indexed publication appearing in a Summary and Index Publishing System (SIR). These systems are regarded as scientifc societies that build large data bases with two fundamental purposes; namely i) to help other scientifc communities identify the most relevant advances, and ii) to create the dissemination means of widespread scope in terms of information. Likewise, nobody questions the meaning of a publishing index; however, the individual methods of each SIR to adopt the different indices have been criticized. The practices adopted by institutions themselves so as to be part of these indices refects a true interest to show the developments, advances and fndings resulting from the research activities conducted by the institution's smaller scientifc communities.

For more than 12 years, and created as a communication instrument for science at the Faculty of Technological Studies, Revista Tecnura has implemented different processes and procedures that have led to its recognition as an indexed publication. Revista Tecnura is currently acknowledged by various SIRs, and so its evolution is to be continuously supported and strengthened by publishing the results of the different research projects that are conducted within the faculty; by doing so, we drive our faculty to be regarded by the scientifc community as a source of growth, development and innovation within a changing society that asks for effective scientifc-spread means of communication and also for defnite processes to promote social embrace of knowledge like those attained by Revista Tecnura.

It is time to celebrate the work, dedication and efforts of all our fellow directors of this scientifc magazine, who have contributed in many ways to consolidating a scientifc communication channel for the Faculty of Scientifc Studies; a channel that is included in and acknowledge by the National System of Science Technology and Innovation.

MSc. Ing. Giovanni Rodrigo Bermúdez Bohórquez
Director of ROMA (research group)
Associate Professor at the Technological Studies Faculty
Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas