of public policies. Generally speaking, AKST stakeholders include publicly funded national agricultural research institutes, but these have little effective participation in the preparation of the legal framework in which they operate (laws on biosecurity and intellectual property, financing of research and development, credit policies, etc.). Generally speaking, they are limited to sending or submitting reports with the results of their research, which is often demanddriven (reactively or by express request).

AKST stakeholders must adopt a more proactive attitude in this process. The experiences of EMBRAPA (Brazil) with its closer relationship to policy makers in the Ministries of Agriculture, Science and Technology, the Environment and Agricultural Development, in particular, as well as to the Congress have been very successful and have helped to strengthen the impact of that organization on the various segments of Brazilian society. EMBRAPA is participating

more and more actively in the elaboration of laws governing intellectual property, innovation, and the protection of farmers, etc., as well as in rural credit policies, among other types of policies.

Participation in the formulation of public policies is vigorously pursued both by EMBRAPA and by FIOCRUZ, and this approach in the case of these two research institutions is indistinguishable from the process of creation and is a function that has been embraced by them throughout their existence in order to strengthen their legitimacy and institutional sustainability (Salles et al., 2000).

However, the active participation in the formulation of public policies seen today in Brazil, in the case of EMBRAPA, is not common in Latin America and the Caribbean. It is nevertheless clear that the strengthening of AKST systems in the region and enhancing their impact depend on the proactive participation of the system’s stakeholders.