10 September 2012: The Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas (ECPA) held a seminar on innovation, science and technology for energy efficient development in Central America as part of the activities of the ECPA Energy Efficiency Working Group chaired by Mexico.

The seminar sought to identify opportunities for subregional cooperation in scientific and technology research regarding renewable energy and energy efficiency, as well as the needs and opportunities for funding such research projects. The morning session heard reporting on current scientific and technological research regarding renewable energy and energy efficiency by a Senior ECPA Fellow and field experts from British Colombia’s Clean Energy Research Centre and Mexico’s Institute of Electrical Research, and a presentation from Mexico’s International Center for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) on ICTP’s efforts to promote regional high-level research. The afternoon featured two roundtables on financing issues.

The seminar was organized by Mexico’s Energy Secretariat (SENER), UNA, ICTP and the Technological Institute of Costa Rica (TEC), with support from the Organization of the American States (OAS), and was held on 10 September 2012 at the National University of Costa Rica (UNA) campus in Liberia, Guanacaste, Costa Rica. [ECPA Press Release]