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Good practice
Imported
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Programa RAICES — Argentina's National Network for Repatriating Scientists
Argentina · Buenos Aires · See the Argentina profile · See the Buenos Aires profile
Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 50% 67/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice
Argentina's RAICES network has repatriated over 1,000 scientists since 2003 under a dedicated law, and its December-2020 relaunch brought back 79 more researchers in ten months — one of Latin America's longest-running diaspora-scientist return schemes.
834 researchers
Scientists repatriated (cumulative, by 2011) (2003-2011)
1000 researchers
Scientists repatriated (milestone) (2003-2013)
287 USD million
Relaunch investment plan (2021-2026)
79 researchers
Researchers repatriated after December 2020 relaunch (2020-2021 (10 months))
79% %
Relaunch cohort absorbed into CONICET positions (2020-2021)
Details
- Maturity
- Established
- Promoter
- Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación (MINCyT) / Red RAICES
- Period
- 2003–present (relaunched December 2020)
- Keywords
- science policy, research & innovation, diaspora engagement, human capital
Context
Founded in 2003 as an initiative of Argentina's Secretariat of Science, Technology and Productive Innovation, RAICES (Red de Argentinos Investigadores y Cientificos en el Exterior) was given permanent legal status under Law 26.421 in 2008. It connects Argentine researchers abroad with host institutions, mainly the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET).
Objectives
Repatriate Argentine scientists and researchers working abroad and reintegrate them into national research institutions.
Activities
The programme runs repatriation grants, reintegration funding and a registry connecting researchers abroad with host institutions; it was relaunched in December 2020 with a $287 million investment plan for 2021-2026.
Results
834 scientists had been repatriated by July 2011; the 1,000th returning researcher arrived in October 2013; activity slowed during the 2016-2019 budget-austerity period; over the ten months following the December 2020 relaunch, 79 more researchers were repatriated (44% from biological and health sciences, 79% absorbed into CONICET positions, a 57%/43% gender split, and 80% settling in the central provinces around Buenos Aires).
Conclusions
A peer-reviewed study found successful reintegration was closely tied to whether researchers found an institutional 'landing spot' with equipment and funding matching their specialisation - a reminder that repatriation grants alone are not sufficient without host institutions ready to absorb returnees.
Implementation
- Indicative cost
- High (€500k–€5M) — Relaunched in December 2020 with a $287 million investment plan for 2021-2026, funding repatriation grants and reintegration support.
- Time to results
- Long (> 3 years) — Operating since 2003, permanent legal status since 2008 (Law 26.421); slowdown 2016-2019; relaunched December 2020 through a 2021-2026 funding plan.
- Staffing & skills
- Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnologia e Innovacion (MINCyT) / Red RAICES, CONICET (host institution for most returnees)
Conditions for success
- Availability of an institutional 'landing spot' with equipment and funding matching the researcher's specialisation, per the peer-reviewed 2003-2015 cohort study
- Formal absorption into CONICET positions (79% of the 2020-21 relaunch cohort)
Common failure modes
- Activity slowed markedly during 2016-2019 budget austerity, showing dependence on sustained public funding
- Reintegration fails when no matching institutional landing spot with adequate equipment/funding exists, per the cohort study
Commonly funded by
National / regional programmes
Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.
Do you run this practice? Claim it — verified implementers get a public contact pathway and can propose corrections.
Data sources
Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.
- C-NAPSE web research — accessed 2026-09-08
- Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación (MINCyT) / Red RAICES — accessed 2026-09-08
- Revista CTS — peer-reviewed study of RAICES returnees, 2003–2015 — accessed 2026-09-08
- Argentina.gob.ar — official RAICES relaunch results — accessed 2026-09-08
Attachments
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