EDITORIAL

Beatriz Pescador Vargas MSc^a

^a Teaching Biomedical - Faculty of Medicine. Universidad Militar Nueva Granada

Knowledge is the most important factor in the development in our time. It can no longer be circumscribed only to the academic circles. It must be a crucial matter in the national, regional, local and urban Government's agenda, of the non-governmental organizations, relevant to those related to health management, businessman, members of producer guilds, environmentalists and consultants. To promote the knowledge society, from the perspective of territorial and regional development, it has implicit the conviction that if it is well guided and oriented, towards that direction, science actions, technology and innovation among others could achieve an impact that will be translated in more equilibrium, integration, sustentation and social development of regions.

The appropriate development of culture, education, science, technology and investigation has turned into a fundamental piece of social and economical growth in all countries. Improving the quality of education, providing tools to students and teachers, training them in the development of new and better skills, encouraging them in the preparation of scientific and research projects, creating the scenarios for them to be ready to face the new globalized world and allow them to reach their maximum potential so that they are more competitive in the construction of social links by promoting the sense of belonging, cultural identity, healthy recreation and thus face inequality and conflicts to create a peaceful and humanitarian culture. The knowledge society, amongst several alternatives, can be characterized as that society that has the ability to transform knowledge into the main tool for their own benefit.

As stated by Faure (1973) "It is not enough to bring together the Homo sapiens and the Homo faber, it is also necessary to be in harmony with others and with himself: Homo concors (...). Our time. Which has been called the finite world, cannot be other than the one of the total man; this is every man and man as a whole". In Delors terms (1996) learning to know, learning to do and learning to live together from knowledge, what supposes establishing that "knowing" is constituted into a fundamental process, not only for education, but for the consolidation of societies capable of self-regulation and overcoming their problems, which requires a man and a woman to be able of being rational and reasonable, to show solidarity, to be participative and responsible, not only with himselves, but in relation to others and the environment they inhabit.

Knowledge society can be much more inequitable than the traditional capitalist industrial society. The exclusion potential the knowledge society has is huge and we have seen it in the last decades. Our commitment, regarding the construction of knowledge, poses the need of transcending the production of knowledge per se and achieving certain position, instead of a stage of production of knowledge with social meaning. Integral education and knowledge generation must contribute to the social and productive transformation of the country, assuring its economical development, because a well educated community will have competitive advantages and could make the leap to life standards with more quality. Results of scientific work must be oriented and applied to the solution of specific problems, considering the scientific, social and environmental impact of the methods employed and the obtained products, useful for development.

Between all of this, technology is placed as the great enabler of processes that allow development and opportunity generation. The truth is that technology has taken humanity into new relations with the world. Technology has changed the way we interact, how we study, how we communicate, how we investigate, how we shop, how we listen to music, how new services are provided to citizens and how business are made. Because technology is the engine of many innovation processes. And innovation, back to the same, allows expanding opportunities and locating the communities with high competence levels. With these, there must be innovation, production of new technologies, products, materials and applications, new forms to do and generate wealth. Wealth that leads to a greater welfare, inclusive, sustainable and equitable to all people.

Papers presented in this number, represent a significant contribution to knowledge, where innovation in different institutional processes and the incorporation of technologies of information and communications, allowing a greater integration with national and territorial health authors; as well as the link between national and international research centers.

"The policy of the Science, Technology and Innovation of the Universidad Militar Nueva Granada (UMNG) is to be part of the group of Universities that interact with the State and the productive sector in benefit of Colombian Society and the Defense Sector, according to the thematic areas, programs, processes and research groups that actually it possesses, which will serve as support to the implementation of strategies of interaction and creation of cooperative and work networks to achieve common objectives in the development of Science, Technology and Innovation". (Taken from: Science, Technology and Innovation SC+T+I - UMNG)