Panel 9 - The society as an actor of innovation

The contemporary society is distinguished by an increase in the capacity of production and absorption of innovations. Nevertheless, in order that the processes of innovation of products, techniques, health promotion and care effectively contribute to an improvement of health conditions and equity, they must be based, on one hand, in information, knowledge and scientific evidences and, on the other hand, in a solid political and social support with the participation of all the segments of the society in the design and implementation of the necessary transformations. The pro-active participation of the society in the processes of generation, adoption and use of innovations in health requires the adoption of new forms of social organization such as networks of professionals and communities, as well as positioning of the countries and populations according to their historical, geographic and cultural conditions. This panel will di scuss strategies and perspectives for the mobilization of government and civil society in order to define public policies that assure wide exchange of information and experiences for the democratization of decision-making in the innovation processes.