Scientific Education: ”This year, the Department of Economic Development and the Industrial Development Company, with the forward-thinking and profound change of a great innovator –Secretary Jorge Silva- and by breaking paradigms, is going to begin strengthening our education, specially with regard to the use of technology and teaching Science and Mathematics. Some of the joint efforts between the Development Company and the Department of Education for this year are: 1) Matching financial support for the Operación Éxito (Operation Success) program, which was first seen last year and is the product of the creativity of the Puerto Rican filmaker Noel Quiñónez and his wife, Soraya. This is a unique program that has generated in our high schools a great enthusiasm for the sciences that we had never seen before. This year we will extend the program to Mathematics and will see more of Operación Éxito. 2) The expansion of the Industrial Development Company’s Scholarships Fund in order to assign one third for public school teachers so that they can obtain postgraduate degrees in Pedagogy in Science and Mathematics. 3) Support from the Development Company to the Science and Technology Model School in Caguas, a contribution that will be matched by the municipality in order to attract the most promising students. 4) Support to the after-school (Horario Extendido) program in Science, Mathematics and Languages in the Municipality of Carolina, also with a matching contribution. ) Quadruple the Development Company’s Scholarship Program with the help of the industrial sector in order to expand the scholarships for postgraduate studies in the fields of Advanced Bioscience and Technology. … This year, to ensure that this tendency will be irreversible, we will begin implementing the Tu Escuela Ideal (Your Ideal School) program. This initiative will group 344 schools that currently have specialized curricular programs sponsored by university institutions, foundations, and non-profit organizations. For example, the AlaCima program is a Science and Mathematics coalition that is currently operating in several schools with funds from the National Science Foundation and has been recognized as one of the best programs of its type in the United States...” Health: “And let us talk about the Río Piedras Medical Center. This hospital facility is the only hope for the lives of many Puerto Ricans. It is something that my family and I have been through ourselves and for which we will always be grateful. This is why we have initiated the deepest transformation of this important medical/hospital complex, so that more families can have the joy of saving a loved one. During my four-year term, we are going to double the beds in the trauma room, including a new Trauma Intensive Care Unit; we will build two new operating rooms there and increase the number of stabilization beds. There will also be a new Medical/Surgical Intensive Care Unit and we will expand the Neurosurgery Intermediate Care Unit and the Delivery Room at the University Hospital. In addition, we will have new, ultramodern Gamma Knife facilities for cranial surgery, and a new Neurology Unit and a unit for burn patients at the Pediatric Hospital. All of these projects are leading towards a first-class Medical Center. In terms of health, we are working hard because there is a lot of work to do. Knowledge Corridor: “And so, in our trip through the Network City, we arrive at the new center of the Great City, the epicenter of the Caribbean Metropolis. I am talking about the area between the Piñero Station –skirting the University of Puerto Rico- and the Medical Center. This year, we will begin developing the Knowledge Corridor (Corrredor del Conocimiento) in this area. The Corridor will link the University of Puerto Rico to the Botanical Garden, to the new Biomolecular Sciences Building of the University of Puerto Rico—a complex of research laboratories and offices whose construction will begin this year at the Cupey Station. There, we will build the new headquarters of the Department of Education. In keeping with this vision, we will begin exploring alternatives to develop what is known today as the Oso Blanco [former state prison] to make it part of the Knowledge Corridor. This will allow us to connect it to the Medical Center. Here, we will build the new Cancer Center, a joint effort between the University of Puerto Rico, the central government, the federal government, and the prestigious MD Anderson institution from Texas, that will provide us with a world-class cancer research and treatment center . The Knowledge Corridor reflects my vision for a new Puerto Rico. A Puerto Rico that is the center of the knowledge economy and the envy of many countries. A Puerto Rico that is quickly becoming the center of Biotechnology. Manufacture and Minds at Work: “With regards to manufacture, last year we achieved important expansions of pharmaceutical companies and medical supplies manufacturers. More importantly, last year we inaugurated the Amgen biotechnology plant, and in November the Becton Dickinson company announced that they would establish their biotechnology operations in Cayey." This year the Abbot and Lilly biotechnology plants will be inaugurated, and soon we will announce new expansions and more investments. This year, we will also inaugurate the new Microsoft plant in Humacao. So that you can have an idea of the abilities of our people, listen to this. In this new plant in Humacao, Microsoft will manufacture the entire world production of their new software, Windows Vista. The success of the Minds at Work Operation (Operación Mentes a la Obra) already shows, greatly due to the transformation we are seeing in the Development Company. This transformation includes a new way to develop the modern industrial parks that our country needs, establishing public-private companies in order to join funds and efforts. This year, we will begin developing three of these parks, out of a total of six that we will develop during this four-year term”.