Eduardo Galeano world upside down is alive and well. Yesterday I was writing about the controversial scenario that has been taking place between the United States and China, after Beijing imposed a derogatory qualifier against Washington's pretensions to take control of technological innovation, as I expressed in these lines.

Although the civilized world interprets this dispute as simple commercial competition strategies in the quest to position brands and products in the marketplace, it is not always the case.

Fig. 2 Global spending on science has increased significantly, with an unprecedented dynamism in developing countries. Public domain image, Author: Kkolosov, 2017

For example, according to data reported by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), world spending on science has increased considerably, with an unprecedented dynamism in developing countries, especially in Africa, but the United States and China represent the countries with the greatest investment in science.

According to the percentage figures reported by UNESCO, global investment in science is "very unequal", because the United States and China account for almost two thirds (63%) of the global increase in spending, this reality undoubtedly favors these two world powers, but creates an unequal and enormous problem to solve.

When I say that this inequality represents a huge problem to be solved, I express it in this way because the resources come from international bodies and, in the face of an unequal distribution, any scheme of homogenization of development priorities is broken, so that all countries can participate and develop technological innovations that translate into growth of their gross domestic product.