This is being built in collaboration with students, families, teachers, with sensitive public policies and a long-term vision. If we want a just, healthy, and sustainable Mexico, we need to: ● Foster curiosity and critical thinking from childhood and throughout the educational journey. ● Promote science and STEM education equitably, closing gender and access gaps between urban and rural regions. ● Direct more resources and attention to applied research that responds to the real problems of our society. This is not just an educational strategy, but a national vision: a Mexico where the natural creativity of our children, nourished by a solid education, becomes science that understands, respects, and transforms its environment. We are aware of the challenges: from childhood obesity affecting millions of young people, through structural educational inequalities, to the need for more women and girls to feel represented in science and technology — something that happens in many countries, and worldwide, in Mexico female participation in STEM does not exceed 30%, according to the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (IMCO). Mexico has enormous creative potential — a cultural, biological, and human wealth that can be the basis for innovative solutions. If we manage to transform childhood curiosity into science with real impact, we will not only be facing problems but building a legacy of health, prosperity, and well-being for future generations. Because, in the end, the science we want for Mexico is born from simple questions asked and asked again: what more can we do today so that our children have healthier, fairer, and more opportunity-filled futures? What will happen to these children when they become adults? An example of how a curious question can become science with real impact can be found in our work at the Tecnológico de Monterrey. What are the urgent challenges for our children in education? That natural curiosity, which for some remains just a memory, should be the engine that drives the science that Mexico so desperately needs. Fostering curiosity from childhood is not a cultural luxury, but an essential strategy if we want to face challenges of the magnitude and complexity presented by food insecurity, environmental crises, or public health for future generations. A reflection on how Mexico can leverage the creativity of its girls and boys to face the challenges of the future. By Dr. Aurea Karina Ramírez Jiménez, Researcher at the Biotechnology Center of Tecnológico de Monterrey, Campus Querétaro. The numbers don't lie: Mexico faces a food security crisis that involves everything from dietary behaviors to emerging chronic diseases. Awakening the desire to ask and discover in our children and young people is not just a school task, it is the most important commitment we can make so that tomorrow is safer and more sustainable. That spark of curiosity is what will form the adults who will care for our world tomorrow, giving them the ingenuity necessary to find solutions to the challenges that seem impossible to us today. How do we foster an education that does not extinguish curiosity? The Mexican education system, which according to SEP is one of the largest in the world, sums up almost 34 million students and more than 2 million teachers, today faces challenges such as learning recovery and educational inequality in various regions. What do the data show? In science and technology, the challenges are sharpened. Of all higher education graduates, only 1 in 5 will obtain a university degree in STEM areas (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), an indicator that speaks of gaps. We consider that promoting STEM education from an early age —not just as subjects, but as spaces for projects, experimentation, and creativity— is essential to train the minds that will be able to solve complex problems of health, nutrition, environment, and social well-being in the coming decades. Let's talk about an example as close and everyday, as widespread in our society as childhood obesity. On the one hand, more than half of minors are overweight or obese, and only one in four children consumes enough fruits and vegetables. According to the UNICEF report on child nutrition “Feeding the business”, around 18% of girls and boys between 5 and 19 years old in Mexico live with obesity, a figure that exceeds the Latin American average and doubles the global average, with a marked presence of diets high in ultra-processed foods and sugary drinks. These figures are not abstract: they imply lives, truncated potentials, and a huge burden on our health system if we do not act now. Since we were girls and boys, let's remember the urgency of understanding the world was the beginning of what over the years would become science. Curiosity is the primary engine of learning and innovation, a fundamental cognitive tool that drives individuals to question, explore, and seek creative solutions to pressing problems. Today the world moves very fast and everything is connected; that is why learning to adapt and share what we know is what allows us to move forward together. For 10 years, we have collaborated with researchers from the Autonomous University of Querétaro (Dr. Marcela Gaytán Martínez) to develop functional confectionery for the children's market, with high fiber and antioxidant content, which has shown to positively modulate the intestinal microbiota and decrease obesity biomarkers in animal models. This project was selected as one of the 15 best in the world by the Good Food Institute, receiving funding of $285,000 in 2024 for its advanced development —an achievement that reflects that science and sustainability can converge in real solutions. Our experience teaches us that when a problem is looked at with curiosity, from multiple disciplines and with a sense of social purpose, that research can generate real alternatives for healthier, more sustainable, and inclusive food systems. As a scientific and educational community, we have learned that knowledge is not built in isolation. Collaboration with other areas of knowledge and between institutions is fundamental to fostering creativity and the creation of solutions. For example, agave waste left after mezcal production, traditionally considered agro-industrial waste, can be transformed through biotechnological processes into alternative proteins, with applications in functional foods and supplements that provide nutritional value and reduce the environmental impact of food production. We are going to keep asking, together.
