If we pay attention to the present, we will agree that one of the areas that has been giving us the most satisfaction lately is science. Globally, but also in Spain. News about findings, research advances, expeditions and large projects with the leading role or participation of Spanish scientists and researchers are almost daily.
And they interest us more and more. A recent study by the BBVA Foundation tells us that, in a decade, popular interest in science among the Spanish population has grown from 15% to 47%. That we understand, as much or more than in other countries, that it is an engine of progress, of improving people’s health and essential to deal with climate change. And that, among the French, English and Germans, we are the ones who declare the greatest confidence in the scientific community.
However, we observe with disappointment that science and innovation are systematically parked in the public debate and, in particular, the political one. Rarely do our representatives contrast their positions or formulate proposals on a matter that is essential for our progress as a country and as a society. Another aspect that the aforementioned report highlights is that our population is one of the most critical of the support given to science and scientists from the public and private spheres.
We are in an election year, with national, regional and local calls. If we stick to previous appointments with the polls, neither in the debates nor in the appearances of the different candidates is science spoken of. In the electoral programs, and not in all, you have to dive to find, at most, mere generic references, yes, well-intentioned. No one says it’s not important. What’s more, it is possibly one of the issues that generates the greatest consensus, and we saw it with the approval of the Science Law. But no party puts him in the foreground, wields him as an alternative or postulates him among his great promises in the campaign.
Elections represent the greatest opportunity that citizens have to decide on our project for the country. And surely, beyond our political convictions, we would like to vote for a country that values science, research and innovation. It would mean that we are aware that they are the foundation of the welfare state, of an enviable health system, of quality public services. That its success is not limited to the work and achievements of a ministry, but that its influence is transversal and has an expansive effect on the economy, industry, education and employment. And now that our administrations, central and regional, are focused on attracting investment, these will be much more likely to deploy in countries and regions that already have a breeding ground in the form of infrastructure, talent and an innovative ecosystem.
We should perhaps explain it and transmit it better from all spheres, both public and private. It would not be difficult to understand that Spain, due to its economic potential, but also in scientific knowledge, deserves much more than the positions it occupies in the world in investment in R&D (25); in number of patents obtained (21); in number of researchers per million inhabitants (32); or in the Global Innovation Index (29). But, above all, we could look at the countries that occupy the first places in those rankings and realize that they do not research and innovate more because they are rich, but rather because they research and innovate.
We have to make the effort together, but we need political determination. When there was to reduce traffic accidents in Spain, they were drastically reduced. When there was a need to have a competitive sport that would represent us in international and Olympic events, it was achieved and we have the results in sight. When we set out to equip ourselves with powerful communications infrastructures, we had them and, for example, we are the country in Europe with the largest high-speed rail network. Why couldn’t we set ourselves the goal of becoming a benchmark country in science and innovation, and above all, in its effective and sustainable transfer to society?
We could vote for parties that announce proposals such as the creation of efficient communication channels between science and society; provide young people with information and training on scientific and technical careers; progressive, sustained and shielded R&D financing in the face of economic conditions; improvements in the working conditions of researchers; promote public-private collaboration to extend industrial R&D; or review the regulatory frameworks to remove barriers and facilitate the start-up of large projects.
We could ask for it, vote for it and then demand it. We already know that Margarita Salas said that “a country without research is a country without development.” But his is also the statement that “the important thing is not to have wrinkles in the brain.” As presumably she was referring to something other than age, it would be worth removing the wrinkles, blindness and noise that prevent us from seeing and attending to what is really important. The day we vote for science and innovation, we will decide to make a better country… and, by the way, also a younger one.
Andrew Vincent He is president of the I+E Foundation and of Ericsson Iberia
You can follow SUBJECT in Facebook, Twitter and instagramor sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter.
#day #vote #science