Spanish science in Cell

Entitled “Mind the Gap: Bringing Scientists and Society Together”, the article explains the activities of COSCE, since its set-up in 2004, that have been designed to progressively strengthen research and explains the importance of scientific culture and education among the general public and government. It also highlights the current status of science in Spain and the organisational and structural deficiencies of the system and proposes measures to improve it. In the introductory section of the article, Guinovart stresses that the transformation of a society in terms of research, development and innovation requires the joint collaboration of its scientists with all sectors of society. He goes on to describe the establishment of COSCE, a single platform that brings together more than 30,000 scientists in 60 Spanish scientific societies with the aim to promote a knowledge-based society. The rest of the article is divided into four sections.

In “Science at the forefront of Spanish Elections”, Guinovart relates how, since the 2004 General Elections, the problems of the Spanish science system have been included in the electoral programmes of the political parties. He goes on to emphasise actions such as the public presentation of the proposal for a National Agreement on Science to politicians and the media, an initiative that COSCE lobbies. In addition, the article explains that COSCE has performed an in depth study setting forth a series of changes to the Science Bill, which was recently presented by the minister of Science and Innovation, Cristina Garmendia.

The section “Uniting with a common goal” describes the report called “CRECE” (Grow) which was implemented by COSCE in 2004, after the success of the proposal for a National Agreement on Science. This report involved the participation of scientists, philanthropic foundations, representatives from the business sector and journalists. This initiative led to the publication of five reports that address the key issues of science in Spain and the commentary article summarises these reports and highlights some of the proposals endorsed.

In “Getting to know you”, the third section, Guinovart describes the programmes designed to promote dialogue and mutual knowledge between the different social agents: “Getting to know you” is directed to scientists and members of the Spanish Parliament while the programme “Enlighten” seeks to stimulate interest in science among school children.

In the closing section “Looking long-term”, the director of IRB Barcelona expounds the greatest error that could be made in the context of a world economic crisis, namely government cut-backs in research budgets and in investment. In this regard, he explains the need for COSCE and other organisations to lobby the government to ensure sustained investment and growth. To end, Guinovart proposes the establishment of a confederation of European learned societies, like COSCE in Spain, from which to fuel the impetus that led to the set-up of the European Research Council, a milestone in European science.

Cell has an impact index of 29.19 (2007, last value available), the highest value among journals devoted to biomedicine. The article is included in the section entitled Leading Edge, which seeks to emphasise the social, economic and ethical issues of biomedical research around the world.

Commentary article
Mind the Gap: Bringing Scientists and Society Together
Joan J. Guinovart
Chair of the Confederation of Spanish Scientific Societies, Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona), University of Barcelona
Cell (25 May 2009) DOI 10.1016/j.cell.2009.05.017