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The Government has endowed with 1,056 million euros in the “shock plan” to strengthen science and innovation in Spain , and has set in seventeen measures “impact” their investment commitments for the years 2020 and 2021.
The president of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has stated this morning that science and education should be “the pillars” on which it has to sustain the prosperity of Spain, and has highlighted the role that science has played during the crisis is caused by a coronavirus and in one of the moments “are the most critical for Humanity.”
” Without science there is no future ; and in Spain there is science, and talent to spare to be at the forefront,” he assured the chief Executive during the presentation of the Plan to reinforce the System of Science, Technology and Innovation, which has met in The Moncloa to the holders of the various ministries and numerous representatives of the scientific and academic community and the business fabric.
The plan is structured in three main axes: strengthening of the research system biosanitaria and public health through a greater mobilization of resources for the Institute of Health Carlos III ; the transformation of the system of science and the attraction and retention of talent; and the promotion of research, development and innovation (R+D+i) business, with the goal of strengthening the foundations of the productive fabric as innovative as one of the pillars of the economic and social reconstruction of the country.
Of the 1,056 million euros, 396,1 million was mobilized this year and the remainder in 2021. The budget is to be channelled through direct support to the science and innovation system, both to the scientific institutions as to the r+D+I in sectors of strategic business. This investment must add to 508 million euros in loans on favourable terms to innovative companies.
fail to give back to the science
as explained by the president of the Government during the presentation of the plan, “Spain cannot continue returning back to science, you should bet strongly by science. If we want to be prepared for future health emergencies, if we want to take measures to ensure that health and well-being, competitiveness and sustainability, if we want to create skilled jobs, new industries, a more just society and an economy more resilient, we have to bet on science.”
The Plan, pointing from the Executive, focuses on those measures of the impact of very short-term with a capacity of a tractor to propel a speedy recovery of our science and innovation system.
The first axis of the plan, with 215,9 million, is particularly interesting, as it aims to strengthen the biomedical research and health and, in particular, the research in epidemiology and public health, whose relevance has highlighted the pandemic of covid-19. Therefore, it is contemplated the reinforcement of the human and material capacities in this area. In particular, the Institute of Health Carlos III (ISCIII), the main public agency in the fields of biomedicine and health, which has played a central role in this crisis.
Among the measures agreed to include 6 million euros to strengthen the National Centre of Microbiology and National Centre of Epidemiology and the increase in 50 million euros of the funds intended for the call for projects of the annual Strategic Action in Health, through which they are funded contracts for research personnel, projects, networks and platforms that support research and innovation across the country. Among other things, will allow to increase resources to the recruitment of postdoctoral training programs Sara Borrell and Miguel Servet.
The plan also includes the resources that have been allocated to the call for research projects in front of the pandemic, the Fund COVID, which is still ongoing.
in Addition, we will promote the Strategy Personalized Medicine to improve the prevention and treatment of diseases. Its launch will begin in the second half of 2020, and will have 77,3 million euros. One of the plans that includes the creation of a State Center of Advanced Therapies , oriented to the research, development, and potential manufacturing and distribution in the National Health System of advanced therapies custom.
Careers are more stable
Also destined to 523,5 million to provide more stability to the career of scientific staff. Among other measures, a reform of the Law of Science which will include the creation of a figure stable input to the research staff in the public system of Spanish science. This is what is known in the anglo-saxon countries as”tenure track”, a stable recruitment subject to the condition of a positive assessment, a figure to seat on it the development of the research career.
it Also will increase funding for research groups, both in projects and in equipment, scientific-technical, and contract extensions. These measures, after a decade of low funding, in which projects have suffered cuts of more than 30%, will be launched in the publication of calls for this year to 2020 and 2021.
Also, extending the support for extensions of contracts of the State Agency of Innovation and will strengthen the post-doctoral appointments to attract and retain the talent of the scientific staff doctor in the groups of Spanish research. To do this, it will increase by 30% the budget of the postdoctoral programs junior Juan de la Cierva and senior Ramon y Cajal, with a total of 56.1 million euros additional. This axis also includes the strengthening of the oceanographic research Spanish, through the construction of a Research Vessel, Multipurpose Global Scope (BOMAG).
For its part, the third axis provides for a three-year plan to double aid to R+D+I business, through the new Strategic Plan of the Innovation Agency CDTI, reaching 2.156 million euros per year.
