Key factors to help Catalonia turn knowledge into its economic motor

Economic well-being, a high-productivity economy and an intensive knowledge economy are concepts that are inseparable. More than ever, the current situation highlights the need to create roadmaps for generating growth. And that goes for all sectors, but especially those that use knowledge most intensively, given that they are the ones that will allow companies to boost their profits in terms of investment performance and skilled jobs. Catalonia can aspire to be one of the high-productivity economies of the future. We possess the foundations to do so, and we have the obligation to try. And we can aspire to not only become leaders in Europe, but also in the rest of the world; to become a benchmark area in a Europe that stands in the international foreground.
The necessary (albeit not sufficient) condition to achieve this is to possess a scientific fabric that is solid, stable, and based on high-level, cutting-edge science. Catalonia already has this, and according to certain indicators it even surpasses countries such as France and Great Britain. The great requirement, however, is to create a business fabric that is aware and convinced of what knowledge can do for industry, with more tools to bring about the change (a state that acts more as a facilitator).
In this respect, Catalonia must take great steps forward in order to match other countries that are leaders in bringing knowledge onto the market. This great leap forward – which must be taken over the next decade, and inevitably involves the culture of innovation – should be reflected in an increase in private investment in R&D+i that is proportional to the sums the public sector has invested over the past 10 years. And with respect to this private sector which aspires to turn knowledge into competitiveness, the government must develop a strategy that works on three main fronts: training researchers to work in greater proximity to the private sector; facilitating and incentivising innovation by making the system more flexible and even more open; and funding specific actions to encourage value creation based on scientific knowledge (“push”).
 

Cycle: The Voice of Discoveries -VIII

Organized by: Residence for Researchers