Interviews

16/01/2012

Director of The Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO) & President of The Catalan Association of Research Centers (ACER)

ACUP: As the president of ACER, what's your opinion about science in Catalonia?tific research in Catalonia?

LT: We have a good research level. We have very important islands of excellence throughout the various actors in the system, including universities, hospitals, research centers, technology centers and some companies, and we also have solid basis to work on. The main challenges ahead are to increase and enhance quality throughout the system and involve more private companies and industries. Some of our public institutions have much more potential than its internal organization allows to show.

ACUP: How do you think that has to be encouraged research in order to improve the competitiveness of our country?

LT: Entities regarding global research, in which we compare ourselves, also from the industry, do not have specifically market-oriented research. Quite the opposite, they stand for quality, innovation, creativity and audacity on what they do. Companies that draw on the existence of these entities are those that are market oriented. The difference with our industries is their capacity of taking advantage of ideas, knowledge, technology and people based in the public research. Anyway we do have good examples of individuals and entities with well-oriented attitudes. We just have to focus on them.