Fundraising is a hard job…
It is easier to fundraise for a program helping abandoned children in Somalia than for a science activity explaining physics to children from local schools.
It is easier to sponsor a popular soccer team than a science event involving Nobel Prize laureates.
DO YOU AGREE?
Download the presentation: Fundraising for science events, JMas, Liblice 2008
Participating in the Research Night giving a talk to high school boys and girls (in this case from IES Can Puig, Sant Pere de Ribes, Garraf), is always a joy. It should be almost mandatory that young people who, although they may not show this explicitly, are interested in science and knowledge can have direct contact with experts and researchers who give them novel and cross-cutting content on different subjects.
The last time I participated, in 2019, I gave the talk on “Bacteria in our mouths: friends or foes?” and it was very rewarding for me and hopefully valuable for some of them. I leave the presentation in this link: Els bacteris de la nostra boca 20190926 IES Can Puig if you are interested. Microorganisms are the most unknown living beings— perhaps because we cannot see them with the naked eye — but those that live in our mouths, even more so. The influence of the marketing of oral products falls like a big slab when it comes to explaining how necessary our oral bacteria are. Sometimes, for different reasons, I follow the university trajectory of young people to whom I have given talks or classes. It’s great to see how the talent of each of them is formed and especially to see how they get the best out of themselves. In fact, everything they will be has a little inside; you just have to make it out up to the surface.
Pandemics have affected and will be affecting humanity forever. As life on earth evolves, so do infectious agents (bacteria, virus, etc.) looking for ways to survive and spread. We humans have learned that the use of technology may help us in preventing the infections. COVID-19 has however showed us that technology development does not run equally in all aspects of life. While transportation technology, to mention one example, has changed drastically in the last century, facemasks (or protection devices from airborne microorganisms, particles or air pollution) have not. If you look at a picture of someone during the Spanish flu back in 1918, they are wearing a very similar mask today in SARS-CoV-2 times. HEPA filtering apparatus and AC equipment have being used into the building environment but not has happened at the personal level. Therefore, there is a huge opportunity for innovation by miniaturization of such devices.
One year after the start of urban waste dumps from the city of Barcelona in the Vall d’en Joan al Garraf, it was officially launched on February 18, 1975, 44 years ago, the environmental movement in Catalonia. As explained by Campmany1, Ramon Margalef, Ramon Folch, Carles Gràcia, Joaquim Monturiol, Pau Pérez de Pablo, Joan Anton Raventós and Joan Senent-Josa participated in this kick-off in the Aula Magna of the University of Barcelona. These last three, from the Speleology School of Catalonia, were the authors of a devastating report on the pollution that the landfill had already generated in the wells and the underground river of La Falconera. The Manifesto of Garraf2 was read at the event, which emphasized the need for scientific knowledge to be taken into account when making political decisions. Among its points -which could almost be subscribed totally today-, we would like to emphasize the third (Democratization of scientific policy in Spain, in the sense of adapting it to the immediate needs of the immense majority of the population, who must also have access, through democratic channels, to the development of the research options). It’s a pity to see that we have progressed so little in 44 years. In particular, on the Garraf landfill, we now see that the warnings of scientific experts and speleologists have been fulfilled. The impact of the decision to locate in the Vall d’en Joan the landfill shows up now with great intensity and, if we do nothing, it will continue to affect the quality of life and the health of the citizens for many more years.
1Campmany, J. 2009. The landfill of Garraf and the diversion of the Llobregat, two key projects in the birth of environmental awareness. Materials from Baix Llobregat 15: 19-29.
2 López Camps, J. 1975. The manifesto of Garraf. Destiny Picture frame. pp.11
For a successful transfer of knowledge it is still essential the personal contact. This is the argument of Michal Preminger, Executive Director of the Office of Technology Development at Harvard Medical School, and Aaron D. Schwartz of the Office of Technology Licensing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Michal meets often with executives of biotech and pharmaceutical companies in the Boston area, with whom she has established a network of personal contacts; therefore, making recommendations, doubts and questions arise in a climate of mutual trust. Similarly, Aaron says, “it is in the coffee shop where you can usually find and meet some Nobel laureates and some that will be soon, and establish high quality contacts.”
However, new technologies and globalization are dramatically changing the landscape of knowledge transfer. For example, Innocentive (www.innocentive.com) is the world’s largest market for solutions to problems. During the period 2001-2012, more than 250,000 people have proposed a solution to technological problems posted. The origin of these people is diverse since the come from more than 200 countries. The prizes offered to solve the problems range from $ 5,000 to a million dollars depending on the complexity of the problem. Other initiatives such Presans (www.presans.com) are doing something similar but they have not launched as Innocentive. At the corporate level, large companies such as Hewlett Packard, with its HP Lab Open Innovation Office and IBM, with its Jam Events, already understand that innovation is much more profitable if done in a collaborative way, being employees, suppliers, customers, etc. the actual innovating agents.
Most likely, the future of knowledge transfer will be a balanced combination of personal contacts together with an open network. During a visit in the summer of 2011 to the heart of one of the best suited regions for innovation –the Boston Area-, I conducted a series of interviews with experts that reflected on this dichotomy. (See the article Transferència de tecnologia 2.0.)
PDF 0002 Transferència de tecnologia 2.0 Mon Empresarial num 142 Març 2012