Una editorial de la revista Nature condena la política científica del gobierno Zapatero. Y de que manera:
The party was re-elected in 2008, having pledged to cut bureaucracy and push funding for research to a target of 2% of GDP. Almost immediately it set up the Ministry of Science and Innovation, finally extracting science from under the purview of the education ministry. Cristina Garmendia, a molecular biologist who has founded several successful biotechnology companies, was appointed as head of the new ministry.
Since then, however, the momentum has been lost. Garmendia’s political inexperience has shown. She was slow to build up a functioning ministry, and has not developed the necessary political clout to convince the government, now grappling with the global recession, to stick to its vision for science.
In the long-term, industry will be poorly served by a failure to develop and maintain a strong basic-research base. Spain is ill-advised to wed itself to the simplistic and outdated notion that a country can live on transferring knowledge while running down the knowledge generator. This is not a wise way to respond to the financial crisis.
Spain would do far better to emulate the commitments made last month by two other European nations as they too wrestle with the economic downturn. In Germany, a rich country with a near-stagnant economy, the centre-right government is cutting back public expenditure for 2010 everywhere except research and education, to which it is giving huge increases. In Greece, a poor country with an economy in recession, the centre-left government says it will likewise cut public expenditure for 2010 everywhere except research and education, to which it is giving modest increases. The governments in both countries also plan to remove some of the red tape that restricts research.
Spain enjoyed one great period of intellectual brilliance in the early nineteenth century, referred to as its Silver Age. Until recently, Spanish scientists were optimistic that they were on their way to a second Silver Age. Now they joke that Spain is heading towards a Bronze Age. But they’re not laughing.
Clases gratuitas de economía y política científica… ¿Habrá alguna reacción del gobierno?
Ver:
¬ La revista ‘Nature’ critica duramente el recorte del Gobierno español en Ciencia
¬ España se dirige a la Edad del Bronce