Science magazine has published an interesting report on the situation of science in Spain. Although somwhow too optimistic, if one takes into account an inner vision, it shows the potential of the country to make a quantum leap in the following years. The basis has been set up, and now we need two main ingredients to ensure continuity, two mechanisms that are not entirely ensured within the current financial crisis context:
- continuous funding, if not increasing
- leaders that look beyond their own “business”
The reason for the first is obvious. The connotation of the second is not so. In a country with little history in producing knowledge and in competing with the world for a position among leading nations, little minded leaders, at all levels of organization, are the main dangers for the system to progress. The temptation to utilize the circumstancial power in the own benefit while sending messages of excellence is part of the Spanish culture, and those who are in the research field in Spain can give several examples in all our organizations. This is easy to cure, and there is only need fro decency and for clear regulations that favor such excellence with the most extreme transparency. Whatever is different than that is just yet another failed attempt to bring the country near the top, where it should be by its potential.