If we define knowledge as a synonym of to know, as the result of the application of reason, empirical method in the study of reality and the way of explaining this reality, we would observe that since the origin of mankind the level of knowledge we have attained has had a clear impact on development. In other words, knowledge has played a key role in how communities have related to one another and how —why not say it— power has been used among civilizations.
Today we could simply call this being competitive. This was what the Europeans were aiming for one decade ago in the Lisbon declaration, where it was stated that —faced with the challenge of being competitive on a global level— Europe could hardly compete with an economy based on natural resources or work organization costs, but it could compete with an economy based on knowledge and added value: by offering what no one else knows how to do, or be the first ones to do it.
So then, will those countries that take the necessary steps to have a knowledge-based economy truly be competitive? And how well is Catalonia prepared for this challenge? Are we ready to participate in this process?
It is clear that in the 19th century we were ready to participate in the Industrial Revolution. Catalonia was the only country in the world to participate in that process without having any natural resources of its own. Our strength, what gave us an advantage, was talent, human resources and creativity. Catalonia took a giant leap, and this was what set it apart from an ailing Spain that was in a state of shock from losing its colonies, incapable of reacting to what was happening in the world and, thus, a burden for Catalonia. And despite everything Catalonia survived, thanks in large part to a powerful economic, cultural and national renaissance.
Now history has placed us at a similar crossroads. We are facing a global economic crisis with high volatility in the markets, and it is something that not all sectors will survive: some will emerge reinforced while others will disappear. What is certain in this unstable context is that knowledge-based sectors are the ones that do survive and grow, and Catalonia has the potential to become the most important knowledge hub in southern Europe, far removed from an ailing Spain obsessed with territorial unity and hijacked by a political leadership with an antiquated and government-centric mentality.
A significant indicator is the economic concessions awarded by the European Research Council, the most competitive funds with which Europe honors the best scientists on the continent. At least 65% of the grants coming to Spain go to Catalonia, and if we calculate it by million inhabitants, Catalonia is the third country in the European Union [to receive the most grants], surpassed by only Sweden and the Netherlands. This has been possible thanks in large part to the state structures the Catalan Government set up in the sciences more than a decade ago:
First. A clear policy to attract and retain talent that is competitive and open to the world.
Second. A network of cutting-edge Catalan government research centers with complete autonomy when it comes to policies affecting the direction of scientific research, human resources and financial management, and a culture of assessment with clear consequences, all of which is far-removed from the Spanish bureaucratic, official government-funded and interventionist model.
Third. A system of a dozen reasearch-oriented universities that that are currently leaders within the Spanish system despite not being able to excercise their full potential due to the Spanish state’s legislative straight-jacket.
Fourth. An extensive network of research infrastracture that, beyond the evident and essential service they would provide to the system, would decide what the science priority should be in the public budget.
The challenges in the coming months are, on the one hand, for the Catalan Parliament to approve the first law of Catalan science, which should safeguard Catalonia’s own model, and secondly, to further develop the core traits of the university reform. This reform, which started two years ago, defines the strategy for academic course offerings and our own academic model for teaching staff though the new Serra Hunter Program –a powerful tool to attract and retain talent—, and promotes the internationalization of our system to give it greater international visibility. This combination of elements seeks to create a new Catalan university model that will become the main engine of economic and social development in Catalonia.
All of this needs to be addressed at the same time as we look to another enormous challenge for Catalonia: the ability to massively transfer the knowledge generated by our system to the country’s productive fabric, and encourage our companies to see innovation as a powerful competitive leverage.
After more than a century of our joining the industrial revolution, we must now join the knowledge revolution and thus also consolidate the necessary second renaissance that will allow Catalonia to become a new state. A state in which knowledge acts as a means for bringing about change in a much-needed process of political, social and economic regeneration. We can do it!.
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