The 11th Dossier of the Social Observatory of «La Caixa» entitled «Research and innovation in Spain and Portugal», coordinated by Luis Sanz Menéndez (CSIC-IPP) and Tiago Santos Pereira (University of Coimbra), was presented in a public event held at Caixaforum in Madrid on Friday 22 April.

The event started with some introductory words by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, Diana Morant, followed by a presentation of the Dossier where CSIC-IPP researchers Luis Sanz-Menéndez, Laura Cruz-Castro and Catalina Martínez shared the views captured in the Dossier with online and on-site participants.

The Dossier presents an analysis of the R&D situation in Spain and Portugal, comparing them with the European context and focusing on some of their many component variables.

One of the articles included, authored by Laura Cruz Castro, Luis Sanz Menéndez, Tiago Santos Pereira and Cláudia Sarrico, explores one of the pillars of research systems: the people who work within them. It analyses the employment conditions of research staff in science and technology and explains the main challenges that are faced.

Another article, authored by Manuel M. Godinho, José Guimón, Catalina Martínez and Joana Mendonça, studies the links between science and business based on the main indicators available. Despite their similar trajectories, the two countries have approached the challenge of intensifying the science-business relationship through very different policies, which provides opportunities for mutual learning.

The Dossier also includes an interview with the OECD’s director for Science, Technology and Innovation, enables the focus to be expanded beyond the Iberian peninsula to obtain an international perspective. Andy Wyckoff talks about the lessons that we are learning and the difficult task of aligning efforts to tackle the major questions of our time, as well as those related with global policy, ethics, and convergent technologies.

The reviews, by Leoncio López-Ocón and Tiago Brandão, provide us with another dimension of science: historiography, appealing to the past to help us to understand the present. They look at two recent books, one from each country, that study the development of science through history, its relationship with othe disciplines, and how it has influenced the building of the Iberian nations.

Finally, the selection of best practices presents a range of initiatives that tell us how research may look in the future, not so much with respect to the subjects or fields that it will tackle, butratherin relation to how it could be conducted so that it fulfils its ultimate mission, which is improving people’s quality of life.

The Eleventh Dossier can be downloaded here.