The Spanish government has folded a nationwide tech transfer body into the central science foundation, ending a decade of special treatment for the biotech community. The Foundation for Genomic and Proteomic Development and Investigation, better known as Genoma España, was set up in 2002 in Madrid by the Spanish Science Ministry to incubate biotech businesses. Now its €4.5 ($6.2)-million budget is unlikely to go with it, Spanish science news outlet Materia reports. Continue reading Spain nudges biotech from nest
Tag Archives: Spain
Madrid dabbles in citizen-led culture
First published in Deutsche Welle’s Pulse show: [mp3] [html]
If you visit the Tabacalera, a decrepit old tobacco factory in the center of Madrid, you might find artists painting in one basement room, hear muffled drums thumping from another, or catch a teenage video DJ performing in the courtyard next to the bike workshop.
There’s no tobacco processing done here anymore. And nobody charges at the door. In fact, it looks, sounds and feels like an anarchic arts squat. Until you bump into a security guard.
Unpaid Dues Delay Spanish Participation in European Science
The European Science Foundation (ESF) has temporarily shut off support for Spanish researchers because Spain’s member organizations failed to pay their membership fees for the foundation. The move—which an ESF spokesperson says should be temporary—may hobble conferences and workshops seeking ESF funding.
Systems biologist Saúl Ares of the National Center for Biotechnology in Madrid reported the suspension last week on his blog. Together with Javier Buceta of the Barcelona Science Park, Ares applied to ESF for funds to organize an international workshop. But last week, ESF told the duo that it has suspended all support for Spanish activities from July 2013 onward—with the exception of one unnamed “high-profile” event in July—until Spain’s two ESF member organizations pay their unpaid dues.
Read the rest of this news story at ScienceInsider: [html] [pdf]
Deficit Theatre
After the curtain drew on the European fiscal pact meeting in Brussels on March 2, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy announced that Spain would miss its European-imposed government budget deficit target of 4.4 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). Instead, he said, Spain’s national government would aim for a 2012 deficit of 5.8 percent of GDP, down from 8.5 percent under his predecessor in 2011. Some Spaniards described his announcement as an assertion of Spanish sovereignty and a rebuff of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s continual demands for austerity. Outside observers speculated that Spain, the second-biggest economy of the so-called PIIGS countries, might lead a revolt against new fiscal rules. Continue reading Deficit Theatre