(Feb. 17th, 2010) What actions are taken for Spanish science in response to the financial crisis? And, more importantly, will they be the right ones? Not exactly, as viewed by José L. Neira and Rodrigo J. Carbajo.
In our recent analysis of career strategies for young European scientists in Spain (Lab Times 6/2009: 34-39), we indicated that during recent years the country has seen a steady increase of €12 billion (that is, a 1.27% of GDP) in R&D funds. On the surface, this seems to imply that during the socialist first term of office, the spending in R&D has doubled; however, if one takes into account the international and domestic inflation and the increase in the global GDP during that term, the real increase in the Spanish science budget was around 20-30%, and not 100%. The crisis is hitting Spain hard and, according to the OECD and other economical analyses, it seems to be one of the last European countries to shake it off, widening the economic, scientific and development chasm between itself and other European members. In answer, in the 2010 budget (recently approved by the Spanish parliament), the socialist government has decided to cut the R&D designated funds, allocated to funding schemes dating back to 2005, by almost 30%. Consequently, the last few years of R&D spending seems doomed to remain but a short and sweet dream for the research community. Meanwhile, other European countries, with even smaller GDP, are increasing their R&D budgets, whilst decreasing other aspects, whereby the old adage “more crisis, more science” (see Nature 462, 137-138) springs to mind.
The Spanish government has not been entirely idle or insensitive. As a direct response to the crisis, a programme was initiated mid-2009 to activate local employment (the worst effect in Spain is the continued rise in unemployment, now at almost 20%), where huge amounts of money were given to councils to make brick-working (the basis of Spanish economy). The plan was known as “Local PlanE for the creation of employment”. However, the continuous outcry from the research community in varied forms of media seems to have stirred the conscience of some Spanish government ministers, which is why now, in an effort to appease the chorus of disapproval, the Ministry of Science has suggested that some of the monies allocated for the new PlanE in 2010 will be siphoned off for science, giving local councils the opportunity to get involved in boosting basic (and applied) science. This novel granting scheme will not be available along the traditional lines of application; instead, the scientists have been asked to contact their local councils (normally more preoccupied with day-to-day issues than scientific policies) to convince them that R&D is good for their communities. Subsequently, Spanish researchers are now challenged with the task of how to win over tourist oriented guildhalls, such as Valencia, Alicante or any other municipals along the whole Mediterranean coast, which are far too overwhelmed every year by the strong autumn rains that ruin much of their infrastructure and whose economy is based in tourist-servicing and building work (e.g. time-share apartments – also for tourists) to even consider basic science. However, poverty sharpens brains so the research community of Eastern Spain might do better trying to design new environmentally-friendly cooling machines for tourists’ refreshments, instead of pursuing seemingly useless and indefinite research, in order to obtain money from the PlanE 2010.
The authors:
José L. Neira. Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular. Universidad Miguel Hernández. Avenida del Ferrocarril s/n. 03202 Elche (Alicante). Spain. Tel: +34 96 6658459. Email: jlneira@umh.es.
Rodrigo J. Carbajo. Structural Biology Laboratory. Centro de Investigación Príncipe Felipe. Avenida Autopista del Saler 16-3. 4612 Valencia. Spain. Tel: +34 96 3289680. E-mail: rcarbajo@cipf.es.