Research in Spain is not at its best moment and this obtained comes in the form of a critique by biochemist and researcher Mariano Barbacid, winner of the Ramón y Cajal Award 2022, lamenting that in the last 15 years “it has become what in the school ll We loved a mary, nobody cares.”
Barbacid, who has received in the Press and Power course that this week is taking place in Ciudad de la Educación-San Gabriel, in La Aguilera (Burgos), has indicated that if he compares the money he now has to investigate with the one he had in 2008 and 2009, it can be seen how it has been practically reduced by half.
“That a country that wants to be among the leading countries in the world for our history and for our future has wasted 15 years of biomedical research is very sad. As a Spaniard, the truth is, I cannot be optimistic,” he assessed.
How much does the Government allocate to an investigation?
The discoverer of the trak oncogene has recognized that the years of Mariano Rajoy’s government were very negative, since the Ministry of Science and Technology was eliminated and included within the Ministry of Economy, despite the fact that it had nothing to do with that portfolio. The result was that for years money was asked for research to no avail and between 2008 and 2016 funding for research was cut in half.
A situation that has not improved much with the coming to power of Pedro Sánchez since, although in the public appearances of the members of the Government it is assured that the money allocated to research has doubled, in reality this increase has been barely 9%, according to Barbacid’s calculations.
How much budget does the Government give to Barbacid?
In more detail, he explained that his laboratory has an annual budget of 700,000 euros. Of this amount, the ministry contributes just over a quarter, around 150,000 euros. Despite this, he has considered that he is among the aristocracy of this field, since on average the public economic contribution to research groups is 50,000 euros.
How much of GDP is for research in Spain?
Already in the audience’s question time, and in response to a participant, he has expanded the analysis and highlighted how in Spain, at this time, around 0.5% of the Gross Domestic Product is dedicated to research, when in Europe that amount rises to 2%. The recently approved Science Law contemplates that in 2030 this expense will rise to 1.25%, but provided that the appropriate circumstances exist.
scientific culture
The creator of the National Center for Oncological Research has considered that one of the main problems is that in this country there is no scientific culture and science is not valued, as evidence in his opinion that research does not occupy time in political debate.
“I like to say that it is not that the richest countries are the ones that invest the most in science or research, but that it is those that have invested the most in research and science that are now the richest. If we want the future of Spain is based on service operations, which are very dignified, but it is not what gives strength, independence, wealth after all”, he remarked.
