"When a university does research, it has a certain authority to know in depth what is going on in its environment. In a way, that is what society expects from it: a critical and free look that helps it to understand what is happening". These were the words of Juan Manuel Mora, Vice President of Institutional Communication at the University of Navarra, during the presentation in Valencia of the Institute for Culture and Society.

"At the University, we are interested in doing research to share this knowledge, so that it has an impact," he said. In that sense, he referred to the academic center's "long tradition" of research on issues of business, biomedicine and engineering. "The ICS is a strategic project : we wanted to start up a center that would seek solutions to other problems that are also relevant," he stressed.

Last act of the 7-city tour

Juan Manuel Mora referred to the main strengths of high school, in addition to its social impact: the critical mass of researchers who collaborate together; the diversity of their backgrounds, which enriches work with different perspectives and approaches; and international outreach.

director Together with Vice President, the General Manager of the ICS, Jaime García del Barrio, and Full Professor of Economics Luis Ravina intervened. The latter presented the Navarra Center for International Development of the ICS, which tries to provide solutions to eradicate extreme poverty in countries such as the Philippines, Kenya, South Africa and some Central American nations.

A hundred people attended the event, which took place at the Palau de Pineda and was held with the support of the Consellería de Education, Culture and Sport of the Generalitat Valenciana. This is the last event planned in the tour that has taken the ICS between September and November 2013 to six other cities: Pamplona, Seville, Vigo, Barcelona, Madrid and San Sebastian.