20041203-Un experto critica que muchas empresas españolas "vean todavía al investigador como algo ajeno a su cuenta de resultados
An expert criticizes the fact that many Spanish companies "still see the researcher as something alien to their income statement".
Rafael Gómez del Valle, from the Ministry of Education and Science, intervened in a workshop at the University
Many Spanish companies still see the researcher as something alien to them and their profit and loss account". This is the opinion of Rafael Gómez del Valle, industrial engineer and technical advisor to the Subdirectorate General for training and mobility of theresearcher staff of the Ministry of Education and Science. The expert intervened in the IV conference 'Aids to innovation for companies' organized by the Fundación business de Navarra.
According to him, "a more real and broader concept of what a researcher is" should be used. And he referred to the definition used as a worldwide reference letter for all research and development agents: "a researcher is someone who - for example in applied research - is dedicated to improving a product, process or service, or to finding it". Therefore, in his opinion, its impact on Economics is absolutely direct, "since there is no business that does not carry out these processes of improvement or search for new solutions on a daily basis".
In this sense, he added that many of the research activities carried out in universities have "an internship application in the business world; an immediate utility, which would mean money for them".
Rafael Gómez del Valle stated that "there is a direct relationship between the wealth of a society and its level of knowledge through innovation and research. Therefore, companies that hire researchers are placed in a much more competitive position".
The researcher, a privileged interlocutorIn addition, a researcher is, in his opinion, "a privileged interlocutor with the research world, who knows the research groups and activities that may be of interest to companies. This knowledge in the field of innovation, for example in technology watch, often represents a much greater added value than the mere economic value of a subsidy to a researcher's salary".
Rafael Gómez del Valle coordinates the Torres Quevedo Program, which aims to facilitate the incorporation of doctors and technologists into companies. "We subsidize the hiring of researchers by up to 75% of their salary plus social security," he said. He also explained some of the new features of the latest call of this program: "It has been extended to the entire national territory, regardless of the location of the researcher; the salary is freely decided between the business and the researcher; the activities that the researcher can carry out have been extended to include the pilot plant and the technological diagnosis so necessary to carry out technological surveillance; a contact system between researchers and companies has been established, etc.".
Since 2002, the Torres Quevedo Program has awarded 749 grants, amounting to 15.5 million euros. Of these grants, 51% were for the hiring of technologistsgraduate with one year's experience) and 49% for PhDs.