Juan Lema: The wealth of a country is in its people and its ideas

Juan Lema, an expert in our Akademia program, is a benchmark in the scientific ecosystem of our country. Professor of chemical engineering at the University of Santiago de Compostela, president of the Royal Galician Academy of Sciences and has founded several science-based companies.

In this interview, we have asked him about the role of science in our society. Juan makes us see that science is the first step in the development of any technological advance. Today we are surrounded by technology that, at first, was science. Our technology is based on scientific developments.
Juan is convinced that when society realizes the crucial role that science plays in this technological development (and consequently in the economic one), social recognition of the importance of science will grow. And it is to be hoped that, along with this increase in recognition, funding for science will also increase.

The financing of science is one of the key points for the development of any economy. A clear example is Korea, which has gone from being a developing country to a pioneer in innovation and technology. This is due to investment (around 5%) in science in recent years and an effort to improve the education system in the country.

This does not happen in Spain. In Spain, not only is there no stable investment in science, but a State pact to modernise our education system has not been reached. Juan Lema assures us that, while students have evolved, the current educational system is still anchored in the old methodologies.

Juan assures that the university must have a leading role in the change we need, it not only has to be an engine of research in science and a generator of new business ideas; but it must also become a catalyst and creator of criteria that differentiates useful information from false information (fake news).
To undertake this change, a national pact for research is necessary, which develops a stable ecosystem for scientific development, and a national pact for education to evolve our educational system, which puts people, their talent and the development of ideas as an essential element of the future of our society.