The pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 has shown that humanity was not prepared for this type of event.
The COVID-19 pandemic could have been one of the biggest health crises the world has ever experienced. For this reason, the World Health Organization (WHO), together with the World Bank, produced a report in September 2019, “A WORLD AT RISK”, which said, among other things, “We must prepare for the worst: A fast-spreading pandemic caused by a respiratory pathogen can occur at any time.” . Among the seven (7) key actions recommended by the report, number four (4) was directly related to the need to invest in Science and R+D, developing new vaccines, treatments and medicines, and having global systems for the exchange of information prepared to deal with a pandemic of these characteristics.
Once the pandemic has occurred, and with the WHO still not reaching its maximum spread, it seems that it is taking seriously dedicating resources to scientific advances:
- In Europe, EU-LIFE, an alliance of independent European research institutes in the life sciences, has called on the European Union to invest €150 billion in its next research and innovation programme. At least 35% of these funds should be set aside for basic science research, which is mostly funded through the
European Research Council (ERC). “Most of these scientific projects are high-risk, making them difficult to finance by the private sector and therefore dependent on public funding,” they warn in a statement. - In Spain, the Ministry of Science and Innovation has allocated more than 30 million euros to biomedical research projects against COVID-19. Of these, 24 million euros have been allocated to the so-called COVID-19 Fund, managed by the Carlos III Health Institute (ISCIII), and which has financed a total of 127 projects to date. In addition, the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) has set up the Interdisciplinary Thematic Platform (ITP) called Global Health, in which more than 150 research groups from different specialties have been put to work. For now, 46 projects have been initiated, with an extraordinary contribution of resources of 4.9 million euros. With regard to vaccine research, there are 12 vaccine developments in Spain, which have received funding of 7.8 million euros. All this has been included in the report on the research strategy to overcome COVID-19 presented on 30 June to the Council of Ministers.
We are confident that investment in science will be maintained and grow once the pandemic is over, so that we are prepared for future disasters of various kinds, not only related to pandemics but also, and especially, related to climate change and sustainability.
As José García-Montalvo, Professor of Economics at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra and expert at the Future Trends Forum of the Bankinter Innovation Foundation, said in his speech at the webinar series “Impact of COVID-19“, “The next economic shocks will surely be caused by new pandemics or bioterrorism, so it is necessary to prepare and invest in R+D, not only technological, but also but also medical and economic.”
It must be the world’s political leaders who are committed to investment in Science. As good news, on July 3, the European Commission announced a call for €1 billion in grants for large-scale green technology projects, which is part of the Innovation Fund, which is intended to invest €10 billion in green technologies until 2030, as a key part of the Commission’s plans to bring Europe to climate neutrality by 2050.
For its part, the UN Commission on Science and Technology for Development has just held a meeting in which it is insisted that science, technology and innovation policies will play a key role not only in post-COVID-19 recovery plans, but also in the coming decade to meet the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Investment in science, both in public health and in renewable energies, can mark a hopeful future.
The Bankinter Innovation Foundation organised a series of webinars on the impact of COVID-19 on the different social and economic areas and what opportunities we can find within this situation, as well as a survey of the experts of the Future Trends Forum. You can find the results of the survey of experts on the most relevant aspects of the impact of the COVID-19 crisis and a series of conclusions that are drawn as recommendations to face this crisis in the best possible way, in the report “
