Create, share and apply the knowledge has been the leitmotiv of Bioagora, the same as in the book entitled Knowledge in action, by Thomas Davenport and Laurence Prusak, about the management of knowledge and the need of companies to share it and put it into practice on a worldwide scale.

In a globalized world like today, old tools and solutions are not useful anymore; we cannot apply the same mental patterns as we have up to date. It is no longer valid “just do it, but do it for a change, to transform ourselves, our closest environment (group) or the general environment (system),” as Pere Monràs said, vice president of the Circle Foundation for Knowledge.

It is time to turn knowledge into thinking, and thinking into richness through action and interaction. It is time for a change of attitude in people, organizations and governments. It is time to create a network of professionals and enterprises and add value to the economy and society by means of creativity and sharing.

To share is an action verb that is encoded in our genome. The neurologist José López Barneo, speaker of the conference, said that our nervous system was made to make us move. A neuron is not just a simple organic cell but also a biological processor that is electrically excitable and very powerful. By sharing its chemical signals with the neurons around it, a neuron can be integrated into more significant networks to keep itself active and alive. These groups of neurons form extensively interconnected networks. This is, our brain favours the idea of sharing by its very nature.

According to Isaac Mao, author of a new concept called “sharism”, we are facing a change of attitude in people, organizations and governments; a reorientation of values that will turn our society into a super intelligent social brain, a hybrid of interconnected people and social networks.

The change based on knowledge and innovation lies in the foundation of human history. In these times of systemic crisis, humans will be subject to a general questioning, from which new ways of understanding, knowing and organizing will arise, according the anthropologist Eudald Carbonell. In Bioagora he shared the dialogue about critical thinking with López Barneo and he even came to predict that this systemic crisis will have an influence on the physiological structure of human beings.

In short, as Pere Monràs said, in the knowledge society, in times of change and uncertainty, share to transform is the key.

The Newtonian model of the universe left a fragmented perception of reality as legacy for us. However, the model of quantum physics emphasizes the vision of a complex world, with connections of different kinds that alternate, move or combine and determine the structure of everything, as it was stated by Heisenberg, author of the uncertainty principle.

To unite and tackle this complex and unstable situation we need a holistic and relational approach, which is not to waste energy and time on putting up walls but building bridges. In such a turbulent world like today, just right for the 50^th anniversary of the construction of the Berlin Wall, we need to overcome exclusionary and separatist tendencies and stop describing tasks to start facilitating processes instead.

Innovation spans all areas in this changing and highly competitive context, from the ideas to services and management. And if besides this, we also take into account that 30% of the reemerged innovation is based on the "what" (vision) and 70%, on the "how" (values), what clearly prevails is the leadership based on values meaning the necessary handling of human features.

In order to compete in a complex environment, join intentions and deal with the uncertainty, a new strategic, responsible and facilitator leadership is required, based on the dialogue about values to be able to understand and apply knowledge and generate confidence to make changes. The role of this new leadership consists of promoting an atmosphere to encourage diversity and promote synergy, in which disagreement is not a synonymous of disloyalty and paradigms are constantly reviewed and questioned. No doubt it is people who determine the ability of organization to face the future.

We are talking about a new trend in a quantum world far from the balance that combines order and chaos, where instability, tension, conflict and risk coexist with the continuous learning whereby unknown futures can be created and discovered.

Today, despite the fact that access to university education has similar percentages in men and women, women’s presence begins to decrease alter the Postdoctoral phase. And although there are no quantitative or qualitative differences in the scientific production between women and men with the same professional level, there are indeed some with regard to their access to positions of greater remuneration and recognition.

Women only represent 30% of researchers in Europe and 18% of full-time faculty, according to the latest edition of She Figures 2009 - a study that analyses gender inequalities in science published every three years by the European Commission and the Helsinki Group on Women and Science. Among other data, the report notes that the underrepresentation of women in scientific careers is still an issue of concern even though the number of women researchers is growing more rapidly than men. "The imbalance between genders in science is a waste of opportunities and talent that Europe can not afford," claimed Janez Potocnik, the former European Commissioner for Science and Research and current Environmental Commissioner. Other figures from this study also show great differences in scientific positions of great responsibility as for the presence of women in public and private sectors. Whereas they represent 39% of the government sector, the percentage is only 19% in the business sector. According to the data from the Ministry of Science and Innovation, the proportion of women scientists in Spain is 37%, and the highest positions within research careers are occupied by about 23% of women in the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC).

Private companies penalize working mothers, questioning their dedication to work and excluding them from important projects. And if women scientists are in positions of responsibility, the problem is bigger because their too absorbent scientific work is increased by the need to seek funding support for projects. Aurora Pujol - researcher of IDIBELL, the research institute of the Biopol’H area – put it forward clearly: "There are fewer women in senior management positions (only 10%) because it is a gruelling job that requires full-time dedication, so it is very difficult to reconcile family life, especially in Spain. Even to maintain a stable relationship turns out to be really hard, since your partner must understand that research is more than a job, it is a vocation. "

Female leadership has been and continues to be debated in many sectors. Even though women have better educational background than men, it is considered that when a woman succeeds it is because she has been treated in a favourable way. On the road to equality of opportunities, walls should be torn down and bridges built up to give a chance to creative leadership and promote new styles which pretty often come from women. One example: in 1950 Marion Donovan created the first disposable nappy, an invention that companies rejected on the grounds that production costs were too high, so she proceeded to make them herself. Some years later she sold her company for $ 1 million. Another example is Loveplace Ada - the first computer programmer - who predicted the ability of computers to be used for more than just calculating numbers.

The FEM Talent programme tries to do its bit to contribute, from Catalonia, to foster equal opportunities and promote women in science and business. Implemented and coordinated by the XPCAT (Network of Science and Technology Parks of Catalonia), Biopol’H participates in this programme as an “aerial” in order to erase the so-called “glass ceiling” and make the female talent visible.  

Revolutions break out when citizens are playing the leading role, when there is a large critical mass against an exhausted system.    

Moreover, in the Old Continent we are also seeing a growing discontent with an exhausted system: the production model supported by uncompetitive sectors with low added value. A model that should be replaced by a new model of sustainable economy based on knowledge and achieved through in-depth educational reform, by a rational labour reform, by investment in research, telecommunications and energy infrastructure.

In the field of science we have witnessed several revolutions, from the Copernican revolution to the quantum revolution.

Science is a revolutionary field par excellence because it is based on abrupt changes, not continuous development. Hence science and scientists may be again the instigators of change towards a model of innovation and sustainable economy. The advance of science is intrinsically linked to the economy of a country. Perhaps Louis Pasteur was the first innovative scientist, since he was continually searching for the applicability of his findings, yielding incalculable benefits to society. Pasteur had to live the transition from the 19^th century, the era of the Industrial Revolution which - along with the economic and scientific breakthroughs - also entailed enormous social sacrifices. Pasteur's work was always directed toward bringing research close to the needs of industry and improving citizens’ quality of life. He used to tackle a particular field of study in the wake of a real, practical problem arisen by industry. His activity was involved in industrial, medical and pharmacological processes, having an influence on wine production and beer manufacturing on a large scale. Likewise, he contributed to the detection of infectious diseases and the improvement of operations. The rabies vaccine is probably one of his most well-known contributions.

Link research to its application, the encounter between scientific-technical advances and business is the way to change the growth pattern and implement a sustainable economic model.

Once again science can trigger a revolution as long as some basic guidelines to achieve sustainable economic model are followed. Some could be to promote the transfer of technology from public to private sector, conduct some education and labour reforms and redirect professional private investment to the upholding of this model.

In short, the revolution in the West should bring along the economy of knowledge, especially the transfer of knowledge.

However, there is still a lack of critical mass for Europe to lead this latent revolution. There are not enough courage, enthusiasm and determination to innovate. And a bit of madness is also necessary to be an entrepreneur.

As William Zartman - head of the Jacob Blaustein Chair in International Organizations and Conflict Resolution - points out, “revolutions occur when people's expectations are not met, when the 'bubble' of expectations bursts.”

In the Old Continent the bubble has not burst yet, the trigger has not yet sparked. Who knows though, maybe the trigger for the revolution in the West is an innovative idea which - as it was stated in Davos at the World Economic Forum - “is a diving platform, not a perfect landing; a provocation to talk, not a absolute answer; a starting shot, not a finishing line.” Revolutions go hand in hand with innovation and like this last; we know the origin but not the outcome.

Knowledge management is nowadays an unusual value in the western world due to the progressive fall of the productive sources generating wealth that have worked so well in recent decades. On the one hand, it has been a long time since the companies whose activity requires a labour-intensive commitment began with the relocation. The emerging countries, on the other hand, adapt to standards of quality of life and consumption and take a role in strengthening universities and research centres at the same time, so that in a relatively short period of time these centres will indeed reach levels of excellence in training and in the ability of transferring the knowledge generated in the productive sector. Therefore, we must also adapt to these changes by taking advantage of the present favourable situation as for competitiveness.

The value given to education is certainly reflected in the ability of society to do research, innovate and anticipate or how easily it adapts to changes in the economic cycle. This simple but essential model for the progress of the country is based on giving priority to what is most important and the ability to foresee events, which we have currently confirmed as a result of the unstable economic situation and also by taking into consideration the different ability shown by the countries around Europe, for instance.

In Catalonia, we have reached a position of international recognition in the field of biomedical research, the area that is incumbent directly upon us. Now we must be able to keep growth in the same pace as in recent years as well as the innovation strategies implemented to reach the level of the best ones both in research and development and innovation and the creation of new enterprises. People, all of us, must take our own role from each of the areas by internalizing this paradigm shift, so we must establish a responsible action, persistent and consistent within the centres (here understand centres as any institution or company), starting with ourselves. A pedagogical action is also necessary so that the point in which we accept these new postulates is large enough to have a real impact on the economy of the country. And again on a personal level, we have to make it possible to prioritize work according to the objectives, evaluation in accordance with the indicators and resist the impulse of personalism by creating and preparing good working teams.

It is absolutely trivial but now more than ever inertia and compliant attitudes will just get us into a cycle of non-productively in all aspects. Now the sentence Swim or Sink is very evocative: whoever is not willing to perform their best to float will sink. We have a good training and we have to enforce it without giving up, quite the opposite, by working and not making excellence - quality of excellence, according to the dictionary - a gratuitous adjective. Finally, needless to say that we all need to catch up on our duties which we should assume with optimism and taking the top ones - and fortunately there are always some - as a reference and a model to follow.

Cooperation, competition, talent and confidence are variables affecting innovation. These pieces become key points that cannot be waived to change the productive model. Nevertheless, this can only be achieved if we put special stress on building confidence on business and on the specialization of organizations, clusters and science and technology parks so that everyone is able to compete with a proposal that makes a difference.

Even though cooperation is the antithesis of competition, the need or desire to compete with others is a very common impulse that often motivates individuals to organize and cooperate to form a stronger and more competitive group.

There seems to be consensus on the need to cooperate because it is assumed that the trust generated by alliances turns out to be the key to gain access to resources as well as a chance for two parts to meet.

There also starts to be agreement on how necessary it is to move from a system of relations based on the knowledge transfer to the co-production of knowledge. However, the current lack of cooperation is rather determined by the limitations on how to carry on with this cooperation, by the lack of specialization and the need to overcome individualisms and isolated identities. One of the first obstacles to overcome is fear: fear of losing identity, autonomy, the prominent role, contacts and influence, and give them to the whole. In short, overcome mistrust.

Keep in mind that to cooperate means to act together with others to reach a common goal in mutual benefit. It does not involve leaving personal objectives aside but it means the full conviction that the established path is the appropriate one and that the goal is shared.

Alliances, partnerships and cooperation have a direct influence on economic growth and wealth generation. Therefore, clusters – namely, the production conglomerates – promote synergies between institutions and companies in a defined geographic territory in order to compete and collaborate. This is why a new expression is being coined: co-opetition, commitment between cooperation and competition.

A new term for an old concept. In the 60s Billy Wilder, master of comedy, directed the film One, two, three, which recounts in an ironic twist East-West relations in a moment of maximum tension. An essential part of the story is about the possible arrival of Coke to the other side of the Iron Curtain, the communist bloc, and the subsequent negotiation. In the film communists, capitalists and former fascists come together. In other words, old and new bitter enemies. And even so, in some way or another, for whatever purposes, they collaborate and compete. Easy and complex at the same time. Just as Billy Wilder.

Globalization and the crisis have caused a cultural change in business which has led to the compatibility between competition and cooperation. Strategies tend to focus on the need for talent and innovative ideas capable of being brought to the market. This new socio-economic cycle - in which maximizing the opportunities for citizens and finding an activity that fosters new forms of research, development and innovation management is a sine qua non condition - has also resulted in a new model of economic organization: the clusters.

The cluster, a development model with a territorial articulation and which is based on social cohesion, promotes knowledge transfer among the various public and private companies and help them reintegrate into a very volatile and changing productive, technological and business environment for being able to compete in an expanded and internationalized market. On the basis of integration, alliances, associations and infrastructure, clusters seek to combine the individual efforts of companies and institutions so that all these together are greater than the sum of its parts. As there are few companies that have all the requiring elements for success, the economies of scale and the specialization in a cluster make cooperation and competition consistent in an environment of mutual understanding.

Seeking the worldwide exposure in this highly competitive environment leads bioclusters like Biopol'H - a space created around the Hospital of Bellvitge, the Catalan Oncology Institute, the University of Barcelona and the Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) - to set themselves up as excellence centers and to design areas of specialization and differential features. Specialization within the field of Biomedicine and Health Science as well as orientation towards certain phases of research and/or production prevent market saturation. Moreover, strategic alliances between science parks and clusters help to go into complementarity and cooperation in depth. An example of this is the collaboration between the PCB (Scientific Park of Barcelona) and Biopol'H, which in general terms lies in the fact that the former focuses on the molecule and the second one on the patient, the interrelation and proximity between business and on academia and clinical preclinical groups, so that both achieve a better use of resources and take joint actions.

Being able to compete on an international scenario and try to make the whole greater than the sum of its parts means not competing geographically but for the project. We need to join forces; it requires willpower and confidence from all the stakeholders involved in this venture of growing and creating together, involved in designing complementary strategic lines. In short, collaborate to be part of global competition.

Ramon López i Lozano

Biopol'H Director

Science cannot be incomprehensible, since it has to do with understanding. Even though, science was - and the overall impression is that still it is in many senses- something magical and incomprehensible, only achievable for few selected people, suspiciously different from the common human beings.

This magical aura that insulates science and makes young people move away from the scientific path can only be addressed with primary and secondary education, which sees science as the decisive force of our time, and with media education as well.

Bringing science closer to young people and creating a dynamics of multidisciplinary interaction is one of the most productive ways of promoting culture in our knowledge society, in which creativity and talent are the future targets. 

In times of crisis, the new production factor and the major source of wealth is talent, says Richard Florida, author of The rise of creativity. According to this expert, those regions that start to make investments based on talent will become the driving force of economy. Adapting the education system to foster creativity and encourage vocations for science is a bet on the future.

To do so, it is also necessary that scientists accept the responsibility of communication by explaining the work carried out in their own fields in a simple and comprehensive way. Moreover, non-scientists should accept the responsibility of paying attention.

There are already initiatives to start to introduce science not only into universities but also in further education, for instance by adapting some programs to science and health like the collaboration between Biopol'H and Secondary Education Institutes in l'Hospitalet de Llobregat, which join forces to produce a lively exchange between students and scientists from the biomedical cluster.

Awakening scientific curiosity - considering curiosity as "the wish to know"- will help scientists and young people listen and communicate better. Likewise, the collaboration between business schools and science and technology parks will contribute to open and bring science nearer to other fields and come onto market for society’s benefit.

A scientifically literate society will be better prepared to support scientific and technological activities but it will be also more prepared to grab every opportunity to innovate and improve the well-being provided by the scientific development.

Galileo and Newton, who changed the scientific method of deduction into induction - observation, study and analysis of the phenomena of nature -, were perhaps the first science communicators, and Galileo paid for it with the condemnation of the Roman Inquisition. Galileo knew how to put Copernicus' heliocentric model forward in a clear and imaginative manner.

Conveying the scientific results to society is one of the most effective ways of turning science into culture. Education and communication for science is the great effort of the knowledge society in general and of bioclusters like Biopol'H in particular.

If we join forces, willpower and imagination, we may start to consider that "sciences are one of the poetic forms of this century," as the physicist Agustín Fernández Mallo said in his book Postpoesía, in which he maintains that disclosure has contributed to science being in the sensitivity of our time.

Lately, big pharmaceutical companies have cast doubt upon their own business models due to the increase of costs and risks, the need to understand patients better and the chance to gain access to better tools, technologies and ideas. Similarly, the centers of knowledge of biomedicine started being aware of the fact that pharmaceutical companies’ resources could be the tool and driving force for their researches to have a clinical application. Realizing this has led to a cultural change that has made it feasible to be competence and cooperation among companies, entities and organizations.

“Nowadays nobody has a monopoly on knowledge. If we want to innovate, we have to depend on external collaborators, partners and companies that can provide added value.” This declaration from Henry Chesbrough discloses the key point of open innovation.

Unlike closed innovation - based on the industrial secrets, the development within the company itself and the protection of the discovery -, open innovation moves towards a change of paradigm, which entails many interdisciplinary groups involved in a single project and cooperation to make the efforts laid out in R&D more profitable. In summary, it refers to a large and strategic vision of business and projects and the capacity of adaptation to achieve market approval and thus become more competitive through collaboration.

According to Chesbrough, innovation is a process of constant learning. “Anybody can be an innovator.” Therefore, open innovation can come out within the organization by putting team work into practice, sharing data and promoting creativity.

In fact, clusters like Biopol’H are excellent environments to carry out open innovation. It is intended to boost the creation, transference and diffusion of new knowledge in biomedicine and Health Science with the interrelation and complementarity of the welfare, scientific, formative, social and business fields. Biopol’H takes on that only upon the basis of this principle of open innovation it is possible to get enough synergy so that the knowledge management generated by all the professionals returns to society.

In short, the new model is about generating synergies and coming up with new ideas which, together with the ones produced inside the organization, enable a better accomplishment by optimizing resources and time. Open innovation facilitates the access to real problems and market demands and offers a better approach between university and company, making it possible to find new ways of financing as well as to increase the level of collaboration.

On the other hand, as far as intellectual property is concerned, it is not about the free sharing of patents but a personalized collaboration, since uncommercialized patents can acquire a real value with the identification of opportunities.

As Henry Chesbrough said, “If intelligent people from an organization is connected with people from outside, then their innovation processes won’t reinvent the wheel. Even more, the results of their efforts will be increased several times over because of the nearness with other ideas and inspirations.”

Unmet needs lead to innovation, stimulate development and cause changes. Necessity and innovation are, though, bound to the unexpected and surprise factor - the chance.

Chance had been always associated to chaos and disorder and it had been seen as a damaging element which cuts back on the efficiency of any system. However, this conception has changed dreadfully in the last twenty years. It has been demonstrated that chance may improve the effectiveness of our perception and create order. Chance is constantly surprising us in physics but the thing is that it goes even further, reaching a variety of fields such as molecular biology, the theory of evolution, economy or sociology.

Jacques Monod, father of molecular biology and Nobel Prize for his discoveries on the genetic control of the enzymes and the synthesis of the virus, headed his book Chance and Necessity with a sentence of Democritus: “Everything in the universe is the result of chance and necessity”. In 1971 culture was revolutionized by Monod’s work and since then, chance has been a widely discussed question, which seems to clash with the scientific models but actually it comes into play in our own systems of reason and the way we acquire, process and generate knowledge.

Chance is present almost everywhere in nature: so as to develop, any cell and its components require the environment to be in constant activity. It has been confirmed that chance has taken part in roughly 1/5 of 20th century discoveries and, in fact, what has been found what was not being searched. For example, Viagra was the result of a research to regulate hypertension and Penicillin was found by mistake when Alexander Fleming, who was doing research into flu, left some cultures outdoors; these got contaminated and were covered with mold. He thus discovered that this fungus was capable of inhibiting the growth of the bacterium.

The focus of Monod’s research and thought can be summarized as “chance lies in the origin of every innovation, of every creation in the biosphere.” Therefore, “interactions are involved in every phenomenon, every event, every knowledge. Change is the source of every innovation, of all the creations of the world.” Chance and necessity: if chance does not take part, innovation is less likely.

The possibility of discovering something thanks to chance must be connected to the fact that different people, professionals from different fields, meet to work together. A fluent interaction with the environment is required to innovate. This way, chance and uncertainty turn into sources of possibilities.

That’s why clusters in general, and bioclusters in particular, are the most innovative model of organization; organizations of new economical systems like Biopol’H, which act as the driving force between the reality and the aspirations.

At the present time another constant feature stands out: the uncertainty. The level of complexity and uncertainty of our society has increased in a short time due to the globalization of exchanges and competition, the global information network, the pull-down of the great structuring ideologies, the acceleration of migratory phenomenon and the weakening of many moral points of reference. Thinking about nowadays means thinking about the cultural model change and new paradigms such as the complexity principles, the Chaos Theory and the System Dynamics – a methodology that enables the creation of simulation models of which the elements are related forming a loop of feedbacks.

The idea of a static and objective world fell down at the end of 20th century. As soon as marquis Laplace's deterministic model stating that the existence of a set of scientific laws would allow us to predict whatever that was happening in the universe also collapsed in 1900, the current high instability context meant the definitive elimination of the deterministic model and, therefore, Newton's mechanical model. The 17th century physicist defined the world as “the perfect mechanism of a clock”. Newton developed a model which allowed humanity to interpret “reality”, granting the quality of being foreseeable and objective. Physics, Economics, Anthropology, Sociology and even contemporary Psychology developed their theories on the basis of this model. Today uncertainty forces us to design a new model of production and interconnection based on identity, information and connection. Today modern science and technology are founded upon the quantum theory, which derives from the uncertainty principle and supports duality between waves and particles. Nothing is foreseeable, nothing is absolute. Only the combination of elements points out certain number of possible results.

According to the uncertainty principle you must first be able to measure the current position with precision in order to be capable of predicting its future position.

Biopol’H’s present situation is marked by the accumulation of healthcare resources, which turns it into one of the main platforms in terms of medical innovation and biomedicine in Catalonia. Taking this definition of the present as our starting-point, Biopol’H’s mission is to work hard to build a conceptual and territorial space which boosts the creation, transference and spreading of new knowledge in biomedicine and Health Science. This is to generate synergies among welfare, scientific, formative and business fields.

We must learn how to deal with uncertainty, so that we can achieve the creation of this new environment in which companies, enterprising entrepreneurs and researchers can initiate new projects focused on the market in an easy and efficient manner.

Just like the duality between waves and particles, which exchange their behavior avoiding this way the future prediction, uncertainty makes us adapt to changing environments and circumstances, makes us be creative enough to face what is unpredictable and so explore new unsuspected channels.

As the American scientist Richard Feynman sets out: the visualization of the duality wave-particle leads us to the sum of possible stories. The particle is supposed not to follow only one story or route in the space-time line but it goes from one point to another through all its possible ways.

In short, uncertainty gets us to add up efforts, to interaction and to create a team spirit. E pluribus unum. Based on many, one.

With innovation, creativity, with a groundbreaking message, with passion

At Biopol our values are based on what we think are some of the keys to success of a project. Innovation, trust and passion.

Innovation is creativity + rupture. Overcoming the inertia of the status quo is the process of innovation. To innovate is to challenge, to propose another way (sometimes uncomfortable) to question things. We strive to create new values and to reinvent the old ones. We offer training at all levels and scientific services. We strive to achieve talent.

Innovation is also profitability. It could be defined as “the application of new ideas, concepts, products, services and practices with the intention of becoming useful to the increment of productivity”. We try to create networks of common interests, of knowledge in order to generate wealth through the strategy of innovation. This expression, born during the current crisis, is used to designate a new public and business policy that implies the whole society in the process of creation and use of knowledge for economic development and sustainable progress.

To innovate in order to spread science. The popularization of science understood as half art, half science. Our goal, on the one hand, is to teach science, its values, its methodology. On the other hand, to encourage scientific vocations among young people.

Trust. To lose the fear of failure. According to Joaquim Vila, director of IESE’s Executive Program on Management of Innovation: “Failure is not a stigma, but the opportunity of doing it better the second time”.

Trust to learn, to build a lifelong learning system. People should be the main driving force of the transformation process of our society to innovation and knowledge.

Finally, passion for the project. Innovation depends mostly on the imaginative spirit and the creative and constant attitude of people. Passion also linked to creative teamwork. Pulling out a project that requires permanent reinvention.

At Biopol we would like to understand creativity and innovation as a “vital attitude, as a way of understanding life”.

And, at least, without a good leadership there is no innovation. Without a good leadership there is no passion, no trust. And, as a consequence, there is neither creativity nor excellence.

Taking up again Edgar Morin: we are in the modest, marginal and dispersed beginning of a new time. Nowadays, in all continents there is a creative effervescence, a lot of local initiatives for economic, social, political, cognitive, educative or ethnic regeneration. We take advantage of this conjuncture to build a new reality from the renovation and revision of present values. We strive for the newest ones which we consider or we accept through a process of meditation about this globalised world. Knowledge, which is unlimited, will contribute to improve citizen’s welfare.

The first edition of Bioàgora was held in order to build trust between the scientific community and the investment and business world. Turning a scientific idea into a business reality entails risk for both parties and requires the management of uncertainty and confidence of those involved in the process.

In a broader context we see that in a knowledge-based economy, where technological change and innovation are the engines that allow the expansion of economic activity, trust between the different actors is key factor.

The concept of a trust-based economy is redefined within the context of biocluster. This organizational system is characterized, among others, by the existence of a stable and shared vision for the long-term, the creation of social networks that interrelate businessmen and scientists and the collaboration of public and private capital.

Currently, the biotech sector shows a great dynamism but the investment figures are still very small. In the U.S. and in the UK, venture capital has played a major role in the biotechnology sector, by covering over 40% of total investments. In Spain, this percentage does not even reach 2 percent.

It is necessary to make science accessible to investors, to bring the two languages closer. Because literally there are many research results and many scientific ideas, likely to become a business opportunity, that remain in the drawer.

Today, the main challenge of the knowledge society is the management of uncertainty and we cannot be afraid of failure or fear of making mistakes. The failure of a project does not mean personal failure. Any effort aimed at the use of knowledge in a systematic and effective way is a future challenge for any society.

Europe has a great capacity for knowledge generation, being responsible for one third of the world's scientific output. But we still have to learn to channel this knowledge, to bring ideas from the laboratory for its commercial application. We must build bridges between universities and industry and create a strong network of venture capital to invest in new projects.

Promoting the culture of risk and confidence, some basic ingredients for the economy in general and investment in particular, must be our horizon.

We read in Wikipedia that creativity is a mental and social process involving new associations of the creative mind between existing ideas or concepts. Marilyn Higgins (2000) combines innovation and creativity to define it as "the ability to repackage or combine knowledge in a new way which is of some practical use or adds value". Since the Knowledge Society determines the future of companies and success by its ability to convert their most precious resource, the intellectual capital,  into an advantage, we will do our creative bit to improve the citizens’ quality of life… (continue)

At Biopol we share the scientific culture through dissemination, closeness to clinical research, patients and companies, and through specialization within our Health Park. At Biopol Health Sciences and Technology Park, we have specialists in cancer epigenetics, transplantation, tissue engineering and robotics, neurology and anti-infectives.

We intend to use creativity to improve quality of life by creating an urban and environmental setting of quality, and to attract scientific talent through services such as residences for researchers.

We promote innovation as a means for sustainable development, introducing biosustainability both in the new buildings of the Science Park, and through the generation and use of renewable energy and the promotion of sustainable consumption habits. And, finally, if we take into account that knowledge is a constantly growing process that never was nor ever could be definitive, as recognized for the first time during the scientific revolution of the XVI and XVII centuries, perhaps it would be interesting to renew the culture by focusing towards the world of ideas.

The great scientific revolution of the Renaissance began when Kepler and Galileo defended the heliocentric hypothesis that replaced the Aristotelian-Ptolemaic model that had dominated the scientific knowledge since antiquity. The reasons for this revolution, which involved a paradigm shift, were, firstly, the old system, which was becoming increasingly inadequate to explain the facts. Secondly, the recovery of Pythagorean and Platonic thought that posed the dialectic between the existence of the ideas and the world of the senses, dialectic that emerged strongly during the Renaissance.

As in the scientific revolution, a time when the idea that scientific progress contributed to significantly improve material and moral conditions, once again we look to the Greco-Roman classics. The aim of our biocluster is to become primus inter pares breaking the moulds. We believe that keeping distance from our own routines, from what is known and from stereotypes, as proposed by basque philosopher Daniel Innerarity, being able not to content ourselves with what has been acquired, we will be able to bridge socio-economic needs and science.

From Biopol we propose to return to the classics, to promote the agora as a meeting point, tecné and logos as an intellectual process through study and science and, in order to create empathy, we meet at the stoa.

This approach to the past, projected towards the future, is the means that allows a greater recognition of the present.