Multiple Challenge

1996/05/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Kimika

The days that have been held under the name of New Challenges in Chemistry have already ended, so I think the time has come for reflection.

When we decided to organize a lecture cycle, we set some main objectives. If the main contributions of the conference focus on three areas: that students receive an advanced image of chemistry, that strengthen relations between the University and companies and that entrepreneurs receive relevant information from speakers invited to the conferences.

Through the revolution of biochemistry or how new and wonderful fibers are manufactured, the experts who have attended the conference have offered a series of talks. On the other hand, at least in one of the cases, visits to companies have also given excellent results and this was demonstrated by both students and entrepreneurs. In this sense, we can say that the New Challenges in Chemistry days have reached their level.

However, after a year of organizing work, the real challenges have arisen face to face, with the passage of a jolt or another. I have been able to verify that our efforts are quite far from the interests of companies; proof of this is that the companies that have supported the conference have considered this initiative as a mere imaginary event. In the same way, the organized events were attended by fewer entrepreneurs than we wanted, despite the fact that many young people came to create new companies.

To respond to this situation, two main data must be taken into account: one, that Hego Euskal Herria is made up of small and medium-sized enterprises (of less than 250 workers) that generate more than 90% of the Gross Domestic Product. Second, only 7% of the owners or managers of these companies have a higher degree. The two factors mentioned, that is, the size of the companies and the limited academic level of the management, constitute an important barrier to adequately respond to the offer received from the University and, to the same extent, obtain an adequate performance.

The level of the event cannot be lowered, if we want to advance we must offer quality products, which necessarily requires research and training.

Therefore, it is necessary to build a bridge for highly qualified students to join the business world. The objective of ADEGILAN is this and for this reason it has launched new programs, called PRAXIS and FINEST, with which it aims to guide students towards companies. These programs will serve to strengthen ties between the University and the company. And meanwhile, we will continue to face new challenges, both in chemistry and in other disciplines.

Finally, Elhuyar. I would like to thank through these lines the support of the magazine Zientzia eta Teknika to this project.