From left: Gemma Galdon Clavell (Eticas CEO), Ciara Judge (co-founder of Germinaid Innovators), Martin Kern (Interim Director of European Institute of Innovation and Technology) and Siim Sikkut (Deputy Secretary General for Communications and State Information System)
In 2017, The Estonian Research Council and the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research organized the “European Research Excellence -Impact and Value for Society” conference to address why research is essential to address Europe’s challenges and to increase competitiveness.
Gemma Galdon Clavell joined a panel discussion, “Form and Function: Design of European Research and Innovation Policies for Global Competitiveness.”
Galdon-Clavell shared:
- how she started Eticas
- how technology impacts both society and privacy
- the challenges of innovation and competition in the European Union.
To complement the conference, Science|Business conducted a survey on the impact of research and innovation, “Research and Innovation: How to get more Impact?”
The results suggest that there are communications issues limiting the impact that can be achieved from research.
Three main problems:
- The successes of science and innovation, their role in our lives, and their benefits to society, are not effectively communicated to the public at large
- Policymakers are not engaged enough with science and innovation, and it is not clear how scientific evidence informs their decision making, if at all.
- Scientists do not have the skills or mechanisms needed to effectively communicate their research findings to policymakers or the public.