FECYT organized the panel “The rol of researchers in open science and open innovation" in Transfiere

On February 15^th, FECYT organized the panel “The rol of researchers in open science and open innovation”  in the Transfiere  Forum. The goal of the session was to discuss with a number of researchers and innovators that have developed part of their careers outside academia and/or are exploring open science and innovation, their own experiences and impressions about their careers and the challenges they are facing.

Rosa Arias, founder of Science for Change and of the citizen science App Odour Collect,, Rosa Monge, co-funder of the company BeonChip  and María Poveda, researcher in Artificial Intelligence at UPM  participated in the panel. These researchers explained their career path and how they have acquired experience in different fields and explored new ways of doing science and innovation. 

They all agreed that researchers usually lack the necessary structured training in competences and skills that are crucial inside and outside academia. They highlighted some such as communication and writing skills and project and financial management. They also suggested it would be very positive for researchers and students to have information as soon as possible about the different career options there are so they can plan their careers accordingly.

Also, they asked for flexible systems that allow innovators and researchers the intersectoral mobility, hampered at the moment due to the different languages and evaluation systems of academy and industry.

Finally, the rol of women in science was also discussed. There was an agreement that the scarce participation of women in science, that gets worse in high level positions, must be addressed at many different levels and with a number of public policies. It was highlighted as especially important to work with the youngsters to eliminate the stereotypes that hamper an equal participation of women in science.