The ‘president’ of the Generalitat, Carlos Mazón, has called for support for the High Advisory Council on Research, Development and Innovation of the presidence of the Generalitat Valenciana to be strengthened, both in terms of resources and capacity, “so that it may continue to fulfil the extremely important advisory role entrusted to it”.

He reiterated this support during the plenary session held at the Palau de la Generalitat, alongside the ceremony to present the 2024 Rei Jaume I Prizes.

Among other items on the agenda, a new Business Excellence Committee has been established; this committee operates independently of the Economic Affairs Committee and will comprise business leaders who have been awarded the King Jaume I Prize and have agreed to serve on it. This new Commission will be chaired by Emilio Mateu, the first recipient of this award in 2010. Furthermore, during the plenary session, the ACC’s proposed declaration on the climate crisis – consequences and responses, prepared by José Luis Rubio, chair of the Environmental Protection Commission, was presented. In addition, Francisco Pérez presented the document entitled ‘Key findings from the analysis of the economic impact of the DANA of 29 October 2024’.

At the council’s plenary session, held in the Saló de Corts at the Palau de la Generalitat, Mazón highlighted “the prestige and track record” of the members of this body, “true authorities in the fields of Basic Research, Economics, the Environment, Medicine, New Technologies, Landscape and Sustainability, on whose knowledge, analysis and independent recommendations the actions of the Government of the Generalitat are based”.

Mazón, who pointed out that the Valencian Community was the first autonomous community to have “a scientific advisory council of this calibre”, emphasised the importance of knowledge, science and innovation as “essential drivers of progress”, and therefore called for them to be harnessed and nurtured.

He thus reiterated the Generalitat’s commitment “to continue promoting policies that foster excellence, internationalisation, knowledge transfer and public-private collaboration”, initiatives in which the role of the High Advisory Council “is central and the reason why it must, and will, receive greater support from the Consell”.

The President of the Regional Government has stated that the Region is “on the right track” in the pursuit and dissemination of knowledge, with R&D expenditure reaching 1.23 per cent of GDP in 2023, “an all-time high for our region”. It totalled 1,713 million euros, 15.3 per cent more than the previous year.

He also highlighted that the number of researchers has doubled over the last quarter of a century, reaching 15,510; that companies with their registered offices in the Region allocate almost 2,000 million a year to innovative activities; and that 181 patents were applied for in 2024, “which makes us the region with the second-highest number of applications”.

He emphasised that these advances “are an incentive to continue working, researching and innovating” and reflect “the joint efforts of universities, research centres, businesses and public authorities”.

That said, he has called for “avoiding complacency” and has identified as challenges “increasing private investment, improving knowledge transfer and continuing to prioritise training and attracting talent”. As he argued, only in this way “will we be able to approach the levels of excellence we need to continue making progress, whilst helping future generations face the future with more and better safeguards”.

Furthermore, Mazón has announced the creation of a stable funding framework for the five public universities in Valencia – something that has been “awaited for ten years” – as well as support for the 11 technology institutes.

Six new board members

During the session, six new members joined the High Advisory Council on R&D&I (Antonio Acín, Sergio Vicente Serrano, Jordi Sunyer, Francisco Pérez, Luis Serrano and Víctor Amarnani), who were awarded the Rei Jaume I Prizes at the 2024 ceremony, and Professor Antoni Espasa was thanked for his dedication as chair of the Economy Committee since 2013.

Rafael Rebolo (Research), José Luis Rubio (Environment), Eugenio Coronado (New Technologies) and Ángel Carracedo (Medicine), alongside the appointment of lecturers Carmen Herrera (Economics) and Emilio Mateu Santamans (Entrepreneurship).

For his part, Professor Francisco Pérez of the Valencian Institute of Economic Research (IVIE), presented the report ‘Economic assessment of the impact of the storm on the affected municipalities: Impact on sales and temporary lay-offs (ERTE)’, whilst CSIC researcher José Luis Rubio Delgado presented the ‘Proposed declaration on the climate crisis: Consequences and responses’.