Lychnos 10, the journal’s September 2012 issue, takes a closer look at the issue of the private sector’s participation in sponsoring R&D. The topic is introduced by Daniel de la Sota (CEIM-CEOE), Maria Luisa Poncela (Directorate-General for Innovation and Competitiveness) and Silverio Agea (Asociación Española de Fundaciones), in turn, their articles present some key ideas concerning scientific sponsorship and patronage, the importance of private investment in R&D, and how the legislation on patronage affects research and science.
The next section of the journal describes a number of paradigmatic examples of public-private partnership on R&D. José Manuel Galán Allué (CSIC Human and Social Sciences Centre) gives an account of his experience with the Djehuty Project (2001-2012) and Luis de Carlos Beltrán (Fundación Pro CNIC) explains how Fundación Pro CNIC was set up in 2006 to channel private funding to the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares (National Cardiovascular Research Centre).
The next section describes a number of R&D activities in which the private-sector patrons of the Fundación General CSIC have played a key role. Francisco Pérez García (Universitat de València) talks about Fundación BBVA’s partnership with Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Económicas (Ivie), through the Economic Research Programme. Bonaventura Clotet i Sala (Institut de Recerca de la Sida IrsiCaixa) then discusses IrsiCaixa, a body backed by a model of public-private financing through a partnership between Obra Social “la Caixa” and the Generalitat de Catalunya (Catalan Regional Government). Javier DeFelipe, from the CSIC’s Cajal Institute, outlines the Cajal Blue Brain project, funded by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and Banco Santander. To round off this section, Jesús Pintor (Universidad Complutense de Madrid) explains progress in research on achondroplasia sponsored by Fundación Ramón Areces.
The forum section of Lychnos 10 has an article by José Ignacio Fernández Vera, Director of the Fundación Española para la Ciencia y la Tecnología (FECYT), in which he reminds us that "science is a task for everyone” and that private participation is crucial to ensuring its continued place in our society.
