APTE, science and technology parks actively participate in ‘Communicating Innovation’ workshop

Representatives of 33 science and technology parks attended ‘Communicating Innovation,’ an event organised by the science, technology and business park ‘Leganés Tecnológico’ and other institutions.

APTE, 10/05/2012

On 7 May, the Madrid Fine Arts Society played host to ‘Communicating Innovation,’ a workshop organised by the science park ‘Leganés Tecnológico’ (Carlos III University, UC3M, Madrid), Alcalá University, the Autonomous University of Madrid, Rey Juan Carlos University and the Technical University of Madrid. APTE and the leading science and technology parks in Spain played an active role at the event.

The workshop, targeted at the media and the organisations committed to innovation in Spain, was organised to raise awareness about the need for innovation Alava and contents of social interest and to show OTRIs (research result transfer offices), universities, research centres and other institutions concerned with innovation where to find information on the subject. In addition, the event was meant for companies to get involved in technology transfer activities, thus stressing the importance of talking about innovation.

Part of the debate focused on the need to give importance to dissemination and communication in R&D+i environments while promoting training and good practices in the communication of innovation, so that citizens and the media can understand innovation processes.

The initiative was warmly welcomed by its target audience. The number of attendees was higher than expected: there were 649 participants, including guests, organisers and followers on the Internet. Participants came from a wide range of sectors, such as technology transfer, innovation management or journalism schools.

Also, they hailed from different countries. What is more, the workshop gathered the representatives of 33 science and technology parks in Spain (all of them APTE members), who got really interested in the topics discussed.

The event was also watched in streaming online and followed in social media, becoming a trend topic on Twitter for a few minutes.

The workshop began with a welcome speech by Juan Carlos García Prada, Research and Transfer Assistant Vice Chancellor at Carlos III University, whose science park coordinated the event, and by the Head of the Culture of Science and Innovation Department at the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology (FECYT), Rosa Capeáns. The speech by Ms Capeáns was followed by ‘Communicating Innovation: Innovation Journalism?,’ a lecture by Manuel Campo Vidal, who is a journalist and the President of the Academy of TV Arts and Sciences. Mr Campo Vidal discussed the creation of a good Alava show, where ‘good Alava’ meant ‘innovation Alava.’

After that there came ‘The Innovators,’ a panel moderated by Santiago Graiño, Co-Director of the Master’s Programme in Science, Technology and Environment Communication and Journalism at UC3M. The panel included Esperanza Vázquez, Head of Communication and Media at Indra; Ricardo Buendía, founding partner of Anova IT Consulting; Marta Muñoz, Director of Communications at FEDIT; Manuel Zahera, Promotion Manager at the Foundation for Technology Innovation COTEC; Mariona Ferrer, Director of Communication and Marketing at the Bosch i Gimpera Foundation – RedOTRI/CRUE; and Soledad Díaz, Managing Director of APTE.

In her speech, Ms Díaz highlighted the role of science and technology parks as the ideal environment for innovation to surface.

Moreover, she said, technology parks and APTE play a key role translating innovation developments into a language everybody can understand, using examples and facts to illustrate them.

The second panel, ‘The Media,’ was coordinated by Javier Galán, Co-Director of the Master’s Programme in Science, Technology and Environment Communication and Journalism at UC3M. This panel featured Francisco Javier Inaraja, chief editor of the magazine Emprendedores; Esther Paniagua, chief editor of Technology Review, Spanish edition; Yolanda Gómez, Vice President of the Association of Economics Journalists (APIE); Francisco Bas, creator and scriptwriter of the TV show Emprendedores Innovadores; Esperanza García, Head of the science Alava agency SINC; and Teresa Barbado, Director of Scientific Information at the Madri+d Foundation for Knowledge.

Last but not least, Tíscar Lara, Director of EOI Digital, the Virtual Spanish School for Industrial Organisation, discussed the role of social media in the communication of innovation.

APTE contributed to the organisation of this workshop on how to communicate innovation, promoting it and encouraging science and technology parks to participate alongside the organisations housed in them.