10 10 CONEIXEMENT I SOCIETAT 10 Knowledge and Society
SUMMARY
ARTICLES
Technology transfer units and marketing of university technology 06 Pere Condom-Vilà i Josep Llach-Pagès CONEIXEMENT The Catalan blogosphere 28 Mercè Molist
The Open University of Catalonia (Universitat Oberta de Catalunya - UOC) pedagogical model: The classroom perspective 56 Teresa Santacana CONEIXEMENT I SOCIETAT Knowledge and Society. Journal of Universities,
NOTES I
SOCIETAT Research and the Information Society. The founding of the School of Chemistry of the Junta Particular de Comerç de Catalunya: Number 10. January-April 2006. A milestone in the institutionalisation of research and higher education in the sciences in Catalonia. 74 Josep M. Camarasa http:// www.gencat.net/dursi/coneixementisocietat Funding for the creation, development and consolidation or xarxes temàtiques (thematic networks): Suport for research integration in Catalonia 86 Victòria Miquel, Jordi Tasies and Joan Cadefau
The 2006 budget for the Ministry of Universities, Research and the Information Society (DURSI) Technology transfer units and marketing of university technology The Catalan blogosphere The Open and its dependent bodies 108 Sílvia Vives Pastor University of Catalonia (Universitat Oberta de Catalunya - UOC) pedagogical model: The classroom perspective The founding of the School of Chemistry of the Junta Particular de Comerç de Catalunya: A milestone in the institutionalisation of research anb higher education in the sciences in Catalonia Funding for the creation, development and consolidation of xarxes temàtiques (thematic networks): Suport for research RESÚMENES EN CASTELLANO / RESUMS EN CATALÀ 135 integration in Catalonia. The 2006 budget for the Ministry of Universities, Research and the Information Society (DURSI) and its dependent bodies . CONEIXEMENT I SOCIETAT Knowledge and Society. Journal of Universities, Research and the Information Society. Minister for Universities, Research and the Information Society Number 10. January-April 2006 Carles Solà i Ferrando
ISSN (english e-version): 1696-8212 ISSN (catalan printed version): 1696-7380 ISSN (catalan e-version): 1696-8212 Legal deposit (english e-version): B-38745-2004 Legal deposit (catalan printed version): B-27002-2003 Secretary General Legal deposit (catalan e-version): B-26720-2005 Ramon-Jordi Moles i Plaza Chief editor Josep M. Camarasa i Castillo Secretary of Telecommunications and the Information Society Josep Oriol Ferran i Riera Editorial board Joan Bravo i Pijoan, Joan Cadefau i Surroca, Joan Esculies i Serrat, Jac- queline Glarner, Xavier Lasauca i Cisa, Montserrat Meya i Llopart, Esther Director General of Universities Pallarols i Llinàs, Vicent Partal i Montesinos, Carles Perelló i Valls, Emilià Ramon Vilaseca i Alavedra Pola i Robles, Alba Puigdomènech Cantó, Josep Ribas i Seix, Jordi Sort i Miret, Ignasi Vendrell i Aragonès, Josep M. Vilalta i Verdú
Director General of Research Coordinating editor and production Francesc Xavier Hernàndez i Cardona Glòria Vergés i Ramon
Design Director of the Interdepartamental Commission for Research Quin Team! and Technological Innovation (CIRIT) Marta Aymerich i Martínez Layout Inom,sa
Director of Departamental Administration English translation Àurea Roldan i Barrera Gerardo Denis Brons, Carl MacGabhann, Ailish M. J. Maher, Charles Southgate
Secretary of the Inter-University Council of Catalonia Josep Castells i Baró The contents of the articles and notes are the sole responsability of the authors. CONEIXEMENT I SOCIETAT does not necessarily identify with the author Reproduction of articles and notes is allowed, provided that the original author and source are specified. Assigned institutions Subscription tot the printed Catalan version of CONEIXEMENT I SOCIETAT is free. It can be obtained from: University and Research Awards Agency (AGAUR) Departament d'Universitats, Recerca i Societat de la Informació Director: Estanislau Fons i Solé Gabinet Tècnic Via Laietana, 33, 6è 08003 Barcelona Catalan University Quality Assurance Agency (AQU) tel. (00 34) 935 526 700 Director: Gemma Rauret i Dalmau Fax. (00 34) 935 526 701 e-mail: [email protected]
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CONEIXEMENT I SOCIETAT K nowledge and Society. Journal of Universities, R esearch and the Information Society. Number 10. January-April 2006. ARTICLES 04 Technology transfer units and marketing of university technology
Pere Condom-Vilà and Josep Llach-Pagès 06 The Catalan blogosphere Mercè Molist 28 The
Open University of Catalonia (Universitat Oberta de Catalunya - UOC) pedagogical model:
The classroom perspective Teresa Santacana 58 NOTES 75 The founding of the
School ol Chemistry of the Junta Particular de Comerç de Catalunya: A milestone in the institutionalisation of research and higher education in Catalonia Josep M. Camarasa 76 Funding for the creation, development and consolidation of xarxes temàtiques (thematic networks): Support for research integration in Catalonia Victòria Miquel, Jordi Tasies and Joan
Cadefau 88 The 2006 budget for the Ministry of Universities, Research and the Information
Society (DURSI) and its dependent bodies Sílvia Vives-Pastor 112 RESÚMENES EN CASTELLANO / RESUMS EN CATALÀ 137 a r ticles 06 28 58 Technology transfer The Catalan The Open University of units and marketing of blogosphere Catalonia (Universitat university technology Mercè Molist Oberta de Catalunya - Pere Condom-Vilà and UOC) pedagogical Josep Llach-Pagès model: The classroom perspective Teresa Santacana CONEIXEMENT I SOCIETAT 10 ARTICLES
TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER UNITS AND MARKETING OF UNIVERSITY TECHNOLOGY +
Pere Condom-Vilà* i Josep Llach-Pagès**
This paper sets out the results of analysis of fifty-two units whose mission is to transfer technology that is generated in the public sector. The objective of the analysis was to provide information and knowledge aimed at facilitating the design of units for marketing patents and spin-offs by university authorities and in- novation agencies in our milieu. This project was financed by the Catalan Autonomous Government’s Centre for Innovation and Business Development (CIDEM).
Contents
1. Introduction: University technology transfer 2. Management of technology transfer and marketing 3. Problem, aim and method 4. Results 4.1 Prevailing views on technology transfer 4.2 Types of technology transfer units 4.3 Private technology transfer enterprises 4.4 Failures 4.5 Collaboration with investors. A future model for management of public technology transfer? 4.6 Considerations for design of a technology marketing unit
+ The Spanish version of this paper was published in issue 50 of the journal Iniciativa Emprendedora. * Pere Condom-Vilà is the technical officer in charge of policy on technology parks at the Technical University of Catalonia. ** Josep Llach-Pagès is associate lecturer in the Department of Organisation, Business Management and Product Design of the Faculty of Economics and Business Sciences at the University of Girona.
6 TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER UNITS AND MARKETING OF UNIVERSITY TECHNOLOGY
1. Introduction: University technology, can give rise to a whole new market. technology transfer In this case, therefore, it is the invention that is looking for a market. Consequently, it is the re- search institutions themselves that attempt to Universities, through the research activities car- transfer to the market any results produced by ried out there, generate knowledge and results undirected research that they believe might have that the entrepreneurial milieu can turn to its ad- some commercial value. The two types that fit vantage. This process of transference of knowl- into this “push” category are grant of licenses for edge and results from the public sector to pri- university patents to industry and the creation of vate enterprise is known as technology transfer.1 new enterprises promoted by the research insti- tutions themselves, the so-called spin-offs. Technology transfer operates through two main channels. In the first (technology pull), enterpris- es approach universities seeking solutions to their needs in respect of production. They ask Technology transfer operates through two those public research centres for experts to help main channels. In the first (technology pull), them solve their production problems and pro- enterprises approach universities seeking vide substantial improvements to their products. In this case, it is a question of a problem for solutions to their needs in respect of produc- which a solution is sought. The types of technol- tion.In the second one is the Invention that is ogy transfer that fit into this “pull” category are looking for a market. the accomplishment of R&D projects commis- sioned by enterprises, the use of scientific infra- structure existing at universities and the supply of advice and consultancy services by university The university systems of the more advanced lecturers. countries have adopted those approaches more or less progressively, from simpler to more com- A different approach to technology transfer, plex, in the following stages: first of all, collabo- which we will deal with in this article, is that of ration with enterprises on the basis of research “technology push”. In such an approach, an in- agreements (pull), then marketing of research re- novative lecturer pinpoints an opportunity in a sults on the basis of patent licenses (convention- technology for which there is, at the time, no al license), and finally, support for enterprises clearly defined market. In fact, this is an ap- created by the universities themselves with the proach that, depending on the potential of the aim of exploiting those patents directly (spin-
1 Obviously, technology transfer is an activity with a much broader conceptual scope. It includes the transference of technologies from producer to reci- pient, both of which are normally enterprises. In this article and in the context of its focus, the term is used strictly to refer to the transference of research results from the public sector to the world of business and the market.
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offs). This last stage involves active and resolute tions, and so on. In that respect, the OTRIs’ role implication on the part of the universities. In fact, is basically to inform researchers as to available it constitutes a function that, rather than transfer- opportunities and the corresponding calls for ence, consists of marketing of technology. applications, provide them with advice on how to apply, and manage outlays and subsequent justification of the funds obtained. From that 2. Management of technology standpoint, they function as research manage- transfer and marketing ment offices.
Knowledge is produced at universities by lectur- In addition, OTRIs are also responsible for the er-researchers, who are normally grouped in re- promotion and management of the transfer of search teams, and the promotion, management the knowledge and results obtained through re- and marketing of that knowledge is the responsi- search. Until quite recently, Spanish universities bility of what are known as technology transfer had made use only of the “pull” approach (agree- offices or centres. ments with enterprises). Now, patent license agreements and creation of spin-offs are gradu- In Spain, where the university research system ally gaining ground, particularly the latter. and the corresponding support network for tech- nology transfer are a much more recent develop- The management of each of these approaches ment, at least in terms of their current dimen- to technology transfer, namely “pull” and sions and activities, the three progressive stages “push”, involves a specific set of characteristics of adoption of the different approaches to tech- and problems. The “pull” function basically re- nology transfer have not been so clearly defined. quires promoting and administrating relations In fact, we have gone directly to the third stage between the enterprise and the corresponding (spin-offs) without having made any substantial research team. In that connection, the techno- use of the second (patents). logy transfer offices perform the task of dissem- ination of the potential of their institution’s re- Technology transfer centres in Spain are known search groups, promote encounters between as Oficinas de Transferencia de Resultados de the university and private enterprise and man- Investigación (OTRI). As a rule, they are units age the relations that are established, executing with a wide range of functions. On the one agreements, applying for government funding hand, they administrate the main source of fi- for agreed projects, and so on. The efforts of nancing of university research, namely grants the technology transfer offices are remunerated from the European Framework programme, the through charge of a percentage of the price of Spanish national R&D plan, the regional govern- the transaction between the enterprise and the ments’ different research programmes, founda- research group.2
2 Universities provide a part of the financing required for the operation of their technology transfer offices. However, since they are expensive underta- kings, university management bodies require them to contribute at least a portion of their own budgets. Consequently, university technology transfer units everywhere are business oriented and charge for their services in one way or another. In the case of research agreements between research groups and enterprises, the charge normally consists of a percentage of the price of the transaction, in the case of patent licenses it will be a percentage of the royalties, while with spin-offs it is usually a stake in the company’s share capital.
8 TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER UNITS AND MARKETING OF UNIVERSITY TECHNOLOGY
The “push” approach entails marketing. In that –Industrial liaison offices, dedicated to promot- connection, technology transfer offices need to ing relations between the university and private pinpoint market opportunities by examining and enterprise (commercial function). selecting from all the research projects carried –Research offices, also sometimes known as out at their universities. Once they have identi- contract and grant offices or sponsored re- fied results with potential commercial value, search offices, dedicated to managing govern- they need to assess them (market studies, de- ment grants to researchers and agreements termination of the value of the technology, etc.) with enterprises (administrative function). and, if necessary, protect them by patenting –Technology transfer offices, whose mission is them. market technology through patent license agreements, whether to existing enterprises Lastly, technology transfer offices need to bring (conventional licenses) or through newly incor- their patents to the marketplace. One possibility porated technology-based enterprises (spin- is to do so through existing enterprises (conven- offs) (marketing function). tional license). Another possibility is to help the –Entrepreneurship centres, dedicated to foster- researcher to create a new enterprise to exploit ing entrepreneurial culture, giving courses on the invention (spin-off). In this case, the technolo- creation of enterprises, organising investment gy transfer office experts need to draft a business forums and seminars and competitions for en- plan, carry out market studies and financial plan- trepreneurial concepts, providing support for ning, help to finalise partners’ agreements, nego- entrepreneurs in drafting their business plans, tiate with seed capital and venture capital com- and so on (awareness function). panies, apply for government grants for technology-based enterprises, and so on. In this American universities have long been the leaders “push” approach, technology transfer offices also in the area of technology transfer. Those institu- seek to obtain financial return for their services tions have always been dynamic and carried out and for the technology. Thus, they normally keep research in collaboration with industry. In addi- a percentage of the revenues obtained through tion, they have been very active in connection patent license agreements. Some of these institu- with public technology patent licensing (conven- tions also obtain a stake in the share capital of tional licenses), particularly subsequent to the the spin-offs that they help to create. promulgation of new law in 1980 (the Bayh-Dole Act). In recent years, spin-offs have also We see, therefore, that there is such a substan- emerged as another alternative for technology tial difference between the functions and logis- transfer (although to a lesser extent than in other tics involved in the two main approaches that in countries). The type of unit that supports spin- other countries the responsibility for manage- offs is different from the type that promotes ment of each of the different technology transfer patent licensing, since they are in fact technolo- routes lies with separate units within the same gy marketing units. university. Specifically, for example, in the En- glish-speaking world the different types of uni- We see, then, that the concept of the public- versity units operating in this area include the fol- sector organisations that manage technology lowing: transfer is currently in flux. The process began
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with the offices dedicated to managing the R&D centres in various countries. This study also in- contracted by enterprises, which were then cluded units operating from the private sector joined by patent license agreement units, and as intermediaries between universities and en- now by technology marketing units. terprises. Then, the people in charge of those units were contacted for the purpose of obtain- ing in-depth information in respect of five units, 3. Problem, aim and method each of them representative of one of the differ- ent models identified. The specific aim of this At present in Spain, both at the level of the cen- part of the study was to find out how the mar- tral government and that of agencies and offices keting of research results at universities and of the regional governments in charge of steering other public centres producing knowledge is policy on innovation, there is a desire to augment managed through patents and spin-offs, identi- the transfer of the results of publicly-funded re- fy the different models of units and discern the search to business. The aim is to promote inno- factors that influence the definition of those vation, enhance the competitive edge of enter- models. prises and foster economic development. In certain milieus, there is a drive to establish new The project did not attempt to obtain statistical forms of organisation to stimulate and facilitate results through application of a scientific the marketing of technology generated by re- methodology. Consequently the choice of the search at universities by means of patents and units studied was made on the basis of each spin-offs. unit’s known activities in the field of technology transfer. Various sources were used for identify- Within that framework, the Catalan Autonomous ing the units and determining their activities, Government’s Centre for Innovation and Busi- namely bibliographical references (which also ness Development (Centre d’Innovació i allowed contextualisation of the milieus in which Desenvolupament Empresarial - CIDEM) of the the units operate), presentations of transfer Department of Labour and Industry, commis- units made at conferences, national and supra- sioned a project for design of a single unit to national technology transfer associations,3 and serve various universities simultaneously. Within so on. the framework of that project, a study was made of how technology transfer and marketing is or- The units studied are located in the following ganised in different countries. In this article we countries:4 the United States, the United King- set out the results of that study. dom, Switzerland, Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, France, Spain, First of all, the project made use of information Canada and Israel. Those units are listed in Table available on the Internet to study fifty-two uni- 1 below, grouped according to the different versity technology marketing units and research types identified in section 4.2.
3 For example, associations such as ASRC, ASTP, AURIL, AUTM, EARMA, EARTO, LES, PROTON, TII, UNICO, etc. 4 In numbers varying greatly from one country to another; for instance, in the cases of some countries, only one unit was studied.
10 TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER UNITS AND MARKETING OF UNIVERSITY TECHNOLOGY
Table 1 List of the fifty-two technology tranfer units studied
UNITS SERVING ONE UNIVERSITY Universitaty of California Office of Technology Transfer (OTT) University of California - Berkeley The Office of Technology Licensing (OTL) University of California – Los Angeles (UCLA) Office of Intellectual Property Administration Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) The Technology Licensing Office (TLO) Stanford University Office of Technology Licensing (OTL) University of Wisconsin - Madison The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation Harvard University Office for Technology and Trademark Licensing Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties, Inc. Columbia University Science and Technology Ventures (S&TV) University of New Mexico Science and Technology Corporation Pennsylvania State University Tech Transfer Michigan State University Office of Intellectual Property (OIP) University of Michigan UM Tech Transfer University of Washington UW Tech Transfer Oxford University Isis Innovation, Ltd. University of Manchester Manchester Innovation, Ltd. University of Manchester Institute Science-Technology UMIST Ventures Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine Imperial College Innovation, Ltd. University of Warwick Warwick Ventures University of Bradford Ventures and Consultancy Bradford, Ltd. University of Sheffield Sheffield University Enterprises, Ltd. Simon Fraser University University/Industry Liaison Office (UILO) University of Alberta TEC Edmonton Université Joseph Fourier (Grenoble) UJF - Industrie Université de Génève UNITEC Katholieke Universiteit Leuven K. U. Leuven Research & Development Technion Israel Institute of Technology Dimotech, Ltd. Universitat de València CTT Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) Oficina de Transferència de Tecnologia (OTT) Politecnico di Milano Technology Transfer Center
UNITS SERVING SEVERAL UNIVERSITIES (SELF-PROMOTED) Washington State Public Universities (EUA) Washington Research Foundation (WRF) Universities of Zurich and Berne (Switzerland) Unitectra University of Calgary (and other Canadian universities and centres) University Technology International, Inc.
UNITS SERVING SERVERAL UNIVERSITIES (GOVERNMENT-PROMOTED) North Rhine-Westphalia Universities Group Provendis Baden-Würtemberg higher learning institutions Technology Licensing Bureau (TLB) Spanish research units dealing with genomics Fundación Genoma España Network of seven foundations promoted by Sweden Teknikbrostiftelsen
COMMERCIAL ENTERPRISES Zernike Group British Technology Group (BTG) Research Corporation Technologies (RCT) Angle Technology Group Competitive Technologies, Inc. Drug Royalty Corporation, Inc.
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COMMERCIAL ENTERPRISES Falco-Archer, Inc. UTEK Corporation UTEK-Pax, Ltd. University Medical Discoveries, Inc. MedInnova Partners, Inc. MedTech Partners, Inc. Science Ventures Techtran
OTHERS Stanford Research Institute
4. Results university technology. Those slight differences are the logical result of the context in which cor- The results of the study comprised, in the first responding systems of research and technology place, a description of each of the fifty-two units transfer have developed. The following is a very studied and their respective operations and re- brief summary of the essential elements of those sults. Then, the information in those descriptions different ways of approaching the same concept. was used as the basis for a process of delibera- tion and synthesis that gave rise to a set of con- Marketing of university technology as it is seen in cepts and recommendations. In this section we the United States sum up some of those perceptions. Contrary to what is generally believed, it is clear 4.1 Prevailing views on technology transfer that the American model for marketing research results is of a highly legalistic nature. A great deal This study has pointed up the following overall of emphasis is placed on all aspects relating to notion: the concept of marketing of university conflicts of interest that may arise for lecturers in technology is a global one. In conceptual terms, their activities in connection with industry and there is scarcely any difference between coun- the system is highly vigilant of compliance with tries insofar as regards objectives, systems and the regulations applied by the institution to such procedures used for marketing the results of uni- conflicts of interest. On the other hand, it is a versity research. Furthermore, it could be said system that clearly gives priority to patent license that the slight differences that do exist between agreements with existing enterprises (conven- different countries in this regard tend to diminish tional licenses) over spin-offs. over time so that it could easily be assumed that in the very near future all universities will operate This is a model in which conventional licensing to in the same manner. existing enterprises has worked very well for a long time and generated huge figures in compar- Nevertheless, the detailed analysis shows that ison with the situation in Europe. To a great ex- there variations in the approaches followed in dif- tent, the efficiency of this approach to technolo- ferent countries in the transfer and marketing of gy transfer has been due to the quality of the
12 TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER UNITS AND MARKETING OF UNIVERSITY TECHNOLOGY
inventions generated, which is clearly related to University of California the amount of resources invested in generating This is the largest university in the United States, those inventions. The substantial investment in with 200,000 students and a staff of 120,000 at R&D, rather than the efficiency of the technology ten campuses at different locations in the state transfer offices, is the basic trait of the American of California. The Office of Technology Transfer system of university technology transfer. (OTT),6 with its central structure and decen- tralised units, provides services to the system’s Owing to the good results that have been ob- researchers. It has some sixty professionals who tained with the conventional licensing of are sectorised by area of knowledge. At the mid- patents, many American technology transfer of- dle of 2003, the OTT had a portfolio of 5,948 in- fices see spin-offs not as an opportunity, but ventions and 2,753 patents. That same year, the rather as a threat. Where a lecturer demons- Office received 1,027 notices of new inventions trates an interest in creating a spin-off to exploit (70% of which were in the field of life sciences) an invention, the decision is based on purely fi- and applied for 323 new patents in the US and nancial considerations, on the cost of opportu- 423 internationally. In respect of marketing, in nity and on the risk posed by the spin-off in 2003 it executed 325 patent license agreements comparison with “safe” marketing by means of a and obtained $81.3 million in revenues from ro- conventional license. yalties. The OTT has executed a total of 1,356 patent license agreements. Thus, until the beginning of this century, spin-offs were not actively promoted by American univer- sities. Even at Stanford University itself, the cra- dle and kernel of Silicon Valley, spin-offs have not The MIT Technology Licensing Office (TLO) so much been promoted as tolerated by the ins- markets technology through two channels, titution as a lesser evil. Nevertheless, that stance is beginning to change. The Association of Uni- namely license agreements and creation of versity Technology Managers (AUTM), which spin-offs. Nevertheless it gives priority to groups the technology transfer offices of the patent license agreements. leading American universities, taking into ac- count the references offered by Europe and Canada, have begun promoting, through semi- nars, courses and publications, an active and Insofar as concerns spin-offs, one fact is particu- proactive vision of proposals for spin-offs.5 larly revealing of the attitude and approach on the part of the University of California to such ini- In any event, the reactive view of spin-offs as a tiatives: where an enterprise of this type is cho- vehicle for technology transfer is clearly held at sen to market a technology developed at that important institutions in that country. The follow- university but the OTT considers that the institu- ing are a few examples. tion will not obtain an appropriate return on the
5 SANDELIN (2003a and 2003b). See also AUTM’s website: http://www.autm.net/index.cfm. 6 The University of California’s website can be visited at: www.ucop.edu/ott.
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basis of royalties, the Office may then accept ties, it gives priority to patent license agree- shares (known as an equity transaction) in lieu of ments. Just 20% of licenses are granted to spin- royalties, although, in any event, the university offs, while the greater security of established en- does not accept over 10% of a company’s terprises is sought for all the rest. In addition, shares under a technology license agreement. In MIT does not provide incubation space for its addition, acceptance of an equity transaction spin-offs and does not allow them to be esta- must be made subject to conditions of trans- blished at its laboratories. The TLO provides parency and objectivity in the decision. Further- spin-offs with very few support services: it does more, the university cannot accept a seat on the not help them to draft their business plans, or Board of Directors of an enterprise in which it is provide assistance in training the management a shareholder nor exercise any sort of option for teams of the new enterprises, or contribute in- voting rights in those governing bodies. vestment capital.
The OTT has a policy to the effect that any re- When the TLO grants licenses to spin-offs, it searchers at the university who have created a normally acquires shares in those enterprises, as spin-off in which the university has acquired an alternative to royalties. As a rule, MIT acquires shares and who wish to enter into a research a small stake, but, depending on the technology agreement with the spin-off, the transaction being marketed, that stake is not diluted in the must have the approval of the corresponding in- first round or first two rounds of incorporation of ternal body of the institution. share capital. The TLO takes no part in manage- ment of such enterprises and does not hold a Massachusetts Institute of Technology seat on their boards of directors. MIT lecturers (MIT) can obtain stakes as large as they wish in the This institution has a yearly research budget (in- spin-offs that they promote, but researchers who cluding funds from public and privates sources) of own shares in a spin-off cannot enter into re- around $500 million. Its Technology Licensing Of- search agreements with that enterprise. In addi- fice (TLO),7 with a staff of some thirty employees, tion, the acquisition of shares in spin-offs by the has a portfolio of over one thousand patents for institution must be authorised by the academic the United States and each year it receives ap- department. proximately 400 notices of new inventions, applies for around one hundred new patents and exe- Harvard University cutes some 90 license agreements. The Office for Technology and Trademark Licens- ing (OTTL)8 is the unit responsible for marketing The MIT TLO markets technology through two the results of research at Harvard University. The channels, namely license agreements and cre- OTTL has sixteen professionals who work both ation of spin-offs. Nevertheless, like all other through conventional licenses and spin-offs. Be- technology transfer offices of American universi- tween 1980 and 2003 it provided support to
7 Website of the MIT TLO: http://web.mit.edu/tlo/www/. 8 The name was changed in 2005 to Office of Technology Development (OTD). The website of the OTD of Harvard University is at: http://www.techtrans- fer.harvard.edu/.
14 TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER UNITS AND MARKETING OF UNIVERSITY TECHNOLOGY
fifty-five new enterprises. Here, only 3% of li- ly one thousand are still in force at present. The censes have taken the form of spin-offs. In 2003, office receives five or six notices of new inven- the OTTL received notices of 118 new inven- tions each week, patents half of those and tions, applied for fifty-four new patents for the places about 30% on the market. In 2002, the United States and executed sixty-eight license OTL executed 110 license agreements. Howev- agreements, which provided it with $24 million in er, of the 385 inventions that generated revenues royalties. Also in 2003, the institution created five that year, only forty-two produced over new spin-offs and acquired shares in two of $100,000 (in aggregate). It is estimated that only those enterprises. one of each 4,850 inventions is what is known as a “big winner”. In the entire history of the OTL, The policy of Harvard University is to own a mi- only thirty-one cases of licensed technology nority share in spin-offs, generally under 15%. have generated total royalties of over one million Furthermore, that stake is progressively diluted dollars. as further capital is obtained. In fact, it is not the institution itself that owns such shares, but rather Insofar as concerns spin-offs, in 2003 Stanford an intermediary company, namely Harvard Man- University held shares in sixty-six enterprises. agement Company (HMC). The university does The financial return obtained on those sharehold- not wish to form part of the boards of directors ings totalled $22 million, which was provided by of spin-off companies in which it holds shares. If fifteen enterprises. The most successful transac- lecturers wish to acquire shares in a spin-off, tions were Abrizio (acquired by PMC-Sierra), they must apply for permission and abide by the generating revenues of $10 million for Stanford regulations established in the institution’s Conflict University, and Amati (acquired by Texas Instru- of Interest in Licensing Policy. ments), generating $8 million. Three quarters of Stanford University’s spin-offs have been incor- The OTTL is not particularly active in the field of porated in the past five or six years. spin-offs. Nevertheless, as is common in the En- glish speaking world, Harvard University has a The OTL’s approach in connection with spin-offs centre that promotes entrepreneurship, the Tech- follows the same lines as already outlined for the nology and Entrepreneurship Center (TECH), American university system. When a lecturer cre- whose mission is to educate and train entrepre- ates an invention and wishes to exploit it through neurs. It offers training, networking, mentorship, a spin-off, the first step is to analyse any conflict space and assistance in drafting business plans. of interest that might affect that lecturer. Then, before a license is granted to the spin-off, the Stanford University technology is presented to other players who The Office of Technolgy Licensing (OTL) of Stan- might be interested in marketing it. Lastly, if no ford University was created in 1969. It has a staff preferable opportunity is found, the spin-off is of some thirty professionals who handle over asked to submit a viable and credible marketing 1,300 technology transfer dossiers. By 2003 the plan. When the terms of the agreement between unit had examined approximately 5,000 notices the spin-off and Stanford University are esta- of inventions and executed around 2,000 license blished, the OTL recommends that the lecture agreements. Of those agreements, approximate- delegate an expert to handle the negotiation and
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that they do not personally undertake the negoti- technology enterprises. The United Kingdom is ation of the terms of the agreement. also one of the countries with the greatest number of private businesses working in the area of tech- Stanford does not promote entrepreneurial cul- nology transfer. Lastly, this milieu is also witness- ture. The OTL states textually that it is privileged ing the development of what is, in the opinion of to operate in a highly entrepreneurial milieu and the authors of this article, one of the latest stages that, consequently, Stanford University does not in the evolution of the process of management of need to promote entrepreneurial culture among university technology transfer, namely Techtran, a its lecturers or students. company whose mission is to market the research results of Leeds University.10 Approach to marketing university technology in Europe and Canada In short, in view of the authors of this article, the technology transfer system in place in the United United Kingdom Kingdom can be taken as the clearest point of Unlike the situation in the United States in the reference at the worldwide level. In fact, Ameri- area of technology transfer described above, can universities are also steering their develop- there has been clear trend in recent years in the ment in the same direction. United Kingdom to a preference for the use of spin-offs rather than conventional licensing. In A good example of this model is Isis Innovation, fact, some recent studies of the British system the technology transfer unit of Oxford University, indicate that excessive use has been made of one of the leading universities in the United King- spin-offs and that greater efforts need to be dom and among the most prestigious in the made in conventional licensing.9 In any event, world. Oxford University has twenty-five depart- technology transfer units in the United Kingdom ments that are ranked as the best in the British provide substantial support for the marketing assessment system. In 2003 the university had process. They are highly proactive and take a 3,700 lecturer-researchers and 5,000 doctoral very direct role in entrepreneurial projects. The students. Outside funding for research amounted support network is not limited to the marketing to £228 million for the 2002–2003 academic year. units. Programmes such as the University Chal- lenge Seed Fund Scheme are a good example of Oxford University created Isis Innovation in 1988. the government’s commitment in this regard. It is a private company owned by the university and its mission is to manage lecturer consultan- In addition, marketing units perform complemen- cy and patent licensing programmes and sup- tary functions to facilitate the technology transfer port for spin-offs. process, For example, Manchester Innovation, in addition to managing support services for univer- The key figure in the structure of Isis Innovation sity entrepreneurs, also manages the Manchester is the project manager. These are professionals Incubator Building, a business nursery for bio- whose profile is based upon two fundamental
9 LAMBERT, 2003. 10 See below, in section 4.5.
16 TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER UNITS AND MARKETING OF UNIVERSITY TECHNOLOGY
characteristics: they must understand research searchers as civil servants meant that it was diffi- and consequently must hold a doctorate, and cult for them to undertake outside professional they must also understand the technology mar- activities or create their own businesses. Conse- keting process and consequently must have ex- quently, very few spin-offs have been generated perience in business. Each spin-off has its man- by that country’s academic system. What is ager, who works closely with the entrepreneurs, more, technology transfer offices have not taken to the extent that some managers eventually be- a commercial approach. come directors of the enterprises to which they have provided support.
Germany, Sweden and Canada Technology transfer units in the United Continental Europe and Canada take an ap- Kingdom provide substantial support for the proach and a standpoint that differs substantially from those of the United Kingdom and the Unit- marketing process. They are highly proactive ed States. Although there are certain differences and take a very direct role in entrepreneurial between countries, in all cases the level of activi- projects. ty and the maturity of the system for marketing the results of public research are less advanced than in the United Kingdom or the United States.
In Germany, up until 2002 the results of research At present, German universities can acquire the carried out by university lecturers belonged to rights to inventions generated by their lecturers. the lecturers themselves.11 Thus, the situation In February 2002, a new patents law provided was similar to that in the United States prior to that researchers must give notice of their inven- enactment of the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980: the law tions to the institutions where they work and the did not favour an active approach by universities university can either claim intellectual property in the area of technology transfer by means of rights (in exchange for the corresponding finan- patents and spin-offs. The consequence has cial consideration) or assign those rights to the been that, with promotion by the federal govern- researcher. ment and the governments of the länder, cen- tralised units have been created that simultane- The situation in Sweden is similar to the one ously serve different institutions. This is clearly found until only recently in Germany, i.e. re- one of the main characteristics of the German searchers own their results. Consequently, uni- network of support for technology transfer. TLB versities have made no efforts to create support and Provendis are examples of this type of unit. structures for technology transfer. On the other hand, there have been initiatives by the state in Furthermore, unlike the United States and the that direction, namely the Teknikbrostiftelsen or United Kingdom, the status of German re- Technology Link Foundations.
11 ROURE et al. (2005), p. 34.
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Lastly, in Canada each university establishes its nology transfer. Within this group we find, on the own policy in respect of ownership of research one hand, offices that are part of the university results.12 At some institutions researchers own structure itself, a type that is very common in their results, while at others their results are the United States, with examples such as MIT’s owned by the university. In any event, Canadian TLO, the University of California’s OTT and universities have created efficient technology Stanford University’s OTL. Most of the technolo- transfer structures that place a great deal of em- gy transfer offices of Spanish universities are of phasis on the use of spin-offs. In addition, the this type. Another subgroup is formed by units Canadian private sector has also been very ac- with their own legal personality. The United tive in this area and a number of enterprises Kingdom is one country that has favoured this dedicated to marketing technology generated by type of approach on a largely majority basis. Ex- the public sector have emerged. amples of external units are Isis Innovation, at Oxford University, Imperial College Innovations 4.2 Types of technology transfer units at London’s Imperial College, Sheffield Universi- ty Enterprises Ltd. (SUEL) at Sheffield University, We have identified the following types of techno- and Ventures & Consultancy Bradford Ltd. logy transfer units: (VCB) at Bradford University.
1. Internal or external units (with their own legal The second group, of which only three units personality), promoted by universities and were studied, is made up of initiatives promoted serving their parent institutions. by more than one university that provide servi- 2. Organisations promoted by universities and ces to various institutions simultaneously. One serving more than one institution. example is Unitectra, which was established 3. Units serving universities but that have been and is managed jointly by the universities of created by government organisations. Berne and Zurich. 4. Private enterprises operating on the market with a clear commercial intent. The third model comprises units that serve more 5. A unit (Techtran) created by the private in- than one university but are government-promot- vestor sector with a commercial intent but ad- ed. As we have noted, examples conforming to dressing initially just one university. this model are found in Germany and Sweden. 6. A model marketing unit at a research institute Such is the case with Provendis, in the German that is seen more as a technology centre than land of North Rhine-Westphalia, TLB in the land of as a university. Baden-Württemberg, and Sweden’s Teknikbrostif- telsen or Technology Link Foundations. The first group comprises the conventional uni- versity offices that are active in patenting and The fourth group is made up of private enter- marketing inventions and that, in general, also prises operating on the market as intermediaries provide support to spin-offs as a means of tech- with a clear profit motive. Examples of this mo-
12 OECD (2002), p. 51.
18 TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER UNITS AND MARKETING OF UNIVERSITY TECHNOLOGY
del in Europe include Zernike Group in the Partners and MedTech Partners in Canada. Their Netherlands and British Technology Group approach to operation can be summed up as (BTG) and UTEK-Pax in the United Kingdom; in the search for worthwhile technologies and the the United States we find Falco-Archer, Com- accomplishment of actions to place those tech- petitive Technologies and Research Corporation nologies on the market. Technologies, and in Canada, University Tech- nologies International, MedTech Partners and A highly representative example of this is the MedInnova Partners. British Technology Group (BTG). BTG originated with a public initiative in the United Kingdom, For the reasons set out above, the British enter- namely the National Research Development Cor- prise Techtran would be in a class of its own. poration (NRDC), created in 1948 with the aim of The same could be said of Stanford Research marketing public research. In 1975, the British Institute. In fact, SRI, with its totally applied and government created the National Enterprise client-oriented research, could hardly be classed Board (NEB) to provide support for the private as a university at all. sector and channel resources to the manufactur- ing industry. Not long afterwards, the two organ- 4.3 Private technology transfer enterprises isations, NRDC and NEB, were merged to form the British Technology Group. In 1990, BTG It is possible to distinguish between types of pri- opened a branch in the United States, in 1992 it vate enterprises operating in the area of transfer was privatised, and in 1995 it was listed on the of public technology, depending on the orienta- London Stock Exchange. tion and strategic approach and their business models: supply, demand and services.
Supply-driven It is possible to distinguish between types of private enterprises operating in the area Supply-driven enterprises analyse the milieu of public research with the aim of identifying tech- of transfer of public technology, depending nologies and good business opportunities. Once on the orientation and strategic approach they have identified such a technology, they and their business models: supply-driven, reach an agreement with the university and un- dertake to transfer it to the market, while assum- demand-driven and service-driven. ing the financial cost involved in the process. Their business model is normally based on keep- ing a part of the royalties, in the case of a con- ventional license, or a stake in share capital, in At present, the enterprise operates mainly in the the case of a spin-off. Companies that operate United States, Japan and the United Kingdom. It along the lines of this model include Research has also carried out transactions in Spain. In Corporation Technologies (RCT) in the United 2004 it had 170 employees and a portfolio of States, British Technology Group (BTG) and 280 technologies protected by 3,800 patents. Techtran in the United Kingdom, and MedInnova On the basis of that portfolio, it was able to exe-
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cute hundreds of license agreements and create American Stock Exchange (AMEX) since 1971. some thirty technology-based enterprises. Both its clientele and its operations are world- wide. On the basis of identification of the techno- That same year, it acquired thirty-four new tech- logical requirements of its client enterprises and nologies from different research centres, invested making use of both its portfolio of technologies £5.4 million in new enterprises and executed and its extensive network of contacts at universi- seventeen new patent license agreements. BTG ties and other research centres, it works to iden- applies a highly demanding process for selection tify and supply final solutions to its clients. Since of technologies. In 2004, it identified 700 tech- its creation, CTT has assessed over 25,000 nologies, of which it only eventually studied half, technologies and executed licenses for more while the rest were ruled out after a rapid initial than 500 of those technologies with some 400 assessment. Of the remaining 350 technologies organisations. Even so, from 2001 to 2003 the that it did study, only the aforementioned thirty- company returned losses for three consecutive four went on to form part of its portfolio, repre- years, although its performance in 2004 sug- senting approximately 5% of the technologies gests a recovery. originally identified. UTEK is another demand-driven enterprise, al- Demand-driven though it follows a different approach. First of all, UTEK executes a strategic agreement with an Another type of private enterprises that operate enterprise and then familiarises itself with that in the area of technology transfer is the demand- enterprise’s business and ascertains its techno- driven type, i.e. those that are oriented towards logical needs. The next step consists of search- businesses. Their aim is to identify the techno- ing the world’s leading universities for research logical needs of enterprises (referred to as wish groups that are capable of developing a solution lists). On the basis of those lists of requirements, for those needs. UTEK commissions the project they approach the public research system in and finances its accomplishment. In short, it search of technologies that can satisfy those re- adopts the position that would correspond to the quirements. Enterprises that operate in this man- enterprise with which it has established an al- ner include Competitive Technologies and Falco- liance and assumes the corresponding risks. Archer in the United States and UTEK When the technology has been developed, Corporation and UTEK-Pax in Britain. A variety UTEK assigns it to its ally in return for shares. For of business models may be applied; some of that reason, it operates exclusively with enter- these enterprises charge for their intermediation prises that are listed on stock exchanges. services, others keep a percentage of the royal- ties payable under the agreements executed be- Service-driven tween the parties, while others obtain stakes in the enterprises that exploit the technologies. In many of the units of both the types discussed above, services also play an important role in the A representative example of this model is Com- generation of revenues. What is more, some petitive Technologies, Inc. (CTT). That enterprise units have made services into a core element of was created in 1968 and has been listed on the their businesses. Such is the case, for example,
20 TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER UNITS AND MARKETING OF UNIVERSITY TECHNOLOGY
with the Netherlands enterprise Zernike, whose tense Photonic, Actis, QT Opto, Chariot and line of business consists of the management of Crusade Laboratories, and the University of technology parks and business incubators and Glasgow obtained huge revenues from the sale the supply of services to such structures. This is of its shares in those companies. In addition, the also the case with the British enterprise Angle team implemented a new approach to marketing Technology, which is very active in its consultan- the institution and led such programmes as the cy business in respect of actions to foster eco- Scottish Enterprise’s Proof of Concept Fund. The nomic development. unit thereby succeeded in establishing a high
4.4 Failures
It would not appear to be easy to operate in the It would not appear to be easy to operate in area of public technology transfer from the private the area of public technology transfer from sector. Very few enterprises are found in this field of endeavour and assuring their survival is a complex the private sector. task. We have already mentioned that Competitive Technologies Inc., a company that was founded in 1968 and has been listed on the American Stock profile and great prestige, including on the inter- Exchange (AMEX) since 1971, recently returned national scale. In 2000 it even opened a branch losses for three years running. office in Silicon Valley, the first of its kind to be opened there by a European University. An even more extreme example is that of the British company Science Ventures, which was a In a spiral of dynamism, the university and the di- clear failure in this line of business. At the begin- rector of the unit decided to take advantage of ning of 1998, the University of Glasgow created what appeared to be a market opportunity. On a new in-house unit in the Department of Re- that basis, in 2001 they founded Science Ven- search and Business with the aim of stimulating tures. That enterprise did not have the mission of the marketing of the university’s research results. managing the transfer of technology created at The institution’s efforts and enthusiasm were the University of Glasgow. It was not an externali- commendable. A budget of £5 million was pro- sation of the transfer function along the lines of vided for the first three years of operations, a Isis Innovation at Oxford,13 since the internal unit manager was hired externally for the new unit continued to perform its functions in that connec- and they were given total liberty to recruit and tion. Instead, it was a total privatisation, a creation hire a team of a dozen professionals for the field of an enterprise that had to try to take advantage of business consultancy. During its first years of of an opportunity in an industry that was highly operation the new unit scored some important dynamic at the time. Science Ventures was to successes, including the spin-offs Kymata, In- seek clients among other research institutions.
13 Isis Innovation is a private enterprise, but its purpose is not the generation of income. Isis Innovation is wholly owned by the University of Oxford and it receives a sizeable financial yearly contribution from that institution. Consequently, it represents a model of externalisation of management rather than pri- vatisation.
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However, the reality of the situation did not con- University of Leeds now works with the external form to the initial plans. For a variety of reasons enterprise Techtran Group Limited, founded in (the most important apparently being the burst- 2002 by Axiomlab Group plc with the aim of pro- ing of the technology bubble, which led to a drop viding that university with external services for in the forecast number of spin-off projects), the marketing of research. In addition, the university enterprise failed to achieve the expected level of has created an internal office whose mission is to activity, went bankrupt and was forced to close protect the intellectual property rights to its tech- in August 2004. This case is a perfect illustration nologies. That unit acts as liaison with Techtran. of the difficulties that arise in the area of private The inventors, the university and Techtran all transfer of public technology. have shares in each new spin-off enterprise and share the revenues from license agreements. An- 4.5 Collaboration with investors. A future other investment company specialising in the model for management of public technology marketing of university technology, IP2IPO Ltd, transfer? recently acquired a stake in Techtran, namely 20% of its shares, in return for a contribution of British universities are very active in their collabo- £2 million. ration with the private investment sector. This type of collaboration could give rise to a new IP2IPO Ltd is an enterprise whose corporate pur- model for the management of public technology pose is to establish long-term agreements with transfer. The most notable example of this is to universities and other research centres. IP2IPO be found at the University of Leeds. That institu- Ltd has executed agreements with several uni- tion has traditionally been very active in the area versities in the United Kingdom, for example the of technology transfer. In 1970, it was the first University of Southampton through its Centre for university in the United Kingdom to create an ex- Enterprise and Innovation (CEI). That university ternal enterprise, Leeds Innovations, dedicated holds stakes in its spin-offs through the company to the management and promotion of that activi- Southampton Asset Management Limited (SAM). ty. It was also the first university to establish a In March 2002 IP2IPO created a seed capital collaborative venture with an external investment fund of £5 million earmarked for those spin-offs. entity to provide funding for researchers. In addi- In exchange, it received a 20% stake in tion, in a joint effort with the universities of Southampton Asset Management Limited. In ad- Sheffield and York, it obtained the most substan- dition, IP2IPO works closely with CEI (an employ- tial support within the framework of the govern- ee of the company is a member of that centre’s ment-financed University Challenge Fund. permanent staff) to identify and facilitate the de- velopment of spin-offs at the institution. Taking those efforts a step further, in 2002 the university commenced a new phase that defines IP2IPO also works in collaboration with Oxford a different model for marketing the results of re- University. In 2000 that university executed an search at the institution, which consisted of en- agreement with IP2IPO under which the compa- trusting its activities in the area of management ny contributed £20 million for construction of a of technology transfer to the private sector. new research building for the Chemistry Depart- Thus, Leeds Innovations no longer exists and the ment with a total cost of £60 million. In exchange
22 TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER UNITS AND MARKETING OF UNIVERSITY TECHNOLOGY
for its contribution, IP2IPO received a half share tion that is generated.15 Half of those inventions in Oxford University’s rights to stakes in all the are patented by the corresponding technology spin-offs originating in that department in the next transfer offices. This means that $5 million are in- fifteen years.14 vested for each patent. Only one of every 1.8 patents is eventually the object of a license 4.6 Considerations for design of a technolo- agreement. An average of $12,000 in legal fee is gy marketing unit spent on each invention. One spin-off is gene- rated for each $100 million invested in research. Research critical mass Only one of every 30 to 40 inventions leads to a spin-off and only one of every 15 to 20 patents is One of the issues that must be of concern to licensed through a spin-off. any organisation that promotes a university technology marketing unit is the existence of Figures for the United Kingdom for 2000 show sufficient body of research. We will now look at that British universities executed 648 license some of the figures relating to this issue. The agreements and generated 158 spin-offs. Those critical mass of researchers is measured on the same universities applied for one patent for each basis of the amount of external funding for re- £2.4 million of external research funding (some search obtained by universities (what is known €3.6 million) and generated one spin-off for each as sponsored research). £8.6 million (some €13 million).16
The examination of figures for the United States The overall figures for Spanish universities for shows that $2.5 million is invested in sponsored 2003, provided by their network of research re- research at American universities for each inven- sults transfer offices (OTRI) as follows:17 the vo-
Table 2 Indicators relating to generation of patents and spin-offs in four different university milieus: USA, UK, Spain and Catalonia. Million dollars Millions euros USA UK Spain Catalonia R&D investment to generate one patent 5 3.6 1.9 2.6 IR&D investment to generate one spin-off 100 13.0 6.6 4.4 Ratio of spin-off to license agreements 1:9 (1) 1:4 1:0.9 (2) -
(1) One spin-off for each nine conventional license agreements. (2) In the case of Spain, there are more proposals for spin-offfs than license agreements. This means that all license agreements have been executed with spin-offs and, in addition, some spin-offs have been created without any technology transfer agreement.
14 CONDOM, 2003. 15 AUTM (several years) and own data. 16 CHARLES & CONWAY, 2001. 17 REDOTRI (2004), figures for 2003.
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lume of external funding for research amounted public funding for R&D than with the efficiency of to €579 million; applications were submitted for the marketing system. According to those indi- 304 new patents, 107 of them at the internation- cators, the efficiency of the Spanish technology al level, 78 license agreements were executed; transfer units is very high (they obtain a very €1.7 million in royalties were obtained; and 87 good return on very little investment in research). new technology-based enterprises were created. Those offices cannot reasonably be expected to In short, €1.9 million were invested for each perform better unless funding for R&D is in- patent and €6.6 million for each spin-off. creased.
As for Catalonia’s ten universities,18 the figures Personnel required for technology transfer units for 2003 indicate that the total volume of funds managed by technology transfer centres MIT, with a staff of 34 and 454 inventions (figures amounted to €168 million, 65 patents were ob- for 2003), needs one person for each 15 notices tained and 38 spin-offs were created.19 That of invention. Oxford University (also figures for means one patent for every €2.6 million of exter- 2003), with 65 patents and 34 employees, re- nal funding for research and one spin-off for quires one person for each 2 patents. No infor- every €4.4 million. mation is available for that institution in respect of notices of inventions, but in any event we can Table 2 compares the figures for those different safely assume that, as in the United States, half geographical areas. of the inventions are patented. This would mean that one person is required for each 4 inventions. Those figures show that the basis for the differ- That ratio is very different from the one for MIT, ences in the indicators relating to university tech- but no active support is provided there for spin- nology transfer between our milieu and the Unit- offs as is the case at Isis Innovation. Table 3 ed States has more to do with the volume of shows further information for America.
Table 3 Staff-activity ratios at different American university technology transfer offices at the end of the 1990s.
Institution Total New Inventions- New US Patents-to- New New staff inventions to-staff patents staff-ratio licences licences-to- ratio staff ratio MSU 7 83 11.8 61 8.7 9 1.3 MIT 26 360 13.8 200 7.7 75 2.9 Harvard 16 119 7.4 61 3.8 67 4.2 Stanford 19 248 13 128 6.7 122 6.4
Source: CONDOM, 2003.
18 No figures are available for the International University of Catalonia (Universitat Internacional de Catalunya – UIC). Figures for the Catalan universities are included in the overall figures for Spanish universities. 19 OITT-UDG, 2004.
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Table 4 technology transfer offices (project managers) at Ratios between staff members and activities, expressed between €60,000 and €90,000, depending on as the number of new patents, at Spanish and Catalan university technology transfer offices (figures for 2003) the different situations, including employers’ contributions. Institutions Total New Patents staff patents per staff In the case of Germany, TLB paid total salaries of member €750,000 yearly, which, with a staff of 14, gives Catalan universities 219 65 0.29 an average of €54,000 per employee. Spanish universities (not including Catalonia) 257 239 0.93
Source: OTRI, 2004. Profile of technical staff at units
The profile of technical staff at this type of office Cost of units is the same in all cases, namely professionals with experience in the area of research (often As an initial point of reference for the cost of a holding a doctorate) and also experience in the technology transfer unit, we can take the Office world of business, whether in industry or con- of Technology Licensing (OTL) at Stanford Uni- sultancy. versity. The budget for 2003 for OTL was $2.6 million. Given its staff of 25, that means a yearly Expert’s recommendations cost of $100,000 per person (some €80,000). Legal costs amounted to $5 million, or $13,500 The officers in charge of MIT’s Technology Li- per notice of invention received. If we take into censing Office state that any university should be account that at OTL, as is the case with most able to reproduce their success. In any event, technology transfer units, approximately half of they make the following recommendations for the inventions for which notice is received are any technology transfer office that hopes to fol- accepted and patented, this gives a cost of ap- low in their footsteps: proximately $25,000 per patent. –Start off with the exceptional people at the ins- In Europe, specifically at Oxford University’s Isis titution. They recommend focussing efforts on Innovation, salaries amounted to £1,132,194 the university’s best research groups and (approximately €1.7 million). That organisation favouring them disproportionately.20 has a staff of 28, therefore giving an average –Set out clear regulations and adopt a flexible cost of €60,000 per person (including social and responsive process for decision-making. charges), which is lower than at Stanford’s OTL. –Do not skimp on investment. They believe that In aggregate, the salaries of the unit’s two man- it is essential to have substantial funds avail- agers amounted to €240,000 (including pension able for investing in patents and building a suf- plan contributions). Figures for other units in the ficient portfolio of inventions. United Kingdom place salaries for experts at –Avoid rushing. Lastly, they point out that it is
20 This same approach is recommended in TANG et al., 2004.
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unrealistic to expect results until after the mar- ample, Sheffield University Enterprises, Ltd., at keting office has been operational for at least the University of Sheffield, and the Centre for five years (or even longer. Enterprise and Innovation (CEI), at the University of Southampton,21 create a company practically Other considerations as soon as notice of an invention is received from lecturers. In this way they avoid potential –In all the cases studied, the drafting and appli- misunderstandings or disputes in respect of the cation for patents is outsourced. Those tasks distribution of shares. The eventual route taken are commissioned to external expert agents. for transfer of the technology may be either a – It is advisable, as an essential factor, to take a conventional license or a spin-off. very clear position from the outset in respect –Finally, certain institutions and professionals in of ownership of the results of research. the sector (on an individual basis) offer services –Some units apply atypical management models and advice for the design and start-up of tech- during the initial stages of the process. For ex- nology transfer programmes in other milieus.
21 CEI at Southampton is not included in the study set out in this article. This reference is from CONDOM (2003).
26 TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER UNITS AND MARKETING OF UNIVERSITY TECHNOLOGY
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CONDOM, P. and J. VALLS. «La creación de empresas desde la universidad: las spin-offs». Iniciativa Emprendedora, no. 38 (2003), p. 52.
LAMBERT, R. Lambert Review of Business-University Collaboration. London: HM Treasury, 2003. Accessible at: http://www.hm- treasury.gov.uk/consultations_and_legislation/lambert/consult_lambert_index.cfm. OECD. Benchmarking Industry-Science Relationships. Paris: OECD, 2002.
OITT-UdG (OFICINA DE TRANSFERÈNCIA DE TECNOLOGIA DE LA UNIVERSITAT DE GIRONA). I Trobada de Centres de Transferència de Tecnologia de les Universitats Catalanes (XCCTT). Girona: Universitat de Girona, 2004. Accessible at: http://www.udg.es/recerca/oitt/web_xcctt/xcctt.htm. RedOTRI. Informe RedOTRI Universidades 2004. Madrid: CRUE (R&D Sectorial Committee), 2004. Accessible at: http://www.redotriuniversidades.net/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=1&Itemid=33&mode=view
ROURE, J., P. CONDOM, M. RUBIRALTA and M. VENDRELL. Benchmarking sobre parques científicos. Madrid: Genoma España, 2005. Accessible at: http://www.gen-es.org/02_cono/02_cono.cfm?pag=0308.
SANDELIN, J. (2003a). University Technology Transfer in the US: History, Status, and Trends. Presentation at the International Patent Licensing Seminar 2003. Tokyo: National Center for Industrial Property Information and Training (NCIPI), 2003.
SANDELIN, J. (2003b). Human Resource Development: Stanford University. TLO. Presentation at the International Patent Licensing Seminar 2003. Tokyo: National Center for Industrial Property Information and Training (NCIPI), 2003.
TANG, K., A. VOHORA and R. FREEMAN. (eds.). Taking Research to Market. How to Build and Invest in Successful University Spinouts. London: Euromoney Books, 2004.
27 CONEIXEMENT I SOCIETAT 10 ARTICLES
THE CATALAN BLOGOSPHERE
Mercè Molist*
The most recent phenomenon to emerge and become popular on the Internet is blogging. This is clearly shown by the figures, according to which the number of blogs in the world doubles every five months. The Catalan lan- guage community is no exception to this development and, in the short space of time since 1999, blogs in Catalan have sprung up on the most diverse subjects by a wide range of authors from totally unknown individuals to poli- ticians and well-known singers and writers. This revolution has been made possible due to the appearance of free services for storing and creating blogs, which make it very easy for anyone without any technical know-how to keep a blog, and also the Catapings and Bitàcoles.net directories, which one can use to find blogs in Catalan. These services form the backbone of the Catalan blogosphere, or “catosphere”, as some like to refer to it, which is based mostly on voluntary work, i.e. nobody makes any money out of it and everything is done out of vocation. Although it does not exert the important social and political influence that blogging has achieved in the United States, the catosphere is becoming increasingly important because of the fundamental need in Catalonia for mass media in the Catalan language.
Abstract
1. Introduction 2. Weblog or dip…? 3. “Look what I’ve found” 4. A short history of the Catalan blogosphere 5. Services for Catalan blogs 6. So who are the bloggers? 7. The catosphere 8. One way to conclude
* Mercè Molist is a journalist and writer.
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1. Introduction 2. Weblog or dip…?
There are more than fourteen million people in Just from these figures one can see that a large- the world with a blog on the Internet, which is scale explosion is taking place, which is difficult to twice the population of Catalonia, and 80,000 quantify down to the millimetre and also difficult new ones are opened every day around the pla- to explain because, to start with, there is little net.1 This is according to the statistics although agreement on what a blog is. In Catalonia, more- one cannot always believe statistics that appear over, there is the added difficulty of what to call a on the Internet as it is always changing and the- blog: the English term weblog (or web log) was re are areas that never come to light. Other until recently translated into Catalan by the data, gathered by the blog monitoring service TERMCAT3 as diari interactiu personal (personal Technorati, point to at least twenty million blogs. interactive diary), which led to the “dip” acronym Choose the figure you most like. that was heavily criticised because it was too far removed from the original word in English and did Nevertheless, these figures will no longer be va- not exactly correspond with the definition of we- lid when you read this and there will be many blog. The TERMCAT finally rectified in October more blogs in the world. According to one of the 2005 and decided on a new translation, that of most recent studies on the subject carried out bloc4 as the name for the medium, and blocaire by the Technorati team and published on Sifry’s for the person who comments or asks questions Alerts,2 the total number of blogs has doubled on blogs, i.e. the blogger or weblogger. This deci- every five months over the last three years. This sion also started a controversy as some people means that in three years the blogosphere has considered that it was wrong to compare a note- undergone a thirty-fold increase and, with a mi- pad (bloc in Catalan) with a weblog and so, out of nimum of 70,000 new blogs every day, one new habit, they continued to use the terms weblog, blog appears every second. More dazzling data: blog and also bitàcola.5 All of these terms, in addi- between 700,000 and 1.3 million articles are tion to “bloc”, are used indiscriminately today. written and published on blogs in the world every day, representing 33,000 articles per hour Now that we know more or less what term is used, or 9.2 per second. we need to agree what we are talking about. The
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TERMCAT gives the definition of “bloc” as being “a In five years, the universe of blogs has experienced a webpage, which is generally of a personal and non- kind of Big Bang that has led to the growth of all institutional nature, with a chronological structure kinds of services that orbit around it, for example, that is regularly updated and which gives informa- websites offering free space and tools that are very tion or opinions on different subjects.” easy to use to set up one’s own blog, others that in- form you every time a blog that you are interested in Following the appearance of this new form of publica- has been updated, and blog search engines such as tion on the Internet in the late nineties, there has been Technorati and Google’s Blog Search, which just ap- an ongoing discussion as to what a blog is and isn’t. peared relatively recently. Awards for the best blogs The short and sweet of a blog is that it is a website are regularly organised around the world, corporate where one or various persons regularly publish links interests are beginning to set up businesses aimed to other Internet sites, comment news or talk about at them, and even new social phenomena have ap- their lives. Every new individual article or entry is peared, such as people being fired from work for ha- known as a post. Posts appear in reverse chronologi- ving made inappropriate comments on their blogs. cal order, with the latest at the top and older ones lo- As compensation, organisations such as the Elec- wer down. Most blogs let readers make comments, tronic Frontier Foundation6 and Reporters Without which sometimes generate discussions that are Borders7 post manuals and guidebooks for people more interesting than the post that generated them. who want to keep a blog anonymously without any political or work-related reprisals.
A blog is a website where one or various One of the more appropriate definitions of a blog is 8 persons regularly publish links to other In- that given by Technorati: “A weblog, or blog, is a personal journal on the web. Weblogs express as ternet sites, comment news or talk about many different subjects and opinions as there are their lives. people writing them. Some blogs are highly in- fluential and have enormous readership while others are primarily intended for a close circle of fa- The basic structure of a blog consists of a central co- mily and friends. The power of weblogs is that they lumn, where articles are published (posted), and dif- allow millions of people to easily publish their ide- ferent sections where there is no end of articles that as, and millions more to comment on them. Blogs have been posted and a list of other blogs that the are a fluid, dynamic medium, more akin to a 'con- blogger considers to be of interest and recommends versation' than to a library – which is how the Web to his or her readers. Some blogs only give links, has often been described in the past. With an in- others only contain text, and blog content can vary creasing number of people reading, writing, and from comic strips to photographs (photoblogs) or au- commenting on blogs, the way we use the Web is dio sound files (podcasts). Some post everything and shifting in a fundamental way. Instead of being anything. passive consumers of information, more and more
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Internet users are becoming active participants. Enric Gil gives another definition in his study, “Blo- Weblogs let everyone have a voice.” gosfera: les bitàcoles i l’audiència” (“Blogosphere: blogs and the blog audience”), the first research to Wikipedia, the English language encyclopaedia, gi- be carried out in Catalonia on the subject: “The term ves a very extensive definition9 of a blog, which is is currently used to designate what are mainly per- summarised very well in its sister encyclopaedia the sonal websites that offer a series of chronologically Viquipèdia (in Catalan, pron. Vickipaedia):10 “A we- organised contents, an essential aspect when it co- blog (also known as blog, web log, bloc, dip or bità- mes to describing what it is, in that the organisation cola) is a personal writing space on the Internet. It of the contents according to the moment in time can be defined as an online diary, a website that a that they were written is what turns a website into a person periodically uses to write. A weblog is blog. [...] Time in an essential element in the blog, gi- designed so that, as in a diary, each entry has a date ven that one is reminded of it everywhere: the hour of publication so that the person who is writing and and/or date a post was sent, a monthly calendar those who are reading can follow the chain of every- showing the days when contributions have been thing that has been posted and edited. They can be made, the display of permanent links by days (per- classified according to different types, the most po- malinks), the date and time of comments, files in pular being where an adolescent explains the de- chronological order, etc. This involvement with time, tails of his/her life. Diaries used to be kept under the inherited from its original role as a listing, defines a bed, now they are posted on the Internet. Another new dimension for online publication that has points type of weblog that has much more impact is where in common with journalism.”11 experts talk on a particular subject. Many people use their weblogs to transmit their expert knowled- Gil explains that there are basically two types of blog, ge, thereby benefiting the entire community and in both of which have evolved as a result of develop- addition becoming well known. Political weblogs, ments in blogging: “Branum’s distinction between from candidates in electoral campaigns to people what he calls filter-style and free-style is very revea- who use their blogs to explain why their vote a cer- ling.12 In the first type, which is older, the emphasis is tain way, are also very popular. It is very common to on links to different websites (which offer postings see very heated discussions between different web- and other contents and resources of interest) that logs or weblog groups, thereby facilitating the invol- have been filtered by the author who acts as an inter- vement of citizens in the public democratic debate. preter of the global network from his/her locality: this Professional weblogs are also very important. There is a kind of pre-navigation that offers a selection of are groups of professionals who coordinate preferable websites to visit [...]. Free-style, on the amongst themselves and explain their projects in other hand, is based less on the outside world and their blogs, particularly to do with free software pro- more on the author’s inner world, with different types jects. Mention must also be made of weblogs that from the regular diary to less intimate ones that give just give information as in a regular diary.” daily assessments of what goes on in the world.”
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3. “Look what I’ve found” people in the US like Justin Hall who was beginning to experiment with the idea of the blog before it had The first weblogs were in fact chronological lists of been named as such.15 Another founder, Dave Winer, website links with a few added comments by the began a blog in 1996, which after a couple of name author. The essence of a weblog, a term invented in changes turned into the legendary Scripting News.16 1997 by Jorn Barger as a name for one of his websi- Other historic blogs that already existed at that time te pages, The Robot Wisdom Pages, that offered were Robot Wisdom Weblog and CamWorld. One of links of interest and was constantly updated,13 was Winer’s most important contributions was to equip a the expression “Look what I’ve found”, a way of filte- server so that every time a blog was updated a notifi- ring the enormous number of contents that was be- cation or alert was sent; in this way, all one had to do ginning to fill the Web. In 1999, Peter Merholz popu- was to monitor the server’s website to know when larised the abbreviated version, blog, by turning the there was any developments on the blogs. This struc- word “weblog” into the phrase “we blog”.14 The mo- ture is still used today by services like Bitàcoles.net vement began to spread rapidly at that time in the and Catapings. USA whereas in Catalonia it only was just beginning. Only the initiated few in Catalonia knew what a blog was in 1999. In the United States, however, an unres- trained explosion was beginning to take place, heigh- The most direct forerunner of the blog was tened by the appearance of services like Blogger17, the “What’s new” section that used to appe- which offered free space to Net users to post their own blogs easily and automatically just by creating an ar on the first Internet websites, where they account, selecting an appearance and name for a would explain, in chronological order, new blog, writing a post and clicking on “send”. It would developments on the Web or technical in- appear automatically as being posted. This not only meant that publishing via blogging had became de- formation (effectively “tech blogs”) for the mocratised and that many people could gain access teams that were running them. to it but that it also led to a change in the style of blog- ging from blogs that posted links to the kind of blog where the author would explain and deliberate on his/her life, it being much easier to write about what The most direct forerunner of the blog was the “Wha- happened on the week-end than to search for inte- t’s new” section that used to appear on the first Inter- resting links to serve as content. net websites, where they would explain, in chronolo- gical order, new developments on the Web or By 2001, blogs in the United States were growing not technical information (effectively “tech blogs”) for the just in number but also in influence. Blogs specialising teams that were running them. In 1994, there were in politics began to appear, some of them creating
13.
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great controversies that reached the media and even emerged as a sphere of cultural activity and as an en- Congress. There is a comment on Wikipedia about tity in itself [...]. What stands out is the willingness to this: “One of the most significant events was the sud- share, a fact that implies interactivity, the possibility den emergence of an interest in the Iraq war, which of contributing and the need to know the opinion of saw both left-wing and right-wing bloggers taking others. It is a community convinced of the universa- measured and passionate points of view that did not lity of knowledge [...] which calls for the diversity of reflect the traditional left-right divide. The blogs which sources of information [...]. Bloggers live in a high- gathered news on Iraq, both left and right, exploded speed culture, immersed in a system dominated by in popularity, and Forbes magazine covered the phe- the economy of attention. There is a certain merito- nomenon. The use of blogs by established politicians cratic character in the ethics that they share together and political candidates –particularly Howard Dean with hackers, which is apparent in the marked need and Wesley Clark– to express opinions on the war for recognition of what they do. They are often mem- and other issues of the day, cemented their role as a bers of different communities of super users [...] and, news source. […] The Iraq war was the first "blog what is most important, they share a code, a way of war" in another way: bloggers in Baghdad gained wi- writing blogs, which is different to literary and journa- der readership, and one (Salam Pax) published a listic styles and marked by hypertext and the imme- book of his blog. Blogs also arose amongst soldiers diacy of the format.” serving in the Iraq war.” There are many similarities between the blogger and By 2004, all kinds of American politicians had their the journalist and this has led, for some years now, to own blog. Certain news media nowadays publish impassioned discussions where some declare that special sections where they follow what is said on blogging is the only possible form for mass media on the most important blogs, and well-known bloggers the Internet and that traditional means need to be often appear on radio and TV programmes. The De- recycled, while others affirm that there is room for mocrat and Republican conventions of 2004 allo- everybody and they criticise the blog for lacking cre- wed entry to bloggers with credentials similar to tho- dibility. A prevailing trend these days is open code se of journalists. In January 2005, the well-known journalism in blogs, where something not unlike the journal Fortune named eight bloggers who the cor- difference between proprietary software program- porate world “cannot afford to ignore.” mes, with closed code and where one pays for a li- cence, and free software programmes that are open Blogging has been created by people who, despite code and often cost free, takes place. being physically separated geographically, are con- nected mentally or spiritually. The word “blogosphe- Víctor Abellón has written an interesting essay19 on re” emerged from the word blog, meaning the totality blogs as a mass media, where he states that they re- of blogs and the culture and social network that they semble a never-ending conversation more than a create. Antonio Fumero, a blogosphere researcher, diary: “What blog readers value most highly, aside says in the article “¿Existe una blogocultura?”(Does from the author’s talent, is that blogs deal with sub- a blogosphere exist?):18 “The blogosphere has jects that do not appear in the traditional media, they
18. FUMERO, 2005. 19. ABELLÓN, 2005.
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offer a more complete point of view, and faster. [...] cross of blog lines index and comment on each According to one study, 61% of all blog readers de- other. Blog readers prefer personal diary-type clare that they read them because they think the au- blogs, which are the most common, followed by thors have a high level of integrity. [...] While it is true tech blogs (that focus on a technical subject). that the instantaneousness of the blogosphere redu- ces the life of information to nanoseconds, the conti- nuous mincing of blogs can keep a subject alive and 4. A short history of the Catalan blo- current much longer than in conventional journalism. gosphere [...] The most important cultural influence of blogs has been to break the barrier traditionally separating The history of the Catalan blogosphere is obscure the consumers from the producers of information. and full of gaps. The first blogs, or at least the first The readers are also a kind of editorial staff where ones to be noticed, were group tech blogs. A group ideas get absorbed, remixed and republished.” blog is where anyone can post messages, which are then selected by a team of moderators. The bi- The characteristics of the Catalan blogosphere coin- lingual blog Bulma (Bergantells Usuaris de GNU/Li- cide to a great degree with this description. Very few nux de Mallorca i Afegitons) appeared in 199822: a studies have been done on the Catalan blogging blog on technical subjects, in just one year it grew by community and there are even fewer statistics. Ne- 3,000% and is currently the most popular tech blog vertheless, the profile of Catalan bloggers is not so in Catalonia, with 25,000 hits (visits) daily. Then different to that of Spanish bloggers, who have also come the blogs of the Catalan Java Users Associa- been studied very little. On the initiative of several tion23, Cat-linux24, and the GNU/Linux Association at Spanish bloggers, two very defining surveys have the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya,25 which been carried out in recent years20, 21 that can be were set up in 2000, and the Caliu (Catalan GNU/Li- adapted to the blogging scene in Catalonia. nux Users)26 and PuntBarra27 blogs, set up in 2002. Another blog specialising in technical subjects, al- These data show that the majority of bloggers are though in this case the work of a sole author, is Ei- male, with less than one third being females. The nes!28, set up in 2002. All of these are still running. typical age of a blogger is between twenty to twenty-six and they are often old hand Net users, In addition to the tech blogs, other group blogs on with five or more years of experience. More than half social and political issues appeared, like Racó cata- have only had a blog up and running for less than a là, which was started 1999. Personal blogs also be- year and the majority know other bloggers either gan to appear at this point. In 1999, the first known personally or online, a fact that leads to the network- personal blog in Catalan, El forat by Sergi Llorens, type character of the blogosphere, where a criss- made its appearance. Notes al marge, by Carles
20.
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Miró, was started in 2001 and Les paraules i els dies, call that you could easily consult all of the blogs in by Teresa Amat, in 2002, both of which no longer the list. Now that there are so many, it’d be impossi- exist. Un poc de blog,29 by Andreu Coll from Ibiza, ble. Neglect in the running of the portal led to the ap- S’illot,30 by Pere Marí (also from Ibiza), and Flop31, pearance, at the end of 2004, of Catapings, another started in 2002 and are still running. Laia Gargallo, index of blogs in Catalan that, in a way, created a se- author of the La Flaneuse blog, recalls, “Flop was the cond surge in the Catalan blogosphere, which was first blog that I discovered in Catalan. Through it, I saw much more powerful in that the number of blogs there were more in Catalan. Up until that time, I had was much greater. Catapings is now trailing some- only found them in Spanish. Blogs written in Catalan what, in the same way that Bitàcoles did before.” didn’t appear in Spanish weblog directories.” And he adds: “I wouldn’t dare to hazard a guess at Sergi Llorens explains: “I remember when there just the number of blogs in Catalan that there are today, four or five of us with websites with the format of what there are countless, although I’m sure that there are is today known as the weblog, and we all knew each not as many as sometimes people claim. Many other. Then one day, a couple of personal websites blogs are abandoned, that’s normal because it’s as appeared that were more elaborate, that received easy to start a blog as it is to close one. That’s no big many more hits, and from then on weblogs began to deal, although maybe it will take a bit longer for the mushroom. They were all in Spanish, OK, and only definitive leap to occur, it seems to be unstoppable.” people with the know-how could do them because No one can really say how many active blogs there there weren’t all of the facilities that have appeared in are in Catalan. The only guideline is the blogs that recent years. The first weblog that I remember in Ca- alert (and go ‘ping’) Catapings and Bitàcoles.net talan was Gumets; there was also the blog that Albert every time they are updated, which means they are set up before Diària,32 Realitats i miratges,33 and a still active. Catapings currently receives update couple more that no longer exist.” alerts from around 2,400 blogs in Catalan at the pre- sent time, although there are possibly many more The take-off of Catalan blogs began in 2003, when that do not send alerts and are active just the same. the majority of services in Catalan for blog storage It is not compulsory to figure on the blog directories and directories were started, and it was in 2004 to have a blog, and less so if one wants to blog in se- when the explosion took place. Jordi Torà, from Gu- cret or discretely. mets, explains: “The Bitàcoles.net blog, which ap- peared in 2003, gave great impetus to the pheno- menon. Not just in terms of the indexing of blogs 5. Services for blogs in Catalan exclusively in Catalan for the first time but for the fact that it made their existence known. It was an index The Catalan blogosphere is small and simple com- that led to the recognition for the first time of the po- pared to the seething English language blogos- tential of blogging in Catalan. In the beginning, I re- phere but it does have sufficient elements that en-
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able it to develop without any problem. There are make a statistical count. Another big problem, ac- two blog directories, Bitàcoles.net34 and Cata- cording to Dani Prados, are junk blogs that just con- pings.35 “Bitàcoles.net was set up in May 2003 at a tain advertising: “The way it works is that, when a time when there was no more than a hundred blog gets updated, we receive a notification alert. blogs in Catalan. At that time, you’d get ten or Some people take advantage of this mechanism, twelve update alerts in a day, now you get more their blogs needn’t be in Catalan nor have anything than a hundred”, explains Dani Prados. Bitàco- to do with the subject, to send us alerts saying they les.net was the first service of this type for the Ca- are just advertising, as a way of appearing in our di- talan blogosphere: “We saw there were similar ser- rectory. This leads to a deterioration in the contents vices in other languages but not in Catalan and we and can even cause the server to crash.” thought this needed to be remedied. The Comuni- catek.com company let us use their infrastructure According to the latest data from Sifry’s Alerts, bet- and two of the partners of Comunicatek worked on ween 2 and 8% of new blogs created in the world it, although from then on we’ve had a group of pe- are junk blogs, which are created just for advertising ople collaborating in the maintenance.” Last No- purposes so they mix with authentic blogs in the big vember, Bitàcoles.net received the first prize in the directories. Some of the creators of these false Forum E-Tech’s “Excellence in language proces- blogs add the names of well-known bloggers so sing in Catalan” category. that, when someone makes a search on the Internet with the name of these bloggers, the ad blog appe- ars. Deceptive marketing practices affect not only the blog directories but also bloggers who allow According to the latest data from Sifry’s comments to be posted on their blogs: it is not at all Alerts, between 2 and 8% of new blogs crea- surprising for there to be specialised robots posting ted in the world are junk blogs, which are cre- ads that have nothing to do with the blog or the arti- cle that is being commented. ated just for advertising purposes so they mix with authentic blogs in the big directories. All of this forms part of the day-to-day adventures of the blogosphere, in which the Catalan community participates in a fully empowered way and where, Dani Prados comments, “there is a very important Dani Prados recognises that, while there must be number of personal blogs that are difficult to classify thousands of blogs in Catalan, it is probable that the according to subject matter, together with a lack of majority are either inactive or used very little. This is specialised blogs. There also hasn’t been very one of the big problems with blogs: they are easy to much business practice going on around all of this, start but maintaining them is more complicated be- maybe because of the lack of a critical mass of cause it requires a lot of willpower and one also ne- users. What there is, however, and it’s the number eds to have things to explain. The high rate at which one virtue of the catosphere, is the involvement of they are abandoned therefore makes it difficult to the majority of bloggers.”
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This involvement is clearly seen in another of the ser- ce maintained on his own by Jordi Salvadó, who vices that have emerged in recent years and continue explains: “I covered all of the expenses myself up to grow, the offer of blog storage and easy tools to until the beginning of 2005 but now it’s impossible. create and update blogs, where, as in the case of the With the high number of visits it was necessary to majority of these services, there is no economic inte- contract a specialised server and it’s expensive. rest, i.e. they are free. The most popular ones in Cata- We’re looking for some kind of advertising or may- lan are Blocat.com, Cibernautes, Blocs de Balear- be way to offer paying services.” Most of the blogs web, Lacomunitat.net and Blocs de MésVilaweb. at Lamevaweb.info, and the rest of the blogosphe- The last one is the only paying one that exists. re as well, are on personal subjects, and he adds that they are “a mix of current affairs with each indi- Cibernautes.com36 is one of the longest running sto- vidual’s personal experiences. It’s a reflection of rage services. It was officially launched on 19 Au- what society is thinking about, especially the ones gust 2003 by Marc Ordinas, who currently does the on politics, music, film, humour, curiosities, and maintenance on his own, with the help of the desig- philosophy.” Salvadó particularly mentions Mis- ners Simon Lepp and Albert Alomar. According to satge rebut,40 Mek,41 Gotes d’Isnel,42 Quaderns,43 Ordinas: “The matter of financing is very simple: I TagoMago,44 El diari vermell,45 El declivi de pay for everything and that way I don’t owe anybody Niqmad46 and L’encant de les coses petites.47 anything. I set up Cibernautes because there was no tool available to make blogs in Catalan in those Jordi Salvadó is content that he has never had to days. Today we get between ten and twenty thou- censor the content of any blog except for those that sand hits every month and have created 532 blogs, he has erased because they had been created and although only a very small percentage continues to left with no content: “In our entire history we’ve only be updated.” The most visited blog at Cibernautes had one complaint warning us to close a blog, the is Dídac López’s,37 one of the few on in science in contents of which, they claimed, were illegal; after Catalan. Marc Ordinas reproaches the Catalan blo- checking it, however, it just turned out to be one of tho- gosphere for not using “standard tools so that it se typical political discussions.” The attitude of some would be easier to share resources and contents.” users is saddening on the other hand: “People aren’t very appreciative of the work you do for them. Espe- Blocat.com38 first appeared in August 2003 with cially with the demands that people make regarding the name Lamevaweb.info.39 Today it has 2,769 re- things that are taken for granted which in reality invol- gistered blogs, of which 500 are active, and ve a high level of commitment and/or cost, such as 50,000 hits per month. Lamevaweb.info is a servi- perpetual continuity of the service, user support and
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that it always runs perfectly. People don’t take into blogs by politicians like Cecili Buele,56 Toni Roig57 and account that everything is done altruistically.” As far Antoni Reus.58 This service has also had the occasio- as the Catalan blogosphere is concerned, there is a nal problem due to comments posted on blogs, ac- lack of “a common nexus for finding blogs, where all cording to Elena Vera, the manager: “One or two existing blogs are categorised”. users have received formal complaints to do with libel, which were resolved amicably.” This is an issue that Lacomunitat.net48 is another long established sto- reoccurs in the blogging world: the freedom to explain rage service. It was started on 11 September 2003 whatever one wants to sometimes clashes with other by Volom, a designer, and Karleskop, a program- people’s sensitivity. This is why there is increasing talk mer: “Our idea was for everybody to have some- of the need for ethics59 when writing a blog. where where they could say whatever they wanted to, with no restrictions and very little technical know-how, and above all the freedom to do it in 6. So who are the bloggers? Catalan. There are 985 blogs registered with us al- though many of them, around 80%, are created for Although the number of blogs in Catalan is not an fun and are then forgotten about. The majority are outstanding fact in the global blogosphere, their personal and a few are political. As the hardware quality certainly is. A review of the different blogs in where the blogs are stored, which we pay for our- Catalan confirms the saying that Catalonia is a selves, is abroad, no-one’s ever threatened to cen- country of learning. Many personal blogs are really sor us for any blog content although we have re- literature blogs written by anonymous bloggers ceived anonymous threats.” Of the different blogs who explain their thoughts, concerns and things on Lacomunitat.net, particular mention is made of that happen from one day to the next in creative Blog de notes de Rigola.49 ways, and who are not shy when it comes to wri- ting poetry. Catalonia is also a country where there Bloc de Balearweb50 is a free service that appeared in have always been many artists: the percentage of 2004 specifically for the blogging community in the Catalan blogs that post comics and beautiful de- Balearic Islands and is open as well to all Catalan sign work is very high. bloggers. It currently houses 162 active blogs, inclu- ding Jutipiris,51 by the Minorcan authoress Esperança It is actually impossible to make a selection of the Camps, a blog by the geographer Climent Picornell,52 best blogs in Catalan. Anonymous individuals and the old hand blog Potti,53 El lector híbrid,54 by the wri- people who have become famous in the media ter Miquel Bezares, the anonymous Octubrina55 and share their lives and miracles in the catosphere,
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with examples that are of very high quality. The list Lletra 2005 Award, and Relats en català,84 which includes politicians like Miquel Iceta,60 Joan Puig won the same award in 2004. Cordon,61 the mayor of Argentona, Antoni Soy,62 the senator Miquel Bofill,63 the activist Enric Bo- Some blogs are quite curious, like La dona del rràs,64 the director of the Observatori per a la So- temps,85 which is kept up by some anonymous ad- cietat de la Informació, Llorenç Valverde,65 and po- mirers of the weather lady on TV3, Mònica López; litical informers such as Tumbuctú,66 Maresme one blog that specialises in trees, Amics arbres;86 El Confidencial67 and Eivissa Confidencial;68 musi- diari vermell,87 which is blatantly sexual; one that is cians like Quimi Portet;69 journalists such as Saül erotic, Nocturns,88 and one that offers links to cu- Gordillo;70 philosophers like Ramon Alcoberro71 rious websites, Zootoon.89 There are blogs where and Josep-Maria Terricabras;72 linguists like Ga- people describe their travels,90 others on films like briel Bibiloni,73 and an increasingly important SuntoryTime91 or culture in general such as Amb throng of writers, such as Xulio Ricardo Trigo, who compte.92 There are bloggers that get together in has two blogs,74, 75 Jesús Cardona,76 Biel Mesqui- communities such as Planeta Softcatalà,93 where da,77 Carles Bellver,78 David Figueres,79 Joan Josep the blogs of computer experts from all over the Isern80 and Josep Porcar;81 literary figures like Oriol country coexist. There are blogs that post comic Izquierdo,82 the El Llibreter blog,83 which won the strips such as Déu vos guard94 and El forat.95 There
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is even a blog in Catalan maintained from Alghero mat, the interesting conversations and debates.99 (Sardinia, Italy).96 The most interesting thing, however, was the fact in itself of the encounter as legitimisation of the The list is long and it does not include Catalan blog- phenomenon and the existence of a Catalan blo- gers who write in Spanish. Vilaweb made a selec- gosphere. tion of some of the best blogs in Catalan last sum- mer (2005).97 Another interesting list is the one on Antoni Ibàñez gives his opinion of the catosphere: literary blogs maintained by the Universitat Oberta “It’s a very open online community. Most of the old- de Catalunya (UOC, the Catalan Open University).98 hands all know each other. Certain divisions occur No list is exhaustive, however. The usual way to dis- sporadically but nothing serious. We sometimes cover new blogs is often, on the one hand, to visit get on each other’s nerves a bit and that can crea- the Bitàcoles.net and Catapings directories and, on te bad feelings, but there are affinities as well. Just the other, to look in the listings of recommended like in real society. In general, there are more things links posted on blogs. One blog leads to another that unite us than separate us. The fact of being a and to another, in a journey that is linear and beco- blogger is already a point of mutual recognition. As mes more nebulous. Enric Gil says in his article,100 we’re an online aristo- cracy, a very inbred Net user elite. We’re always lin- king up with each other and it’s logical to quote 7. La catosphere friends more than people you don’t know very much. What I like about the catosphere is the free- Catosfera is a term invented by Antoni Ibàñez, who dom that it radiates and the kind of healthy anarchy maintains the blog Tros de Quòniam. It could be that’s full of supportive individualism. Shared defined as a synonym of the Catalan blogosphere, knowledge, interactivity, creativity. We’re pioneers of all of the blogs written in Catalan and the online and aware of it.” community that has built up around blogs. Not everybody agrees with the term nor with the fact The artificers behind the Vaca.mu blog are also that there is just one catosphere developing uni- convinced that one can talk of the existence of a formly. They claim instead that there are different catosphere: it is an online community that is groups of bloggers, or capelletes (chapels), united “growing more and more, and we all get on well to- by the same interests, that every so often organise gether. What’s lacking is more specialised we- encounters. The most important took place in blogs, the majority being of a personal nature and June 2005 in Sant Cugat, organised by the Institu- with a very small public, and we lack the necessary ció de les Lletres Catalanes, with the collaboration feeling of a community to be able to change things. of Vilaweb. Writers and bloggers came together to This is why the boom of Catalan weblogs hasn’t re- discuss the human and spiritual aspects of writing ached its upper limit yet. It needs important perso- and blogging. Toni Sala transcribed, in blog for- nalities to create blogs and webloggers need to
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become more specialised, this would make the only united because of the fact that we post a blog. catosphere sturdy enough to make up for any There are many blogospheres and everybody has shortcomings in the more conventional press in to find his or her own one.” Catalan.” Jordi Torà, the founder of Gumets, is another who Xavier Borràs, author of the Bandera negra blog, does not believe in the catosphere as a harmonic also understands the term “catosphere” in this online community: “There’s just a few of us and we way, and he describes it as “an invisible network, a don’t necessarily get on, and the time when you spirit of community, of sharing and doing things for see the unity amongst bloggers is precisely when free, giving advice, dividing up that which bonds us there are quarrels. This is why group initiatives are together, and building in order for things to be sha- rare. If a catosphere exists, it’s very individualistic, red in common, all of which give the idea of a kind it doesn’t work as a community as such. I have a of solid and compact territory. This is particularly very good relationship with some bloggers, we visible in blogs in Catalan. To start off with, there meet up occasionally, we’ve done the occasional are many youngsters who, at the literary level, are project together, but it’s a relationship more like a showing the spirit and ability that many institution- group of friends than a wide community.” On the alised writers who are fond of literature would envy. other hand, he is firmly convinced of the importan- On the other hand, the libertarian spirit that is so ce of blogs in Catalan: “All of the new writers that typical of Catalonia has resulted in this unfolding there are can be likened to a fantastic quarry. OK, being disorganised and uncoordinated and, may- we’re light years away from the influence that be, its richness and diversity are like they are preci- American blogs have on society, but people tend sely because of this.” to find out about things more and more from the In- ternet. The time will come when we are consolida- Jaume Subirana, who maintains the blog Flux, ted: information that is even faster, and from a dif- stresses the point: “I believe in the online existence ferent viewpoint from the usual.” of the catosphere. There’s a certain spirit of com- munity, a weave of references, the superposition- ing of recommended links and a criss-cross of hits going on.” Benjamí Villoslada, who started Bitassa We’re light years away from the influence that a lloure, is not so sure, however: “Seen from the American blogs have on society, but people outside, I see competence in the number of hits of each blog, the ways to get hits and the impact of tend to find out about things more and more different blogs on the media. This competence is from the Internet, comprehensible but destructive. If someone gets a lot of hits and they deal with subjects that we per- sonally don’t like, one shouldn’t scorn the site or those who visit it: we are all people with different li- Laia Gargallo also thinks that “all this about the ca- kes. The Internet is big and diverse enough, there- tosphere doesn’t seem to be real to me. Aside ’s people for everything. Wanting to put it all into from the general context, which one could define just one thing called the catosphere gives rise to as writing in Catalan or blogging in Catalonia, the tension because people are very different. We are groups are very small and made up of circles with
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intersections that correspond to different interests, write. We often look to the US and the idea that ages, inclinations, blogging techniques, etc. There weblogs should be journalism as a kind of pressu- is however a certain feeling of having something in re factor. They’re forgetting something that’s very common with everybody who maintains a blog. In important: most of us blog as a way of passing the this respect, I think there’s a shortage in the catos- time and to enjoy this way of publishing.” phere of serious directories and reliable studies on the development of blogs in Catalonia, and I’m not keen on the aspirations of some people to set 8. One way to conclude themselves up as leaders. The catosphere is often somewhere that’s more like a school playground.” A result of the possibilities of communication via the Internet, the Catalan blogosphere is a dispersed phenomenon made up of different groups and indivi- duals, albeit the latter are only a few, who go it alone. The need for mass media in Catalan has genera- This does not make it any different from blogosphe- ted the appearance of many blogs that speciali- res in other languages. The same thing happens in the Spanish and English speaking blogospheres, the se in information on the realities of the current difference being that the Catalan one is smaller, a situation in Catalonia, which are written in pure kind of miniature blogosphere that, notwithstanding, journalistic style and cover different areas in- contains all the necessary elements to stay alive, in- cluding the technical aspects –blog storage services cluding politics, ecology and technology. and directories– and all the human elements –top quality, old hand bloggers, interrelationship, albeit good and bad, between bloggers, and readers who make comments. There is very little female presence Sergi Llorens, who is behind El forat, adds: “I know in the catosphere although this is more noticeable in many bloggers, they’re all really nice people. We blogging than in other areas of the Internet. do our own thing at El forat and help anybody who asks, just as we would expect them to help us. Ca- The history of the catosphere also imitates that of talan bloggers don’t need to be a group of friends other blogospheres, the adventure beginning with for the sake of it. The blogosphere is a reflection of technical blogs and the most recent development society where, in the same way that one has favou- being the surge of personal blogs, which have been rites, one also has arguments. Unfortunately, there of noteworthy interest to politicians, writers –both are very few of us. More drive is necessary, people well-known and unknown– and journalists, the most should help each other more and there should be advanced of which were blogging straight away. fewer people who, just because they want to stand One curiously successful blog and a shining light in out, tread on others. Somebody said that writing a the catosphere is the group blog on political issues, blog is an act of egotism and they’re right in a way. Racó català, a product of the particular situation in The problem is when this egotism results in many which Catalonia finds itself. Another very specific is- people using these systems without actively colla- sue concerning language and the need for mass borating and, moreover, discrediting the initiatives media in Catalan has generated the appearance of that exist. Quite simply, we’re just a few freaks who many blogs that specialise in information on the rea-
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lities of the current situation in Catalonia, which are As is said at the beginning, this is a world that is diffi- written in pure journalistic style and cover different cult to quantify and describe exactly. There are as areas including politics, ecology and technology. many types of blogs as people who write them, each one having their own opinions and networks of One result of language borders is that different blo- relationships. One thing that can be said is that the gospheres have tended to develop independently, Catalan blogosphere is a full-fledged entity and its except in the case of the English blogosphere, development is increasing. Moreover, the catos- which is the point of reference for all the rest and phere is proving to be a key factor for reviving the where many Catalan blogs link up to. On the other Catalan spirit on the Internet, which began to wane hand, communication between the Catalan and at the end of the nineties due to a period of econo- Spanish communities has tended to be non-exis- mic speculation and subsequent deflating of the tent, especially on the Spanish-speaking side, bubble. The majority of the Internet pioneers in which has ignored Catalan blogs because they do Spain are Catalan and through them a Catalan com- not understand what is said in Catalan. Likewise, munity has developed that, as a result of these ma- competitions for the best blogs organised in Spain, croeconomic events, became fragmented and de- such as the Bitácoras.com award, often have a sec- pressed, and new services, projects and tion for “the best blog in Catalan”; on the other hand, communities no longer appeared. The blogosphe- one often finds links on Catalan blogs that go to re, however, has seen the rebirth of the Catalan posts appearing on Spanish blogs. community on the Internet.
References
ABELLÓN, V. “Las bitácoras han borrado la tradicional frontera entre consumidores y productores de información”. Bitácoras.org (March 2005). Available at: http://www.bitacoras.org/index.php?id=C0_26_1.
BRANUM, J.B. The Blogging Phenomenon. An Overview and Theoretical Consideration. Oklahoma City (Oklahoma): University School of Law, 2001. Available at: http://www.ajy.net/jmb/blogphenomenon.htm.
FUMERO, A. “¿Existe una blogocultura?”. Antoine’s Blog. Infotecnología, Empresa y Sociedad (May 2005). Available at: http://antoniofumero.blogspot.com/2005/05/existe-una-blogocultura.html.
GIL, E. Blogosfera: les bitàcoles i l’audiència [online PhD study]. Barcelona: UOC (PhD studies; TD05-012), 2005. Available at: http://www.uoc.edu/in3/dt/cat/gil0705.pdf.
POLLOCK, H. “Who Let the Blogs Out?”. Yahoo Internet Life (May 2001). Available at: http://www.yil.com/features/feature.asp?volume= 07&issue=05&keyword=blogs.
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ANNEX: Various blogs in catalan
This small selection of Catalan weblogs is a sample than 3,500 links.” The blog is updated between two of the high quality blogging to be found in the catos- and five times every day, with between five to ten phere. Unfortunately, it is not possible to include all new links daily, where anyone can add comments: the weblogs that deserve to be here and a selection “The idea is for each link to generate a small forum has been made in order to analyse more in depth either to give one’s opinion or quite simply just to the motivation behind them, their experience and post things for the sake of nonsense. Some of them points of view. receive a lot of comments whereas the majority, around 70%, don’t receive any.”
Vaca.mu 101 On average, between 300 and 350 people visit Vaca.mu every day, and the blog has recently incor- There are very few blogs in Catalan like Vaca.mu al- porated a mail address for information on new devel- though in the early days of the global blogosphere opments for those who do not have time to go online. they all had the same format, namely, listings of web- Other added services are the popular weekly comic page links that filter the endless content found on the strip, “Vaca i guineu” (Cow and fox), the occasional Internet. Vaca.mu was started in 2003 by Joan Barea survey, a forum and, every so often, free computer and Jesús Corrius, both graduates in audio-visual desktop wallpaper. “The greatest satisfaction is our communication: “We wanted to set up a humorous users, who are very loyal in general. The key to suc- website along the lines of the leading websites in cess in our opinion is for it to be easy and enjoyable to English, like Fark.com, zFilter.com, Fazed.net, read: the articles aren’t long and it’s easy to select Digg.com, which you can read quickly and where whatever you’re interested in. We must be due some users go quite a few times every day, creating a tight merit as well for selecting the links and titling them sense of community. And it was very clear that we with a humorous twist. We try and take things calmly had to like the links ourselves above all else.” so things don’t become a burden”.
Vaca.mu is a group blog: “Anybody can send a link and registered users can add news. Everything Racó català 102 goes through the hands of the moderators first and they decide whether to post something or not. We Racó català has broken many records in that it was only post news that matches the type of humour the first blog totally in Catalan, it is the blog that cur- we’re into. We currently have a database with more rently receives the highest number of hits, and it is
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the only one that receives a grant. It is not consid- professors and also young kids of fifteen as well, ered to be a blog however but an “online communi- one of which finally confessed he was twenty-four. ty”, although it was started as a blog, its structure They’re people from all over Catalonia, as well as continues to be the same as a blog, and most of the many Catalans living abroad who use Racó català blogging community still considers it to be a blog. as a tool for staying in contact with Catalonia. There are also people who aren’t Catalan, there’s a Despite the slight confusion concerning its defini- couple in Madrid who have learned Catalan and tion, the subject matter of Racó català is very clearly they participate along with everyone else.” political (above all) and social news. They them- selves define it as “the information centre for Catalo- All of this commotion means that managing the nia”. Joan Camp explains its origins: “It began in community, Joan Camp says, is “an incredible to- 1999 when Guillem made the most of the space he do, there’s problems every five minutes. Us man- was offered at the university to make a small web- agers fix the majority of things but problems in the page to find resources in Catalan.103 It was like a blog forums are beyond us and, bit by bit, we’ve created although at that time the concept didn’t exist: things users who are capable of moderating them and were done just with html code. PHP-Nuke (a pro- solving any grudges. Only registered users can par- gramme for making blogs) was installed later on, ticipate in the forums whereas anyone can con- and we were pioneers in this aspect of blogging in tribute news whether they are registered or anony- Catalan. There was just three of us back then and mous.” They receive a constant avalanche of since then we haven’t stopped programming, up- messages: “People don’t stop sending us mails dating and improving, and offering new, parallel with doubts that we always try to reply to. We’ve re- services that have served to create the sensation of ceived mails asking us the opening times of muse- community, with forums, surveys, internal messag- ums, implausible things for a degree project or infor- ing, our own chat, and webpage storage.” mation on the private life of Mònica Terribas. Some days we have a good laugh.” They also organise en- Our intention was to make an online newspaper: counters where one can feel this feedback: “We “We’re not journalists, we’re not even from the Hu- brought together a hundred Racó users in Valencia, manities, we’re all from business studies, engi- a full coach load of us went. Every so often we or- neering and computer engineering but over time ganise encounters out of which music groups, plat- we’ve acquired a certain style and a wide audi- forms, campaigns, websites, friends and couples ence. Writing was like a game. It was all about writ- have all emerged.” ing everything that you were thinking that wasn’t being said, and writing it in a different way. We nev- Another front of interactivity is the forums: “They’re er envisaged that we’d get to have 8,000 regis- like chats. We are by far the most active forums in tered users and between 15,000 and 20,000 sin- Catalan. We’ve evidently had to close entire dis- gle hits a day. We’re grown incredibly in the last cussions. We were very careful at the beginning two years. There are people who participate in but over time you learn to control that shaky hand: everything. There are singers, writers, politicians, I know of loads of forums that have had to close
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because they got out of control.” Racó català has- No institution has got really involved with the Cata- n’t lost control and neither have they gone astray: lan Internet and, on the other hand, they’ve paid mil- “Our blogging community is absolutely political lions to Yahoo! and Microsoft to translate a few stu- and we don’t hide that. There are also large sec- pid things into Catalan.” tions on culture and society but we basically try to respond to and establish unity for the belief in Another blog landmark achieved by few others is Catalan autonomy, both left and right-wing, and the impact that Racó català has had on society. help different groups, platforms and associations “The Leche Pascual boycott started on Racó and that are repeatedly ignored by the mass media to had a very far-reaching effect. There have been oth- be heard. We’re apolitical ourselves, no manager er similar cases and, believe me, it’s scary to see the is affiliated with any party or political entity.” Spe- Racó home page appear on Spanish TV or hear a cialising in politics has led to the occasional prob- top-ranking politician talk about us in a committee.” lem: “The president of Coalició Valenciana called Another social effect of Catalan blogs, says Joan our service provider to say that we were putting Camp, is that “people get used to writing and de- out data on his personal particulars. It turned out nouncing things. The only option open to you before that some hothead was putting the man’s address was to write a letter to the editor of some newspa- and private telephone number on all our forums. per. Now people say whatever they want, when they We erased them and, from that day on, we’ve want, and they read whatever they want to read. been much more careful.” And the big media holdings are trembling because it seems that something is slipping through their fin- One source of great satisfaction for Racó català re- gers.” The next thing they are preparing at Racó cently has been a grant from the Catalan govern- català is an audio blog or, as Joan Camp says, “the ment: “We spent six years paying the expenses out first online Catalan radio”. of our own pockets. We went from one server to an- other as we were constantly growing. It sometimes made us mad, working every day and then having to PuntBarra 104 pay at the end of the month, especially when some user would criticise us; you’d get the feeling they One of the leading tech blogs in Catalan, PuntBarra were ungrateful. Bit by bit, we started to include ad- is a direct heir of the English Slashdot and the Span- vertising to cover expenses and a stall on the day of ish Barrapunto. It was set up at the beginning of the Catalan national holiday (Onze de Setembre, 2002 and currently receives around 2,500 hits a September 11). We finally got our first grant this year day. It is managed by four people, including the from the Catalan government’s Secretariat for Com- founder, David Poblador: “We coordinate between munications.” They are of the opinion that there is a ourselves online because we’re hundreds of kilo- lack of advertising and money in the Catalan blo- metres apart. As moderators, we attend to the post- gosphere: “We’re still living in poverty. There are lots ing of news and also the editing and correction of of good Catalan webpages that are kept going by contributions from users.” It is a group blog where people with incredible morale and perseverance. anybody can send articles, which get posted if they
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pass the filter of moderators. There is very little eco- ready taken it. So I changed the o for a u, and that nomic expense, says Poblador: “Rinho Systems was how Gumets came into being.” provides us with hosting and the regular helpers are all volunteers.” The average number of daily hits is 130, with peaks up to 600, which is quite a considerable number for PuntBarra has turned into a unique website that’s a blog that is not updated every day and only when well known and much frequented and, in addition to the authors feel like it. Readers can leave comments technical news services, it offers users the free use on the articles and also make contributions. “Each of Jabber, an instant messenger service. The key to comment is a little prize in that you know someone success has been, according to Poblador, “the pos- has read what you’ve written and decided to spend sibility for people to have somewhere to talk about some of their time to write something back to you. I technical subjects and free software in Catalan and also get e.mails from people who have found the fact that participation has been very open. For Gumets quite by chance and they like it. They want me personally it’s given me the possibility to get to to find out how to write on the blog or how to do a know many people, share experiences regarding similar website. I enjoy making suggestions as to technical aspects and, above all, it has provided me what they can do because I also started that way”, with some wonderful friendships”. explains Torà.
In addition to articles (they call them gumets), they Gumets 105 offer other services including columns on a range of subjects, the sale of T-shirts and badges, photo- Gumets is a group blog on different subjects, basi- graphs, and interviews. Just like many other blog- cally whatever enters the authors’ minds, which in- gers, Jordi has been through the stage where he clude poetry, thoughts, reflections, nonsense, etc. wanted to close the blog down or to rethink it due to The design and the colour orange are both charac- the pressure of constantly having to update it: teristic. The content is the work of Pere (Iósódéu), “When I said I couldn’t keep up with the rhythm, a lot Mar, Sara and Jordi Torà, who is the inventor, and a of people thought I was giving up and they set up twenty two year old female Architecture student in the “We want Gumets” campaign, where they sent Barcelona who does most of the writing: “The blog me e.mails encouraging me not to give up.” Another was started at a time when I had no idea what a example of the popularity of Gumets is that some blog was, in 2003. I found a webpage in English articles have gone beyond the computer screen where someone was writing whatever they felt like and been published in fanzines. There was even and I thought, that’s what I’d like to do. The name one, “Desitjant moresc”, that was a finalist in a love came to me from something that entered my mind letters competition. “One anecdote, which was very one day: “All sizes, shapes and colours”, referring satisfying, was when I read the latest book by to the blog content and it tallied perfectly with a Jaume Cabré, Les veus del Pamano, and liked it so sticker (a kind of children’s sweet), but when I tried much that I contacted him to see if I could interview to acquire the dominion name, someone had al- him for Gumets. He was more than willing”.
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La Flaneuse 106 make gross and unpleasant comments, you can’t get away from it, but I don’t think it’s worthwhile This is a very well designed personal blog, made by censoring them.” one of the few female blog authoresses: “I once posted a comment that said, “Guys, where are The readers’ feedback has also increased over you?” I got upset that the only comments I received time and has even exceeded the comments sec- were from males. More females are appearing now. tion: “I’ve recently received e.mails asking me to I believe that women have always tended to write go over someone’s project, book or website and, if personal diaries, or we were taught that it was a I think it’s appropriate, to talk about it in La Fla- “feminine” thing to do, and maybe this is why we’re neuse.” This feedback sometimes goes too far, more daring in the world of Internet weblogs”, ex- she says: “For a long time, the blog’s caption was plains Laia Gargallo, the author of La Flaneuse. Laia Rufus, a dog on a painted silver pin that I often was born in 1976 and works in cultural manage- wear on the lapel of my jacket. I received an e.mail ment. She started the blog in February 2003: “I was one day from an unknown person saying that unemployed and would spend hours at home read- they’d seen me and recognised the Rufus pin but ing and on the Internet. A short news item in a ma- they were too embarrassed to come up to me and gazine led me to a Spanish blog directory. I began say something.” to randomly zap from one blog to the next, and after a few hours I started my own. It’s become a small Despite bugbears like this, she is not interested in part of me these days. I don’t like the pressure of advertising La Flaneuse in the conventional ways feeling that I have to update it every day though, that most other Catalan blogs do, that is, being and I make sure that never more than a week goes accessible via RSS (really simple syndication), a by without doing it but I don’t let it get to be an obli- very useful tool for quickly consulting the content gation where I have to keep an eye on it.” and changes to blogs that you are interested in, and alerting Catapings and Bitàcoles.net of up- The readers’ comments are a very important part dates, both of which are essential if you want hits of the blog for Laia: “The possibility of being able on your blog. “Yes, it’s true, you think you’re the to bridge the gap with them, of responding to their greatest and get wrapped up in your own weblog proposals and listening to their opinions. I like to as if it were your own child, you go through a stage think of it in the same way as I’d organise a party: where you’re obsessed by statistics, if you’ve re- you’re the host with everyone finding their own ceived any new comments, or looking for other way to have fun and getting to know new people blogs that list your link. I don’t think there’s any- in your space. The comments are one thing that is thing wrong in that, provided that you take stock always unpredictable. I’ve never erased any, ex- of it all and are humble when you appear in public cept for junk mail, which is an eternal struggle. I’ve or on stage”, she explains. Particular care is given only written once to the author of a comment to to the aesthetics of La Flaneuse, the results of ask if they could change it because it revealed which are achieved through the help of a friend where I was working in my real job. People also and the occasional use of photographs.
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L’aeroplà del Raval 107 tion: I always play with this, I tell stories that are half real and half invented. Some people believe them Another female blogger is Tina Vallès, who is 29 and and you get some very funny comments.” a translator. She started her personal blog, L’aero- plà del Raval, in December 2003: “It was more con- The best thing about keeping a blog, she says, is the venient than sending texts to friends and I wanted to feedback: “I like it when they read my writing and have my own space where I could put whatever I make comments about it, or they give me more in- wanted”, explains this experienced Net user who formation about something I’ve jotted down, or also keeps a professional website108 and another when they contradict me. The comments are some- blog that she recently set up on cooking, El rebost times more interesting than the article. It has also de l’aeroplà.109 She clearly likes blogs: “It’s a positive been a way for me to practice because, although experience because, aside from the readers and I’ve only had a blog for a couple of years, I’ve been having a good time, I’ve learned so many things writing for much longer; it has helped me to gain from the comments and also from reading other confidence and to see which texts work.” The worst similar blogs, and I’ve also got to know, although thing for her is “the shortage of time when I have a lot only online, some really interesting people, and I’ve of work; then the blog becomes a burden and all of a even got some work from it and proposals to collab- sudden I get to feel indebted to the readers.” orate, etc. Things wouldn’t be the same for me if L’aeroplà had never existed.” El forat 110 She usually writes between two and five articles every week and, in addition to sending alerts to the This is one of the longest established personal blogs regular directories, she also sends out an e.mail bul- on the Catalan Internet. It was started at the end of letin to her friends and relations. The daily number of 1999 by Sergi Llorens, a graphic designer from the hits is between 100 and 150. “There are people who neighbourhood of Sants in Barcelona: “At that time, I make comments on the blog and others who prefer didn’t know that I was writing a weblog, it was a web- to do so privately by e.mail. Relations and friends page where I’d write my nonsense, a substitute for give me their comments in person. Everybody the years I spent doing radio. I’m one of the freaks makes suggestions for subjects, obviously. I’ve also who saw the Internet here grow, and I’ve been on it received criticisms, especially about the comments. for seven years now. First I had the typical personal I don’t answer the anonymous criticisms that come website with sections on my family, pictures of my in, whereas I do try and answer those from people dog, etc.” He defines his blog as “a humorous who identify themselves. If anyone posts a com- weblog with my type of humour. The overall intention ment that I consider to be offensive, I erase it. I could is to make people laugh. I update it on a daily basis tell you many anecdotes about this, especially asso- and unfortunately I don’t make any money at all out of ciated with the confusion between reality and fic- it. The advertising that appears is a favour to friends.”
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Even though the occasionally surreal content of El when they emerge and they’re very pleasing: forat does not invite people to leave comments, it “Whenever someone refers to you or they send you does receive an important number of hits: “There’s an e.mail to congratulate you, there’s nothing you always a minimum of 400 hits a day and occasional- can do but to try and hold back a tear of emotion.” ly this goes up to 800. There are services, such as the page name generator, which on their own re- ceive more than 500 hits”, he explains. The majority Mails per a Hipàtia111 of bloggers usually participate in other blogs, either posting comments or providing articles. Sergi is no One of the heavyweights on the Catalan Internet, exception: “I take part in Anna’s blog (who also Mails per a Hipàtia is the personal blog of Vicent writes for El forat), Mek, I post links on Nikochan.net, Partal: “All of my hard disks have been called Hipàtia I do comic strips for Racó català and drawings for in homage to the last librarian in Alexandria, one of many websites.” At the same time, other people the most important women of science in antiquity. from the blogging world help out with El forat and When we suggested to Vilaweb about making are involved there, like Ramon Forns and Ani López, blogs, I was the first one to try them out and I always who handle the programming, Menxu, who is a mul- sought not to talk about hearsay”. He liked it so timedia expert, and Anna, Ester and Marçal, who much that he stayed: “I have a great time. It’s like write articles. when you’re a young child and someone passes you a secret note on a slip of paper; you have an One of the main aspects of El forat is the comic idea in your mind, you jot it down, and that’s that. It strips, which Sergi does: “It’s been curious to see the doesn’t need to be really well done because it’s just course that the blog has taken since the appearance a quick note.” of the first comic strip. The website is more colourful, it’s more alive and people seem to like it. Many peo- Despite the fact that Mails per a Hipàtia has been up ple send me mails with the mythical question, “How and running for more than a year, Vicent Partal do you do the comic strips?” Well, I pick up my pen, maintains, “I’m still not sure of what I’m doing with and I don’t use any computer software”, he says the blog, I keep testing. One day, for example, I proudly. However, the key to the success of El forat posted a comment explaining that I was feeling bad has not just been the comic strips, he says, but that because of something I’d done at work and that I “we’re always seeking to create new things, howev- was upset with myself. I was so surprised when er silly they may seem, and being constant in what people started calling me to ask how I was feeling. we do. And, despite the fact that we don’t make any So I gave up this more personal side –I realised the money out of it, we ensure that things are well pro- degree to which it was a public showcase.” And duced. People who go to El Forat probably think it’s very much so, as is illustrated by another anecdote: really well done. But we don’t do anything better than “I once posted something with an mp3 file contain- anybody else, we just add ideas that could enter ing some music I’d done. Letters continued to arrive anyone’s head, the difference being that we work on months later asking me about it. I find it amusing. it until they emerge.” The greatest satisfaction is Another time I said that I was going to spend a few
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days organising my library in alphabetical order dur- is not a question of technical standards but one of ing the summer; since then I’ve received e.mails attitudes. The discussion everywhere –press, radio, from people who do the same and they give me ad- TV, etc.–, is between passive and active users. vice on how to do it.” Blogs are the active users’ banner or, what’s more, the most active of the active! Blogs are having a big Partal says that he is not sure how many people read impact, they’ve revived the original Net where you’d his blog, although he is surprised at the amount of write and they’d just read. So much passivity was feedback, especially from “people who I meet in the getting to be dangerous. Blogging is one of the best street that say they’ve read this or that”. He also lets pieces of news in years.” people post comments on his blog, a sign of courage in someone who is a well-known personali- ty like he is: “I haven’t always accepted them, but I Bandera negra 112 think it’s worse not to accept. Sometimes I get an- noyed by the person who turns up, says some non- This won the 2004 Bitacoras.com award for the sense and then takes off, especially if they’re anony- best blog in Catalan. It was set up by the forty-eight mous. It seems unfair to me that you work for a while year old journalist Xavier Borràs Calvo who was and then someone comes and all they do is insult born in Gràcia in Barcelona: “I started it in March you. Of course, this obviously forms part of the 2003 although previous to that, when the tools that process and there’s no point in worrying about it.” are available today didn’t exist, I moved heaven and earth to do something similar. The name is a hom- Vicent Partal is a journalist by profession and thinks age to Salvador Puig i Antich, to the memory of the that writing for the blog is different to writing an opin- black flag that flew the morning of March 2 1974 ion in a newspaper: “It’s very different. The blog is over the Model prison when he was executed by more like a notebook.” Regarding the impact of garotte. A black flag is also the sign of freedom. I blogs on Catalan society, he says, “it’s early days started it and I maintain it to publish whatever I feel yet. Nevertheless, in general and everywhere, in- like, above all topics and issues that are not very well cluding here, they are more interesting and amusing known, things that are both personal (texts and po- than the newspapers. Everything on the Internet in ems) and issues that are more political.” Xavier Bor- Catalonia has been done with the big companies ràs also keeps another blog, Ecodiari,113 which deals and government against us. Personal and group ini- with ecological issues. tiatives, however, have extended the network, and blogs are the maximum expression of this: you write Borràs is an old hand Net user and, prior to blog- and that’s it. I think that blogs are very appropriate ging, he already had his own personal webpage: for the model of how the Catalan network runs and “It’s not that a blog is better than a webpage but that’s why they’re so successful.” that it’s used in a different way. It is much more ef- fective though. I update it at least four or five times His views on blogs and the future are clear: “How a month, although there have been times when this fits in the broader discussion going on right now I’ve published three or four articles in a week.
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What I most like is that I can publish over the Inter- graphs. The weblog is the medium where all of this net, via e.mail and also with my cell phone.” It en- is harmonised together. For me, the total blog ables readers to make comments on the articles would be where you could add all of the communi- because, “I think that if someone wants to poke cation tools and art, all in one place and, if possible, their nose into something I’ve said, all the better to do live unmotivated uncut journalism.” because it’s more interactive. Many people prefer however to tell me things via e.mail, above all the Xavier Borràs, like the majority of bloggers, believes loyal readers. More than friends, I’d say that I’ve that one important consequence of blogs in Cata- made a few enemies through the blog because I lan is the fact that the panorama for linguistic com- don’t hold my tongue, especially in matters of na- munication in Catalan, with very little press in Cata- tional politics. There was even one individual who lan up until the present time, has broadened: wanted to take me to court for one of my articles.” “Moreover, the very fact that there are tools for making blogs in Catalan shows how important the He is firmly convinced that the political establish- phenomenon is. The Catalan character matches ment follows his blog: “The information services of very well with this way of publishing. I’d like to see it the Department of the Presidency are addicted to it spread extensively, with a wireless network cover- because it gives clues to certain politicians so that ing all of Catalonia so you could publish on your they don’t end up worse off than they actually are.” blog, for example, from somewhere in the Pyre- He calculates that he has an average of fifteen nees. As far as the impact of blogs on society is readers a day, with sporadic peaks: “Like when concerned, there are cases like that of Flix and there was the terrorist attacks in Madrid I received Sau115 where I would say more things have been around 300 hits due to the fact that I had already published in blogs than in the press. At least you’re put forward that morning that, quite logically, it had- not held back in blogs like you are by the company n’t been perpetrated by ETA.” There was another that you work for, by advertisers or by government peak when another article titled “More parasites in grants. And socially speaking, blogs are helping to the family” with a photomontage was published114 spread the idea of sharing and generosity.” on account of the announcement of Princess Letí- cia’s pregnancy: “I only received one comment on As far as the future of blogs is concerned, he the blog although I did get a lot of e.mails.” thinks that, “in the medium term, they’ll transform into a means of their own so that different blogs As a journalist, he is of the opinion that writing for a dealing with a particular subject will get append- blog is different to writing for a newspaper: “I would ed together in one and they’ll turn into a means speak of it as a new genre and a new kind of journal- of collaboration. Information portals and blogs ism. It’s not a newspaper, it’s a blog. As a journalist, will be so close to each other that ultimately there I’ve always used blogs, small ones, to take notes. will be weblog portals that are more powerful It’s more or less the same thing: the drafts are the than an information portal. Despite the fact that links, scattered notes that are saved in folders ac- the idea of the blog fits very well with that of im- cording to subject, and the images are the photo- mediate consumption (the present-day God), it’s
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odd how the majority of them are lacking any more hits. I’m accustomed to talking in small groups.” motive or intent to dupe you or make an immedi- Nevertheless, Villoslada’s preferred small format ate profit out of you. This is why I think there must does not prevent articles on Bitassa a lloure from be something Zen about the whole thing.” occasionally appearing on sites at the top of the list on the Google search engine: “This means that the managers of the websites I’m talking about see Bitassa a lloure 116 critical comments about their sites straight away. Some of them have resolved this straight away Benjamí Villoslada i Gil, a forty-one year old com- whereas others haven’t said anything, although I’ve puter expert from Sineu, Majorca, is the author of later found out that some comment of mine has this blog on Net culture and other crazes. He start- created a hubbub.” ed the blog in August 2004 because “it seemed to me like the Net thing since e.mail. Bitassa is a word The best thing he likes about blogs is “being able that came up in conversation with Jordi Vendrell to explain things in a medium that matches the the journalist and means a pile of bits. The adden- spirit of the Net, i.e. it is individual, person-to-per- dum “a lloure” is a Majorcan expression that son, accessible, easy to find, and to follow and means to have the freedom (to…). It fits the blog maintain”. He believes that the impact of blogging because it is a whole pile of bits that lets me speak is greater than it appears; “When people have a freely about whatever I feel like. I also do articles for powerful publishing tool at home, it’s going to influ- some news media, where I have to talk about the ence society a very great deal, although it’s as nat- things they commission me to talk about and in the ural as it is silent. That’s how great revolutions take tone of voice that they ask for. But not on the blog. place. The problem is that they want to classify it Explaining things is a necessity for me. I used to do as a minor genre, yet what you have is each indi- it by e.mail, and I’d send to lists and friends. The vidual as an editor in the making. Never again will it blog is a much more effective way of explaining be possible to measure the quantity of publica- things. It costs money but it’s profitable; there is no tions that there are in Catalan in the same way. We direct income but it does give one exposure.” don’t need to wait for some company to get in- volved or for it to be economically viable. With It also helps him to find friends: “I’ve made friends blogs, we no longer depend on the starter’s gun through the blog. And some friends that I already –or the coup de grâce– of any publishing editor. It’s had before the blog have given me great gifts in the not a minor genre, it’s different. It’s adapted to a form of comments, possibly because the blog lets way of reading and writing. If you know how to you explain things that you agree on more accurate- make the most of it you can do whatever you want. ly. The importance of the number of hits, on the oth- It’s much easier to get on with it this way, see the er hand, is relative: it’s great that they read you but results, the response of the readers. It’s not neces- the number shouldn’t condition anything. The sary to write until you’ll filled a book so they can ask month I started I received an average of a hundred fifteen euros for it because this way they can read it hits a day. Now I wouldn’t change a thing just to get anywhere in the world.”
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Villoslada is clearly delighted with blogging: “It’s a Flux 117 new way of publishing, in small doses without the need for any large investment and that enables it to Vilaweb published a selection of the best blogs in be cost-free, with results that are just as useful as Catalan in the summer of 2005, in which some of the publishing on paper because, let’s not fool our- abovementioned appeared together with Flux, which selves, aside from a few exceptions, nobody lives it defined as, “a literary blog, the noteblog of Jaume from the books they publish. I’m convinced that the Subirana the writer and current director of the Institu- blog will become a very important form of publishing ció de les Lletres Catalanes. Subirana has found Flux in Catalan and there’s a lot of surprises in store.” He and the blogosphere to be the ideal place for re- lets us in on a few of them: “There will be a change in search and reflection in the form of his annotations, the tool so that publishing becomes more diverse. which are a cross between poetic impressions and The name weblog has been good to popularise the the time-honoured diary. The blog often offers prose phenomenon but it will go out of fashion. More and and verses by other authors. Making the best of the more contents will be classified in different ways resources on the Internet, Flux is carefully done and other than by date, and the distinction between he enjoys looking for images that are appropriate to whether what people do fits or doesn’t fit the defini- and that reinforce the text. He writes on it almost tion of a blog will become less clear. Now we all pu- every day. It is a much frequented blog despite the blish in the form of a diary because that’s what the fact that there is no option for making comments.” tool lets us do. It’s inevitable however that blogs will become increasingly flexible and the definition of the Subirana does not accept comments because he blog will end up becoming more blurred. The impor- says that “I thought about it but on the blogs that I tant thing will be for Net publishing to be something liked, it seemed to me that the comments inevitably that is thought out specifically for the Net, i.e. in brought the whole tone down, a highway to the small regular doses.” blogger’s endogamy, and one more proof that too many people confuse anonymity with a licence to This future scenario has a lot to do with the deci- do whatever they please and bad manners. On top sions made by the companies that produce the of that, if I already had doubts about whether I’d be tools for making blogs, as in the case of Google, capable of maintaining the blog active, the one thing which owns Blogger, the most famous site on the I was sure about was that I wouldn’t have any time Internet for free blog hosting, and provides the tools to answer comments. But I suppose the main rea- for creating them. Villoslada is concerned about one son is that I never saw Flux as being a network dia- aspect concerning the big corporate companies: logue experience but more as another of my litera- “They keep the databases with the items that peo- ture’s tentacles.... Moreover, us writers are used to ple note in their blogs. Will they still exist in a hundred writing on our own.” years time? Will future generations be able to read them? We can access them as long as they let us. I Flux first appeared in November 2003: “I’d been fol- suppose that little by little the more experienced lowing a handful of blogs for a few months and one bloggers will take note of details like this.” afternoon I opened Blogger to check whether it was
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as easy as they made out. Just over an hour later, send me (those who I know and who have my ad- without hardly realising it, I found myself in the mid- dress, obviously). My interest in the blogosphere, dle of an adventure I wasn’t sure was real or not. more than Flux specifically, has enabled me to get to Right up until the present time. I had the idea that know people who maintain other blogs that I follow; fragments of my notebooks would somehow get for me, those who are responsible for Combray,118 El published in some paper format. Direct online writ- llibreter,119 L’aeroplà del Raval, La Flaneuse, L’efecte ing has become increasingly important since then. I Jauss120 and Quaderns121 are a new subspecies of called it Flux because I like the word, it’s a private writer that I like.” joke (there’s a poem with this title in my latest book) and, above all, because it gave and still gives a good The thing about blogging that gives him the great- picture of what is happening, the diverse and potent est satisfaction is “writing and editing in quasi-real flux of these online notebooks, all linked up and time something that is literary and at the same time changing.” Jaume Subirana previously had a per- something more than that, the dialogue with myself sonal website but, he says, “they are two very differ- and what I’m concerned about or interested in, cur- ent things. The webpage is static whereas the blog rent affairs or other blogs, whatever.... I suppose I doesn’t stop moving and growing and changing. haven’t given up because I still like to sit down and The webpage is an ad and the blog is a notebook. go through the whole process from writing to public The technology also has something to do with it: editing.” With all the qualities that he has disco- you need to hire someone for a webpage whereas vered in blogs, he is surprised at the “limited suc- with the weblog you just do it yourself.” cess (of blogs), and that of websites and other tools used by the writers’ guild”. For this very reason, As with all bloggers, he is delighted: “For me there’s blog writing often takes on a journalistic aspect, no time wasted. I like writing, surfing the Internet, which Subirana does not refute: “With the differ- linking things up (when I chat, when I think, when I’m ence that it has two important consequences: a working), so I do a whole lot of things that I like doing blog has an opinion column, and there is no news in maintaining Flux.” His readers, and Flux has an editor controlling it. So, on the one hand, you can average of ninety hits a day according to Subirana’s talk about whatever you want and use the terms calculations, are also delighted: “I don’t see it as a you prefer and, on the other, when you’re starting popular blog (if popularity is measured in metres) out you lack the far-reaching effect of and assumed and anyway I haven’t done anything for it to be like recognition of the headline story.” that, apart from writing what I write and how I write it. I do feel though that people that I’m interested in fol- Compared to the press, blogs have less of an im- low my work and comment on it and that’s a real pact on Catalan society. Even so, he says: “It’s privilege. A link in a leading blog is worth more to me greater than people think, at least the ones who than a record number of hits. I get a moderate think about it. Blogs affect a small sector but one amount of feedback through messages that people that is highly motivated and connected with other
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authorities. One should never underestimate the im- There’ve been times when I’ve removed them, but a portance of relationship networks, and blogging in blog without comments is lame, mute, it lacks inter- this respect is a highly interesting one.” activity with the reader. There’s the obvious risk of the anonymous: people who insult you or make un- pleasant comments. I reply to them as well. I believe Tros de Quòniam 122 that this interactivity greatly enriches the blog. Peo- ple must be able to freely say whatever they want Tros de Quòniam is somewhat the enfant terrible of and to retort and criticise you. There’s an average of blogs in Catalan. It received the most votes two seven to fifteen comments per post. The record is years running in the popular vote of the Lletra award, seventy comments, one day when I ran Quim possibly because of the author’s clear way of speak- Monzó down. Provocation forms part of the TdQ ing. Antoni Ibàñez Ros, who is forty-one years old style, which somewhat clumsy, interruptive and and from Vallromanes, is a writer and secondary cynical. Provoking the readers stimulates their inac- school philosophy teacher: “I wrote my first article for tive neurons, one looks for a reaction. It’s more im- Tros de Quòniam [TdQ] on the morning of January 1, pulse than brains, obviously, but nothing important. 2004. In principle, it is an online continuation of my And the chaos means you get more hits and fame.” book Tros de Quòniam, vademècum de sàtires, which won the Second Jaume Maspons award for That’s how it is, with TdQ getting between 300 and Humour and Satire. “Tros de quòniam” is one of my 400 hits a day, a respectable number for a personal favorite insults.” Antoni Ibàñez is the perfect example blog. On November 2 last year, immediately after of a converted Luddite: “I was against computers the debate on the Catalan Statute of Autonomy in but three or four years ago my daily dealings with the Madrid, there were almost 700: “In addition to com- kids at school made me see that I had to get with it ments, people also send me many e.mails. Several otherwise I wouldn’t be able to understand them. posts have resulted from readers’ suggestions. They helped me a lot at the beginning. Now I’ve got Most TdQ devotees have their own blog. I’ve made quite a few websites and I use the weblog as a nerve many friends through the catosphere, in general centre where I link up to other pages.” very nice people, and we often help each other out. In person, I must know between ten and fifteen He likes the blog invention so much that he even has bloggers but the figure for online acquaintances is a motto for it, Nulle dies sine post: “Writing a post di- very high. The catosphere brings many people to- ary becomes a healthy habit. It’s a way of becoming gether, and increasingly so.” Antoni Ibàñez originally skilful at writing, and to become a writer you need to coined the expression catosphere: “I’m always in- write. It doesn’t cost me anything neither do I make venting words, neologisms, and then I see other anything out of it. It’s a great platform for promoting people using them, like catosphere, desvirtualitzar myself as a writer.” One of the most amusing sec- (word in Catalan meaning to take from an online or tions on his blog is the comments that people make “virtual” context and apply it in a “real” context), au- and that on occasions have turned into pitched bat- diopost, videopost, etc. You have to invent things as tles.123 “The subject of comments is a difficult one. you go along.”
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He continues to have new words up his sleeve, such reckon I’d take a laptop into hospital with me to as ciberescriptura (cyberscript): “It’s a new genre, send posts from my bed. But I never go too much possibly the rudiments of the new literature of the into myself. It’s difficult to not end up talking about twenty first century. There are also shortcomings in yourself and this is why one needs a mask. TdQ is the catosphere: not very much high quality, many not exactly me but one of my possible sides. Fiction people open a blog and make spelling mistakes or sometimes blends with reality and readers never talk a lot of drivel. A very high percentage of blogs are know if you’re making it up or not. It’s amusing. If I totally irrelevant, but they help the authors to learn. I didn’t have a good time, I would have given it up admire the endeavours of teenager bloggers who long ago. I do what I love to do, i.e. writing. And I get into it.” Concerning his own personal experi- have the proof that people read me, 300 hits a day. ence, he points to the technical problems, “especial- How many writers can say that? I also get free pu- ly at the beginning, I had no idea and I’ve learned blicity for myself and I know some highly interesting everything on my own and with the help of other people. I don’t know why more people don’t blog.” bloggers”, and the satisfaction: “Numerous sources, you write for free, you edit yourself, people every- Ibàñez is convinced of the contribution that blogs where can read you (I have people translating for me have made to Catalan culture: “We’re doing a lot for into English, French and Spanish), you connect with the Catalan language on the Internet and this isn’t people that are highly interesting, you learn a lot, and being recognised. The main use of the blog is the the freedom that you get from blogging.” personal type, but bloggers can also be useful social- ly speaking: we can all explain what goes on in our For this reason, he says, “I take it very seriously, as if street, in our town or city. And it’s interesting because each post was the next chapter of a never-ending it’s not controlled nor politicised. People are fed up novel, an endless online diary. I spend all day long with the same old news everywhere and they’re de- thinking about possible posts. If I were to get sick, I manding authenticity, the truth and immediacy.”
57 CONEIXEMENT I SOCIETAT 10 ARTICLES
THE OPEN UNIVERSITY OF CATALONIA PEDAGOGICAL MODEL: THE CLASSROOM PERSPECTIVE
Teresa Santacana*
This article is aimed at providing the reader with an insight into the pedagogical model employed in the Open Uni- versity of Catalonia (UOC). This insight is based, on the one hand, on the practical teaching and management ex- perience of the author, and, on the other hand, on her perspective as a former student of the UOC and graduate in educational psychology.
With an introduction of a personal nature, a definition of the constructivist concept, a description of the pedago- gical principles of the UOC virtual learning environment, and finally, a set of conclusions, the article aims to sketch the outlines of a new kind of learning and educational model which, based as it is on personalised learning and student monitoring, breaks time and space barriers.
The article also shows how the UOC, as a virtual environment, aims to create a constructive and communicative learning environment that is adapted to modern times and that is inspired by improvement and innovation goals.
Contents
1. By way of an introduction 2. A constructivist model 3. The Open University of Catalonia and its pedagogical model 3.1. Instructional activity 3.2. Teaching staff 3.3. Learning materials 3.4. The virtual library 3.5. The study plan and ongoing assessment 3.6. The virtual classroom 4. In conclusion
* Teresa Santacana is a teacher, philologist, and educational psychologist. She currently runs the Centre de Professorat de Menorca, a centre for ongoing teacher training.
58 THE OPEN UNIVERSITY OF CATALONIA PEDAGOGICAL MODEL: THE CLASSROOM PERSPECTIVE
1. By way of an introduction It is to reflect the personal nature of this process that my description and analysis of this pedagogi- The Open University of Catalonia (UOC) – an insti- cal model is illustrated with subjective impressions tution rooted in the cultural, social and linguistic re- of my experience in the UOC virtual classroom. ality of Catalonia – was established 10 years ago. At that time, computers were just beginning to be- come commonplace in homes, few people had In- A positive personal experience ternet connections, use of e-mail was limited, virtu- On 1 September 1998 - when the UOC had already al education was a dream, and virtual group work been operating for three years and had already gran- on the scale possible nowadays was unthinkable. ted its first degrees - I entered enthusiastically into It was in this context that Gabriel Ferraté and his this new and unfamiliar field of teaching-learning. At team opted to take advantage of the possibilities that point I could not imagine how this act would end offered by the emerging information and communi- up changing my personality, increasing my self-es- cation technologies to present a new educational teem and confidence, and developing my judgmental model based on the principles of personalised and critical capacities. Nor did I realise the extent to learning and comprehensive support for students - which I would be drawn into the world of the informa- tion and communication technologies. an approach, in fact, that would break space and time barriers. I had to learn new systems for communicating and transmitting knowledge, and while doing so I had This new educational model made it possible to my share of ‘adventures’. Although I had to face the bring together a broad range of professionals and challenge of working with computers, the system students with a wide range of characteristics in suited me perfectly - given my personal situation - terms of age, profession, economic level, place of because it allowed me to study as and when I plea- residence, personal situation, professional experi- sed from home. ence and intellectual skills. Despite their differ- I thought this way of working at one’s own pace was ences, however, these had one thing in common: fantastic, even if following the minimal guidelines that an interest in sharing their knowledge and in open- have to observed, obviously, when one is sharing ing up a new world of possibilities for the shared work with a group. Each individual was fully responsi- construction of knowledge. ble for him/herself, for organising him/herself, for kee- ping an eye on any notices posted, etc. For me it was The UOC has been a pioneer in the field of virtual an engaging and accessible approach, as I could education, where learning is viewed as the person- combine this kind of study with my teaching work: I al construction of knowledge based on a process didn't have to think about getting to class at a certain of sharing and comparing information, discovering time, and I could vary the amount of time spent on coursework according to the time available. I never how ideas and concepts clash, negotiating mean- felt alone: there was always someone online, someo- ing, reviewing the resulting synthesis, and applying ne around to listen and to help out. It was a new way the new knowledge. Although the process is clear- of learning and for me a rewarding one. I was able to ly personal, it is shared rather than pursued alone.
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directly put into practice what I was learning, by have to demonstrate in on-site examinations. The applying it to myself and by assessing both my own prospect of these exams made us all very nervous, al- thought processes and the outcome of those pro- though, a few days before they were to be held we cesses. had, fortunately, a second on-site meeting, in which each consultant reviewed the material covered during When I first entered the UOC virtual campus, my first the term. At this meeting, fellow students shared their subject was the mandatory Multimedia and Commu- concerns and new friendships were made. Deep nication subject – which inspired my interest in edu- down we all knew that the effort we were making and cational psychology. In this environment I had access the hours of lost sleep would eventually pay off. to consultant lecturers, tutors and fellow students, as well as to other more recreational spaces. […] Three years earlier, Gabriel Ferraté had spoken of a revolution in the university world – and this revolution One month later I left Menorca to attend the first on- has even reached into the homes of students, with site meeting along with nearly all of the other students the university, it now seems, an element of family life. on my course. I was accompanied by two friends with Every morning at about 5 a.m., before dawn broke, whom I had formed a face-to-face study group and the silence in our home was broken only by the click who were a source of constant encouragement to me of the keyboard. And it was this keyboard which ena- when I was completing my studies. My student card bled me to break time and space barriers; it opened was pinned to my lapel, and I came equipped with a the doors to a new pedagogical model which was in- brand new notebook, pencil and eraser - much as novative, effective, efficient and student-centred; and when I had first started school 48 years earlier. yet it did not exclude the warmth of human contact. Typically I was one of the first to access the campus What with my excitement about this new challenge in the morning and one of the last to sign off at night. and the initial surprises that the institution had in store for me, I failed to realise how much work I would have Our world is less than perfect, and so there were inevi- to tackle when I got back home. As I gradually beca- tably a few problems, particularly in relation to organi- me familiar with the environment I would be working in, sational issues. These, however, faded into the back- the number of hours I dedicated to my studies grew ground in the light of the overall positive experience. progressively. I found myself constantly accessing the virtual campus in search of red follow-up flags and en- couraging messages from my tutor that helped me to keep moving ahead. Consultant lecturers pointed me 2. A constructivist model in the right direction; the study plan for each subject kept me on track; and ongoing evaluation facilitated The UOC pedagogical model can be defined as a study of the printed material we all had on hand at constructivist model. In his prologue to the Spa- home. Deadlines for handing in assignments helped nish-language edition of Tiffin and Rajasingham's me organise my time and keep up with the course- In Search of the Virtual Class: Education in an Infor- work, and the computer support service helped out mation Society,1 Gabriel Ferraté had this to say: with any technical problems. We all knew that we had ‘Technology itself is not important, but rather the to persevere and apply a disciplined approach to our placing of the best technology available at any giv- studies; this would enable us to systematically acquire en time at the service of an idea: to facilitate learn- the new knowledge that, sooner or later, we would ing and to make it universal.’ In other words, tech-
1 TIFFIN & RAJASINGHAM, 1997.
60 THE OPEN UNIVERSITY OF CATALONIA PEDAGOGICAL MODEL: THE CLASSROOM PERSPECTIVE
nological resources are not sufficient in them- Despite having points of agreement, these theo- selves, irrespective of their impact. Instead, such ries frequently offer significantly different and supports should be used to influence and achieve conflicting explanations and descriptions as to results in line with educational goals. what is involved in construction processes. Moreover, the theories tend to be partial, focus- Within the framework of constructivism, learning is ing on specific aspects or factors in development conceived of as a process that involves the cons- and learning while ignoring others. Some of the truction of knowledge, with teaching providing the best-known development and learning theories necessary support for this process. are those of Wallon, Piaget, Vygotsky, Ausubel, Bruner, and many of the information-processing Constructivism is not, strictly speaking, a theory, theorists, all of whom can be classified, in some but rather an approach or an explanatory paradigm or many respects, as constructivists. Neverthe- shared by various psychological theories, includ- less, they differ on many points and no single ing, needless to say, the majority of human devel- theorist provides a satisfactory and unified view opment and learning theories. It is currently the ba- of human development and learning. sis for most explanations of behaviour. The constructivist concept of teaching and learning shares the human perspective of these theories, in that basic ideas in relation to the workings of the The UOC pedagogical model can be defined human psyche underlie the constructivist para- as a constructivist model. digm, with a particular emphasis on the construc- tive mental activity of individuals.
There are a range of theories – some concerned Table 1 provides an overview of the basic principles with studies of mental processes and others with underlying the constructivist concept of teaching studies of teaching and learning processes – that and learning. These general principles can be fur- share constructivist principles or postulates and ther broken down in order to identify points of con- that coincide in highlighting the fact that human fluence with the UOC model. development and learning are essentially the result of a process of constructing knowl- Adapting the constructivist model to a technologi- edge, and that the role of teaching is to pro- cal environment so that its theoretical constructs vide support for this process. Human beings can be made operational is a major challenge, par- cannot be viewed simply as the expression of ge- ticularly in terms of sustaining some of the model's netically encoded instructions, or as the result of basic principles, such as meaningful learning, previ- the accumulation and absorption of experiences. ous knowledge, the scaffolding of learning,2 the They are all this and much more; what converts hu- construction of shared meaning, and interaction. In man beings into people is precisely what they are relation to the design of the UOC pedagogical mo- capable of constructing from basic building blocks. del, the specific nature and potential of the techno-
2 A metaphor referring to the temporary assistance, adapted to the needs of the individual learner, required for the construction of knowledge. In acade- mic settings this is provided mainly by teachers.
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Table 1 Basic principles arising from the theoretical foundations of the constructivist concept of teaching and learning
Theories of human information processing • Learning and organistion of The genetic theory of intellectual knowledge in memory development •Knowledge schemata Assimilation theory •Cognitive competence and • The concept of meaningful learning capacity learning •Constructive mental activity •Conditions for meaningful • Equilibration of schemata and learning structures
The constructivist conception of teaching and learning Affective, relational and psychosocial components of The socio-cultural theory of development and learning development and learning •Attribution of meaning in school • The zone of proximal learning development: the space for Education: a social and socialising • Expectations, self-concept and teaching activity motivation •Mechanisms that influence • The social nature and socialising education function of education •Socialisation processes in the construction of personal identity
logical environment, and the difficulties posed for sign, moreover, takes into account the provision of the kind of interaction required for the construction visual material aimed at generating the interaction of knowledge, both had to be taken into account. expected in the process of constructing knowledge.
Taking the constructivist concept as its starting Student capacities point, the UOC pedagogical model adapts peda- gogical assistance to the technological infrastruc- According to the schema described by Carles Do- ture available. This adaptation means that pedagog- rado,3 in the teaching-learning process we need to ical assistance takes the form of very specific take into account what a student is capable of interventions – frequently asynchronous - that reflect doing and learning at a particular point in time in the technological infrastructure used. Curricular de- accordance with his/her stage of operational de-
3 DORADO, 1996.
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velopment - an approach that is in line with the What students can do and learn without guidance theories of Jean Piaget. Any specific curriculum is one issue; what they can do and learn with assis- must take student capacities into consideration in tance (by observation, imitation, following instruc- setting aims, describing content and planning tions, or cooperating with others) is another matter. learning activities, which need to be adapted to The gap between the two is what Vygotsky called the specific functional reality of the student's men- the zone of proximal development (ZPD) – a tal organisation. zone that lies between a student’s actual level of development and potential level of development.4 In other words, in a particular teaching-learning sit- The ZPD delimits the area in which educational ac- uation, knowledge schemata are a concrete tion has an impact: what students are initially only expression of the cognitive capacity of stu- capable of doing or learning with the help of others, dents to learn academic content. Thus, the they will later be capable of doing or learning alone. principle that the learning capacity of students is This implies that the best approach to teaching will closely related to their level of cognitive compe- be one which, taking the student's actual level of tence remains valid. Cognitive competence, how- development as a starting point, helps him/her ever, does not depend on a student's level of ope- progress effectively through his/her ZPD - broad- rational development in the sense suggested by ening the existing ZPD or generating new ZPDs to genetic theory, but rather on the set of knowledge the greatest extent possible. schemata at his/her disposal as described in infor- mation-processing theories.
Previous knowledge and zones of proximal Taking the constructivist concept as its start- development ing point, the UOC pedagogical model adapts The previous knowledge constructed by a stu- pedagogical assistance to the technological dent also needs to be taken into account, irrespec- infrastructure available. tive of whether this is based on formal or informal educational experiences or spontaneous learning. Each new step in the learning process must be based on the concepts, ideas, representations and Learning must be meaningful and functional knowledge that a student has constructed from previous experiences. In addition to their use as One of Ausubel's main contributions5 has been to tools to read and interpret new input, these factors describe the concept of meaningful learning. This will condition the outcome of the learning experi- concept takes on a new dimension when viewed in ence. It is particularly important to keep this princi- relation to the notion of knowledge schema and ple in mind when establishing learning sequences, the constructivist principle of mental activity. As the and to assess its implications for teaching metho- product of the corresponding constructive mental dology and evaluation. activity, knowledge schemata effectively represent
4 VYGOTSKY, 1979. 5 AUSUBEL et al., 1983.
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the basic cognitive tools that students use to learn student must have a positive attitude toward learn- academic content. ing in a meaningful way. In other words, the student must be motivated to relate what is learned to It is often debated whether learning should empha- what is known. sise content or processes, but in fact what really matters is for learning to be meaningful for the stu- Meaningful learning is linked very directly to func- dent. New material that is simply memorised with- tionality: the extent to which acquired knowledge out being related in any way to previous knowledge (concepts, skills, values, rules, etc.) can be used is mechanical learning. In contrast to rote learning, effectively as soon as the student finds him/herself however, meaningful learning requires a link to be in circumstances that require this knowledge. established between new learning material and a Needless to say, functionality should be a constant student's previous knowledge. Meaningful learning concern in education. Functionality is directly pro- involves relating new material in a substantive and portional to the number and complexity of links es- non-arbitrary manner to knowledge that the stu- tablished between learning content and cognitive dent already possesses. In other words, the new structure, and is also directly proportional to the material is fully assimilated within a student’s cogni- extent to which content is assimilated. In other tive structure. The more meaningful learning is, the words, more meaningful learning translates into more meanings it allows a student to construct, and greater functionality because it allows students to the greater the impact on his/her personal growth. relate what has been learned to a wide range of si- tuations and contents.
Learning must also be active In contemporary pedagogy, there is increas- ing emphasis on the idea that students should In contemporary pedagogy, there is increasing em- play an active role in their own learning and phasis on the idea that students should play an ac- tive role in their own learning and adapt acquired adapt acquired knowledge to their own knowledge to their own needs and goals. needs and goals. Meaningful learning requires the student to relate new content to elements already existing in his/her cognitive structure, a process that implies intense What is really important, therefore, over and above activity on the part of the student. This activity is fun- content or processes, is that learning be meaning- damentally internal in nature; it should not be con- ful, and this requires that two conditions be met. fused with the simple manipulation or exploration of First, content must be potentially meaningful, both objects and situations, even though this type of activ- in its internal structure, which cannot be arbitrary or ity can be used to stimulate the internal cognitive ac- confused (logical meaningfulness), and in terms tivity that is directly implicated in meaningful learning. of its assimilation (psychological meaningful- Thus, even though they may be closely related, dis- ness), which implies the presence of relevant ele- covery learning and meaningful learning are neither ments in the student's psychological structure that synonymous nor equivalent. Discovery as a teaching can be related to the new content. Second, the method and as a way of approaching educational
64 THE OPEN UNIVERSITY OF CATALONIA PEDAGOGICAL MODEL: THE CLASSROOM PERSPECTIVE
activities is simply one approach to meaningful learn- Figure 1 ing: it is not the only approach and it does not always The meaningful learning triangle achieve what it sets out to achieve. Memorisation with The role of memorisation with understanding understanding The role generally attributed to memory in learn- ing needs to be thoroughly re-evaluated. It is im- portant, however, to distinguish between rote or mechanical memorisation, and memorisation with understanding. The former is of little or no interest in the context of meaningful learning, and the latter is one of its basic building blocks. Mem- ory not only provides a record of what has been Knowledge Meaningful learned: it also forms the basis for new learning. functionality learning The richer a student's cognitive structure, the more likely it is that he/she will be able to con- struct new meanings, i.e. the greater his/her ca- information, we need to know how to organise in- pacity for meaningful learning. put and make use of acquired knowledge.
Memorisation with understanding, functionality of Enabling students to learn how to learn is undoubt- knowledge, and meaningful learning can be seen as edly the most ambitious and most fundamental aim three vertices of a triangle, as illustrated in Figure 1. of education. It involves equipping students with the capacity to autonomously engage in meaningful Learning to learn learning in a wide range of situations. In light of this aim, it is important for students to develop cogni- What is implied by learning has never quite been tive strategies that enable them to explore, clearly pinned down. In recent years, for example, discover, elaborate and organise information, there has been a shift from a behaviourist concep- while also developing the capacity to plan, regu- tion of learning to a view that incorporates an in- late and evaluate their own activity. creasing number of cognitive components. A student's cognitive structure can be conceived of From the earliest years of schooling, learning as a set of knowledge schemata or organised units strategies form part of the educational curriculum. of knowledge. These schemata can be either specific Teachers are assigned the task of ‘teaching to or general. Some may include knowledge and rules learn’, and students that of ‘learning to learn’. This about how to apply this knowledge; others may be emphasis reflects the fact that in contemporary so- composed of references to other schemata.6 Rela- ciety, in which we are constantly bombarded with tionships that vary in scope and complexity may exist
6 ‘A schema… is a data structure for representing the generic concepts stored in memory, applicable to objects, situations, events, sequences of events, actions, and sequences of actions’ (RUMELHART 1984, pp- 162-163).
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between the different knowledge schemata that to-face teaching, and environments in which make up the cognitive structure. Knowledge sche- learning takes place exclusively over the web mata are directly involved in all the functions that have with no direct contact with other students or in- been attributed to the student's cognitive structure in structors. The former fall under the rubric of the process of meaningful learning: new information is computer-supported teaching, with computers stored in memory via its incorporation in, and linkage and the web used as tools to complement in- to, one or more schemata. Moreover, the memory of struction. In the second environment - referred to previous learning is modified by the construction of as a virtual learning environment (VLE) - there is new schemata; memory, therefore, is constructive. no physical link to facilities or other people and Organised schemata can be distorted by new infor- learning is organised entirely by students using mation and forced to accommodate its demands, but the web. schemata can also allow inferences to be made in relation to new situations. The Open University of Catalonia is an example of a VLE. In its relatively few years’ of existence, Learning to evaluate and modify our own knowledge it already has 37,000 students from over 45 schemata is an essential part of learning to learn. The countries enrolled on its courses. The basic di- aim of education is to modify the knowledge schema- mensions of this educational method and those ta of students. Drawing on Piaget's equilibration which give it its appeal are listed in Table 2. of cognitive structures model,7 the modification of knowledge schemata in an educational context The UOC - a pioneer in the field of constructive, can be described as a process involving an initial communicative and cooperative learning - has equilibrium, followed by disequilibrium and then by a created a virtual learning environment adapted to new equilibrium. The first step in helping a student en- the needs of contemporary society and broadly gage in meaningful learning is to break the initial equi- aimed at educational improvement and innova- librium of his/her schemata in relation to the new tion. Indeed, the goals of educational improve- learning content. The student should, from the out- ment and innovation are central to the UOC ped- set, both be aware of this new state of disequilibrium agogical model, which is underpinned by the and be motivated to overcome it. Meaningful learning notion that students should replace instructors at take place when the student achieves a new state of the centre of the educational space. equilibrium by making appropriate modifications to existing schemata or constructing new schemata. In the UOC learning model, it is not the instructor who dominates the classroom environment; the student, rather, is seen to be the centre of 3. The Open University of Catalonia his/her own learning process. Other elements in and its pedagogical model the university environment converge on and are available to the student, so that he/she may In web-based teaching, a basic distinction can manage the learning process in a constructivist be drawn between environments in which the manner. The student interacts with these ele- web is used only to complement traditional face- ments, and generally does so, moreover, in the
7 PIAGET, 1975.
66 THE OPEN UNIVERSITY OF CATALONIA PEDAGOGICAL MODEL: THE CLASSROOM PERSPECTIVE
Table 1 virtual campus environment. Figure 2 depicts the Key dimensions of a virtual learning environment elements that make up the UOC pedagogical TIME Students access instructional content as and model. when they wish.
PLACE Students access content via the web from In a constructivist framework, teaching and learn- wherever they wish. ing converge in interactive processes that lead to RESOURCES A wide range of instructional materials and the construction of shared meanings -between resources is available to students: text, graphics, video, audio, etc. teacher and student and among students. Knowledge is constructed by sharing and com- TECHNOLOGY The technology used to make learning materials available and to facilitate communication paring information, discovering how ideas and between participants has now reached a concepts clash, negotiating meaning, reviewing a mature stage of development and is widely available. the resulting synthesis, and applying the new knowledge. Because other people play an inte- INTERACTION Students determine the level of contact and educational exchange with fellow students gral role in this constructive, cultural and com- and instructors. municative process, personal elements are in-
CONTROL Each student can plan and develop his/her volved, but the process is not, in fact, individual own education. in nature.
Figure 2 The UOC pedagogical model
THE UNIVERSITY ENVIRONMENT, SERVICES & COMMUNITY
INNER CORE: Student
INNER MIDDLE CORE: CORE Tutor - Consultant lecturer - Virtural Classmates - Teaching materials - Virtual library - MIDDLE Study plan & ongoing CORE assessment
OUTER CORE: Associations - Territorial centres - Secretariat - On-site meetings - UOC graduates’ OUTER & friends’ club - Social & CORE Cultural encounters
VIRTUAL LEARNING CORES
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3.1. Instructional activity basic aims of this course is for students to gain confidence in the use of computerised and remote Instructional activity, understood as the action communication tools, including word processors, carried out to facilitate learning, must be articulat- the Internet, e-mail and other resources. Interactive ed within a specific relational framework. Educa- support material provided in CD-ROM format tional organisations are gradually shifting towards equips students with the skills necessary to be able an approach that complements or replaces the to work with these basic computer tools. traditional educational environment (the class- room or university campus) with a new relational Multimedia and Communication was designed to framework: the virtual learning environment (VLE). guide students in the use of these tools and to pro- This new environment, however, requires new mote reflection on how these are used in contem- educational strategies; the dynamics and instruc- porary society. However, there is a great diversity in tional methodologies used within a framework of student approaches to this kind of learning. Some synchronous relations (face-to-face instruction) students are already experienced computer users cannot be applied in an asynchronous framework and do not need to make much effort to further de- (virtual learning). velop their knowledge and skills in the areas co- vered. Others with little or no experience find that The basis for the VLE is interaction - between in- they, ultimately, become ‘hooked’ on everything re- structors, students and materials, and with the in- lated to multimedia and communication tools. stitution as a whole; no single ‘transmitter’ can easily be identified. The VLE, moreover, is frequent- ly described as a framework for learning based on My first experience of the virtual campus the construction of shared knowledge; virtual envi- ronments are regarded as communication spaces When I joined the UOC virtual campus, the mandato- that permit information exchange - of selected ry Multimedia and Communication subject was what content that is given concrete expression in the launched me on my educational psychology pro- languages that the technological medium is capa- gramme. In this environment I had access to consult- ble of supporting. The VLE, furthermore, enables ant lecturers, tutors and fellow students, as well as to other more recreational spaces. the creation of a teaching-learning context that fa- cilitates dynamic cooperation between teachers My experience as a computer user had been rather and students. Indeed, the interactions that take limited, but after completing the course I was place in spaces of this kind assume a special so- ‘hooked’, and to this day I am still very interested in cio-cultural and discursive significance. all issues related to multimedia. The course also led me to reflect on the role the information and commu- At the UOC, one of the mandatory subjects is Mul- nication technologies now play in our lives and how timedia and Communication, aimed at equipping this role will evolve in the near future. students with the tools needed for university life I have also applied these technologies in my own and for their chosen programme of studies. Stu- work as a teacher. I think it is very important to make dents thus acquire the basic knowledge and skills these technologies available in schools and class- that enable them to get their bearings and negoti- rooms, as educators must take every opportunity to ate their way around the virtual campus. One of the
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Students meet their tutors for the first time when they ensure that societal expectations are met; and this enrol at UOC, at a face-to-face meeting that also includes keeping pace with developments in the in- provides them with an opportunity to become famil- formation and communications. It is therefore vital to iar with the UOC physical campus. Tutors are always bring the ICTs into the classroom. present in the virtual learning environment and are physically participate in on-site meetings; most im- portantly, they are always available when needed. 3.2. Teaching staff They guide students along their chosen paths, pro- vide academic counselling and look for ways to over- Apart from responding to student doubts and come any obstacles that present themselves in the needs, instructional activity at the UOC aims to course of a student’s learning experience. provide learners with guidance and to point them in the right direction so that each can pursue Consultant lecturers his/her own learning goals. The teacher is, there- fore, a facilitator of learning rather than a source of Consultant lecturers are responsible for guiding information. Teachers structure information in a and evaluating the students on their specific cours- sequential manner, indicate to students where es, usually lasting a single six-month term. They they can find it, and help them develop an aware- provide personalised responses to questions ness of the difference in quality between different about content and encourage the exchange of information sources. The instructor effectively ideas and information. Consultant lecturers are acts as a companion and guide - as a tutor therefore the providers of learning content. They and/or teacher in the truest sense. facilitate learning by proposing activities, providing guidelines, evaluating activities and monitoring the The use of the information and communication overall progress of students taking their course. technologies has a bearing on this new vision of The virtual teacher's role is, essentially, to support the teaching function. Students, above all, initially and monitor students. need guidance, both to ensure that they do not find the virtual space chaotic and to help them Support and monitoring are reinforced by face-to- pursue their studies in an effective way. The UOC face meetings at the start and end of each term. has created two figures to guide students through These provide students with the opportunity to their virtual learning experience: tutors and con- meet their instructors and give instructors a sultant lecturers. chance to get to know their students.
Tutors My educational experience as a UOC student Tutors act as guides for students during enrolment and during their entire stay at the UOC. They also I spent four academic years (eight terms) at the UOC and was taught by as many consultant lectur- provide support in helping learners meet educa- ers as courses I completed. (There may, of course, tional challenges and integrate into university life, have been the odd repeated subject). My academic and provide career counselling at the conclusion of journey through the UOC led me to sign up for 29 their studies.
69 CONEIXEMENT I SOCIETAT 10 ARTICLES
mation necessary for them to be able to function in a courses and to get to know the corresponding con- technological environment. In these materials, stu- sultant lecturers and materials. I made sure not to dents find the input they need to acquire the know- miss any of the face-to-face meetings (at the start ledge, competencies and skills necessary for each and end of each term), as these represented an op- portunity to meet the instructors who were support- discipline. Moreover, innovative material aimed at ing and accompanying me on my way through the improving learning processes is the fruit of an ongo- virtual learning area. ing pedagogical research process at the UOC.
Needless to say, the UOC teaching staff was – and is likely to still be - as diverse as that found at any other The course materials university. Some consultant lecturers were more committed, or faster at responding to e-mails; some Sometimes there were problems with the course ma- were more experienced as teachers, not only in the terials: they would arrive late, they had printing errors, virtual area but also as face-to-face instructors. pages were missing, etc. These were relatively minor These were just some of the factors that affected my inconveniences, however. Once you had the material, relationships with individual consultant lecturers, with suitably bound, on your desk in front of you, and once some of whom I formed lasting friendships. you started working on each course - then the ma- terials really became your own. Even now that the exams are over, I still refer to them, and I would never 3.3. Learning materials dream of throwing them away. They are written in a straightforward style, are very complete, and cover all At the start of each term, UOC students receive the one needs to know about a subject area. What's more, material for the courses on which they are enrolled. each chapter contains bibliographical references that These hard-copy learning materials are necessary are potentially of use for subsequent studies. Some- for learning to be potentially meaningful; they are, times there wasn’t time to study all the material moreover, non-arbitrary and substantive enough to provided - but it's always there to go back to… fit in with the knowledge that the student already possesses. Paper-based materials are one of the most important means for influencing the educa- 3.4. The virtual library tional process and providing pedagogical support. The UOC materials also include suggestions con- One of the most important and most popular cerning the sequence of interactions that will bol- academic resources available in the UOC cam- ster the process of constructing knowledge. pus is the virtual library, where UOC students can access the information resources they need Developed by a team of experts in educational di- to fulfil their learning aims. These resources in- dactics and in a range of knowledge fields, the clude e-journals, full-text databases and sub- course materials comply with the principles underly- ject-specific news updates and bulletins, as well ing the UOC pedagogical model. They are simple, as other documents and resources held by the clear, intelligible and well-structured. They guide stu- virtual library or other information centres. The dents in their interactions in the virtual environment, virtual library also offers other customised services promote the articulation of new knowledge in written aimed at meeting the specific information needs form, and provide students with the practical infor- of students.
70 THE OPEN UNIVERSITY OF CATALONIA PEDAGOGICAL MODEL: THE CLASSROOM PERSPECTIVE
timetable and must participate in the forums pro- The virtual library: what a find! posed by the consultant lecturer. The final grade takes into account both the marks awarded for For me, the virtual library is a valuable academic re- projects and the exam mark. The final evaluation source that played and continues to play an impor- option, on the other hand, allows learners to work tant role in my personal learning process. You enter the virtual campus, click on Library and … access at their own pace, but results depend entirely on whatever it is you're after. Well … sometimes you has the examination. to settle for what you can find. In the 2001-2002 academic year, the UOC de- As a graduate, I still subscribe to the ‘Psychology on signed and planned an improvement to the ongo- the Internet’ news service: every week I receive sum- ing assessment system. Students evaluated posi- maries of a number of journals of interest, especially tively on the basis of established performance journals concerning my work. criteria are now only required to validate acquired knowledge on-site and in writing.
3.5. The study plan and ongoing assessment The fundamental role of the study plan The study plan provides students with information on the learning goals, working methodology, tim- Every course has its own study plan. As with the ing and evaluation criteria for each course. Its pur- learning materials provided, having a plan is motiva- pose is to orient and guide students in the work tional. All the ‘fine print’ in relation to each course is right there in the study plan. It is very useful when it they do during term. As a tool for facilitating learn- comes to keeping on track over the course of a se- ing, the study plan for each subject plays a basic mester. You can't afford to lose the thread, and the role in keeping students on the right track. It also study plan ensures that you don't. Everything is sys- describes the ongoing assessment system, which tematically measured and explained: content, activi- requires the completion of a number of activities in ties, deadlines, exam dates and any other details the course of the term. These activities are guided considered appropriate and necessary by the con- and evaluated by the instructors responsible for sultant lecturers. each course. The evaluation system ensures that students get as much as possible out of each course and that they achieve the course aims. It 3.6. The virtual classroom also allows them to monitor their learning process and to assess and measure their own day-to-day The UOC virtual learning environment, as one progress. would expect, has virtual classrooms. The class- room is the area where students engage in ongo- Students may opt for either ongoing assessment ing interactions with instructors and other mem- or final evaluation. Although the first option (the one bers of the groups they belong to; this is where I always chose) requires pace of work to be adapt- they participate actively in learning and generating ed to that set by the consultant lecturer, it does knowledge by sharing ideas and initiatives, and have some advantages. Students who select this where - individually or collectively - they clear up option must present projects according to a doubts about instructional content.
71 CONEIXEMENT I SOCIETAT 10 ARTICLES
The virtual classroom enables students to establish satisfactory working and cooperative relationships ISDN Internet connections. The rest of us had to in a virtual learning environment that is represented navigate using a simple modem and paying for by a computer screen - with tabs for planning, semi-flat-rate access or modules for a fixed number of hours or at fixed times. We almost always found communication, resources and evaluation, each ourselves trying to access the campus at the same offering various functionalities and each based on time; from 6.00 or 7.00 in the evening until the early particular IT applications. Working in groups in or- hours of the morning it was very difficult to gain ac- der to apply theoretical knowledge to practical situ- cess. There were all kinds of problems: sudden dis- ations is an effective approach to learning, and the connection, pages that wouldn’t load, etc. Worst of effectiveness of this methodology is reinforced by all, sometimes we just had to connect - to hand in the fact that the marks awarded for this type of an assignment, or to communicate with another work make a significant contribution to final course member of our group so that we could make marks. For a university model based on the use of progress with a project. My solution to this problem the information and communication technologies was to access the campus at around five in the and underpinned by a learning concept that places morning. The air was fresh and my head clear after a shower and a cup of good coffee, and almost students at the centre of the teaching-learning everybody else was asleep. I was not alone; there process, collaborative work is fundamental. were a number of us who were always the first to enter the campus each day.
The UOC is a pioneer in the virtual learning 4. In conclusion area and in terms of a vision of learning as a The constructivist concept of learning, as currently process that involves personal construc- formulated, is proving to be a tool that is sufficiently tion of knowledge. precise and powerful to guide analysis, reflection and action, both in the education field in general, and in the specific teaching and learning processes that take place at educational centres. In the UOC virtual classroom, it is nearly always the students (alone or accompanied) who drive their The UOC is a pioneer in the virtual learning area own learning within the structured UOC learning and in terms of a vision of learning as a process environment. Yet the classroom is also the forum in that involves personal construction of knowledge. which students obtain most satisfaction from From the outset, the UOC has been committed to group work and from cooperating with each other. presenting students with a new educational model based on the principles of personalisation and comprehensive support. This approach, which Problems in virtual space breaks down the barriers posed by space and time, is rooted in the cultural, social and linguistic I've spent many hours in virtual space; sometimes – but not always - the fault was a slow browser. When reality of Catalonia, and takes full advantage of the I started at UOC in 1998, only a privileged few had opportunities provided by the information and communication technologies.
72 THE OPEN UNIVERSITY OF CATALONIA PEDAGOGICAL MODEL: THE CLASSROOM PERSPECTIVE
The basic aim of the UOC has been to create a con- point, the UOC learning model, characterised main- structive, communicative and collaborative learning ly by asynchrony, adapts pedagogical support to environment that is adapted to contemporary soci- the technological infrastructures available, thereby ety and oriented toward educational improvement taking full advantage of the potential offered by in- and innovation. Taking constructivism as its starting teraction in a virtual learning environment.
Bibliography
AUSUBEL, D. P.; J. D. NOVAK. & H. HANESIAN. Psicología educativa: un punto de vista cognitivo. Mexico: Editorial Trillas, 1983.
BARBERÀ, E. (coord.); A. BADIA & J. M. MOMINÓ. La incógnita de la educación a distancia. Barcelona: ICE UB / Horsori, 2001.
BATES, T. «La tecnologia i el futur de l’educació». A: DUART, J. M. i A. SANGRA (eds.). Aprenentatge i virtualitat. Barcelona: UOC / Pòrtic, 1999.
COLL, C. Aprendizaje escolar y construcción del conocimiento. Buenos Aires: Novedades Educativas, 1994.
COLL, C. «La concepción constructivista como instrumento para el análisis de las prácticas educativas escolares». In: Coll, C. (coord.). Psico- logía de la instrucción: la enseñanza y el aprendizaje en la educación secundaria. Barcelona: ICE UB / Horsori, 1999.
DORADO, C. «La font psicològica». Aprendre a aprendre. Estratègies i tècniques. 1. Barcelona: UAB, 1996. Available from: http://www.xtec.es/~cdorado/cdora1/teories.htm.
MORANTE, A. «Influencia de factores relacionados con la actividad profesional sobre la perseverancia en estudios universitarios on-line» [on line paper]. Revista de Universidad y Sociedad del Conocimiento (RUSC). Barcelona: UOC, 2005. Available from: http://www.uoc.edu/rusc/dt/esp/morante0405.pdf.
PIAGET, J. L’équilibration des structures cognitives. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1975.
CENTRE D’ESTUDIS VALL DE SEGÓ. Quaderns digitals.net. Available (in Catalan, Spanish and Portuguese) from: http://www.quadernsdigitals.net/.
RUMELHART, D. «Schemata and the cognitive system». In: WYER, Jr., R. S. & T. K SRULL (eds.). HANDBOOK OF SOCIAL COGNITION, p. 161-188. Hillsdale, New Jersey, EUA: Lawrence ErIbaum Associates, 1984.
TAYLOR, R.& J. OSORIO. «Economías de e-learning en la enseñanza superior: estrategias de implantación». In: DUART, J.M. & F. LUPIÀÑEZ (co- ords.) Las TIC en la universidad: estrategia y transformación institucional [monográfico en línea]. Revista de Universidad y Sociedad del Co- nocimiento (RUSC). Barcelona: UOC, 2005. Available from: http://www.uoc.edu/rusc/dt/esp/taylor0405.pdf.
TIFFIN, J. & L. RAJASINGHAM. En busca de la clase virtual. La educación en la sociedad de la información. Barcelona: Paidós, 1997.
VIGOTSKY, L. S. El desarrollo de los procesos psicológicos superiores. Barcelona: Crítica, 1979.
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notes 76 88 112 The founding of the School Funding for the creation, The 2006 budget for the of Chemistry of de Junta development and Ministry of Universities, Particular de Comerç de cosolidation of xarxes Research and the Catalunya: A milestone in temàtiques (thematic Information Society (DURSI) the institutionalisation of networks): Support for and its dependent bodies research and higher research integration in Sílvia Vives-Pastor education in Catalonia Catalonia Josep M. Camarasa Victòria Miquel, Jordi Tasies and Joan Cadefau CONEIXEMENT I SOCIETAT 10 NOTES
THE FOUNDING OF THE SCHOOL OF CHEMISTRY OF THE JUNTA PARTICULAR DE COMERÇ DE CATALUNYA: A MILESTONE IN THE INSTITUTIONALISATION OF RE- SEARCH AND HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE SCIENCES IN CATALONIA
Josep M. Camarasa*
On the occasion of the commemoration this year (2005) of the two-hundredth anniversary of the opening of the School of Chemistry (Escola de Química) of the Reial Junta Particular de Comerç de Barcelona, a particularly sig- nificant landmark of the rudiments of policy for higher education in science and technology and for research in Catalonia, a review is made of the history of the institutions and individuals that played a leading role in the early stages of higher technical education in Catalonia, from the professorships and colleges of the Junta de Comerç to the setting up of the Barcelona Industrial School (Escola Industrial).
Abstract
1. Introduction 2. The professorships and colleges of the Junta de Comerç 3. The founding of the School of Chemistry 4. The School of Chemistry in action 5. From the colleges of the Junta de Comerç to the Barcelona Industrial School
* Josep M. Camarasa is the head of Sectorial Studies and Documentation of the DURSI Consultative Working Group (Gabinet Tècnic). (DURSI – the Ministry for Universities, Research and the Information Society, Autonomous Government of Catalonia)
76 THE FOUNDING OF THE SCHOOL OF CHEMISTRY OF THE JUNTA PARTICULAR DE COMERÇ DE CATALUNYA: A MILESTONE IN THE INSTITUTIONALISATION OF RESEARCH AND HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE SCIENCES IN CATALONIA
1. Introduction military engineers, a chair of mathematics was set up at the Cordelles Royal College (1757)1 and 2005 is commemorated by the Barcelona Cham- the Royal College of Surgery was set up in ber of Commerce and the Institute of Catalan Barcelona (1760). The Barcelona College of Studies, represented by the Catalan Chemistry So- Apothecaries opened briefly between 1763 and ciety and the Catalan History of Science and Tech- 1767 but was unsuccessful in establishing formal nology Society, as the two-hundredth anniversary courses in botany, chemistry and pharmacy. Sev- of the founding of the School of Chemistry of the eral professorships were also established at the Reial Junta Particular de Comerç de Barcelona, a Royal Academy of Sciences and Arts. The most particularly significant landmark of the rudiments of outstanding and original contribution however policy for higher education in science and techno- was to come from an economic corporation that logy and for research in Catalonia. was re-established in 1758, the Principality of Catalonia’s Reial Junta Particular de Comerç2 One of the consequences of the defeat of the that, from 1769 onwards, started a policy of set- Catalan forces at the end of the War of the Spanish ting up and supporting colleges of scientific and Succession (1714) was the suppression of all of technical education that were the foundation for the existing universities in Catalonia at that time the Barcelona Industrial School, established in and their replacement by one sole university locat- the second half of the nineteenth century. ed in Cervera. Philip V also set up a Military Acade- my of Mathematics in Barcelona where a consider- able number of artillerymen and military engineers in the Spanish army were trained throughout the The Principality of Catalonia’s Reial Junta eighteenth century (1720-1803). Together with Particular de Comerç was the springboard the ecclesiastical colleges, these were the only for promoting the economic activity being es- institutions of higher education in Catalonia during the first half of the eighteenth century. tablished by the growing learned commercial and industrial middle class in Catalonia at a Initiatives to broaden this very limited scope of time, in the middle of the eighteenth century, available education in Catalonia began increasing during the second half of the eighteenth century of great expansion and profound transfor- on the part of both the Spanish Crown and differ- mations in the entire production system in ent bodies in Catalan society. The Crown author- Catalonia. ities restructured the Academy of Mathematics (1750), with separate training for artillerymen and
1 The Cordelles College was an initiative run by Jesuits. The chair ceased to exist when they were expulsed in 1767. 2 Translator’s note: a contemporary equivalent would be the Board of Maritime Trade.
77 CONEIXEMENT I SOCIETAT 10 NOTES
2. The professorships and colleges economic activity being established by the growing of the Junta de Comerç learned commercial and industrial middle class in Catalonia at a time, in the middle of the eighteenth The Principality of Catalonia’s Reial Junta Particular century, of great expansion and profound transfor- de Comerç was the springboard for promoting the mations in the entire production system in Catalo-
Table 1 Colleges set up by the Junta de Comerç before the creation of the Barcelona Industrial School Foundation year School/subject Professors 1769 School of Navigation Sinibald de Mas (1769-1806); Agustí Canellas (1806-1818); Manuel Mas (1818-1828); Carles Maristany (1828-1834); Ezequiel Calvet (1835-1850); Josep Bonet (1850-51) 1772* School of Noble Arts Pere Pasqual Moles (1772-1797); Pere Pau Muntanya i Placeta (1797-1803); Salvador Gurri (1803-1804); Tomàs Solanes (1804-1805); Jaume Folch i Costa (1805-1809); Josep Bernat Flaugier (1809-1813); Jaume Folch i Costa (1813-1821); Francesc Rodríguez i Pusat (1821-1840); Vicenç Rodés (1840-1858) 1787 School of Commerce Francesc Alsina (1787-1790); Mateu Civil (1791-1793); Bernat Clausolles (1806-1807); 1835** Francesc Claret (1835-1851) 1804 School of Business Writing Skills Francesc Serra Ginesta (1805-1808; 1814-1836); Josep Andreu (1836-1851) 1805 School of Chemistry Francesc Carbonell (1805-1808; 1814-1822); Josep Roura (1822-1851) 1807 School of Theoretical and Practical Joan Francesc Bahí (1814-1841); Antoni Doménech (1841-42); Miguel Colmeiro Agriculture and Botany (1842-1845); Miquel Bosch i Julià (1845-1846); Antoni-Cebrià Costa (1846); Jaume Llansó (1846-1851) 1808 School of Mechanics Francesc Santponç (1808; 1814-1820) (Statics and Hydrostatics) 1814 School of Experimental Physics Pere Vieta (1814-1835; 1838-1844); Joan Agell (1835-1836; 1844-46); Joan de Zafont (1836-1837; 1841); Joaquim Balcells (1846-1851) 1814 School of Political Economy Eudald Jaumeandreu (1814-1824; 1835-1840) 1815 School of Calculus and Double Antoni Alà (1815-1830); Francesc Claret (1831-1835) Entry Book-keeping 1817 School of Architecture Antoni Cellers (1817-1824); Francesc Renart (1824-1835); Josep Casademunt (1835-1850) 1819 Professorship of Mathematics Onofre Jaume Novellas (1819-1849) 1819 Professorship of Arithmetic and Antoni Alà (1819-1830) Practical Geometry 1820 Professorship of Constitution Eudald Jaumeandreu (1820-23) 1824 Professorship of French Llorenç Cot (1824-26); Antoni Bergnes de las Casas (1830-1839); Francesc Anglada (1839-1851) 1824 Professorship of Italian Lluís Bordas (1824-1845) 1826 Professorship of English William Casey (1826-1851) 1829 Professorship of Naval Architecture Josep Arévalo (1829-1834); Josep Torres Mirabent (1835-1851) 1831 School of Machinery Hilarión Bordege (1831-1851) 1838 School of the Deaf José María Moraleja i Lluís Rubió (1838-1840) 1841 Professorship of Technical Drawing Josep Oriol i Bernadet (1841-1851) 1845 School of Mercantile Law Josep Maria Gatell (1845-1851) * New foundation because a change of name of the School of Calculus and Double Entry Book-keeping.
78 THE FOUNDING OF THE SCHOOL OF CHEMISTRY OF THE JUNTA PARTICULAR DE COMERÇ DE CATALUNYA: A MILESTONE IN THE INSTITUTIONALISATION OF RESEARCH AND HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE SCIENCES IN CATALONIA
nia. With clear foresight, its directors promoted 3. The founding of the School of higher education from 1769 onwards and set up a Chemistry series of professorships and colleges specialising in scientific and technical subjects (navigation, noble In relation to the Junta de Comerç’s overall educa- arts, commerce, commercial writing skills, chem- tional project, the School of Chemistry was devel- istry, agriculture and botany, statics and hydrostat- oped relatively late although within the pre-French ics, experimental physics, political economy, archi- war period. The most enterprising of the Junta de tecture, mathematics, arithmetic and geometry, Comerç’s members saw chemistry as being a machinery, technical drawing, languages, etc.). promising science for the profit that could be made Some of these colleges were set up as a result of ini- from the country’s agriculture and industry, and the tiatives by the Crown authorities and the Real Junta dynamism associated with the new know-how, es- Superior de Comercio although in fact the majority pecially following the publication of the Traité élé- were set up by the Junta de Comerç and duly pro- mentaire de Chimie by Antoine Laurent de Lavoisier tected on more than one occasion in the face of in 1789 and Éléments de Chimie by Jean-Antoine hostility until the Barcelona Industrial School was Chaptal in 1790, the latter, published in Montpellier, set up in 1851. It was in this group of colleges, as the being particularly influential in Catalonia. historian Josep Fontana has remarked,3 that the en- gineers of the Catalan industrialisation process, to- As Agustí Nieto-Galan has stated,8 Chaptal’s close gether with the scientists and intellectuals of the pe- relationship to his native Languedoc (Catalan- riod of Romanticism and the early stages of the 19th speaking area of southern France) resulted in his century Renaixença movement were all educated. developing a form of chemistry that, while incorpo- rating Lavoisier’s theoretical foundations and those In comparison with the university tradition, which of new chemistry, led to particular improvements in was rather conservative, and despite the utilitarian the activities of the local economy, with better qual- nature of these colleges, the network that they ity wines, improved soils, the extraction of more ef- formed provided students with subject matter that fective and long-lasting dyes from dye works, etc. incorporated the latest trends in scientific and This model was taken by Francesc Carbonell i Bra- technical innovations. This was particularly the vo and applied through the Junta de Comerç. case with the schools of mechanics,4 chemistry5 and theoretical and practical agriculture and Carbonell expounded on this model in great detail botany,6 the professors of which (Santponç, Car- in his inaugural speech, which has been appro- bonell and Bahí) were the editors between 1815 priately republished on the occasion of the and 1821 of the Memorias de Agricultura y Artes bicentenary jointly by the Barcelona Chamber of journal, the first serious attempt to produce a sci- Commerce and two affiliated institutions of the ence and technology publication in Catalonia.7 Institute Catalan Studies, the Catalan Chemistry
3 FONTANA, 1988, p. 105 4 PUIG-PLA , 1998. 5 NIETO-GALAN, 1994. 6 CAMARASA, 1989, p. 103-106; 122-127; 134-143. 7 CAMARASA, 1989, p. 106; PUIG-PLA, 2002-2003, p. 24. 8 NIETO-GALAN, 2005, p. 21.
79 CONEIXEMENT I SOCIETAT 10 NOTES
Society and the Catalan History of Science and and potassium), verdigris (copper acetate) or sugar Technology Society.9 For Carbonell, the object of of lead (lead acetate); acids like aqua fortis (nitric education at the new School was to give acid), aqua regia (chlorhydric and nitric acids) and oil guidance by way of certain exact principles to all of vitril (sulphuric acid), and alkalis like potash. Many operations in agriculture and the arts and to of these products had to be imported by the Cata- protect the peasant farmer and craftsmen from lan calico manufacturers because the necessary the great difficulties and absurd and unwarranted quality was unavailable locally despite the fact that methods they were struggling with in order to the necessary raw materials were available locally. survive in practical terms.10 Also from Languedoc came products made by In his speech, Carbonell rejected the division be- chemists for improving the art of wine distillation to tween theoretical and practical chemistry on the obtain brandy, one of the key products in the eco- grounds of inexactitude and it being harmful to nomic transformation of a large part of the Catalan the progress of the science. The true chemist, the countryside in the eighteenth century.11 It was again one who understands the nature and properties Chaptal who, as professor at Montpellier, intro- of the substances that he works with and who duced the idea of “chemistry doctor”, a category knows how to anticipate the effects of the combi- that could be applied to those with a traditional nations, excels in exactitude and economy when health-associated training (pharmacy, surgery and applying his knowledge to agriculture and the arts especially medicine) and who were interested in the and avoids mere routine practice. new emerging chemistry for use in medicine, indus- try and agriculture;12 doctors, according to Chaptal, This is what the Junta de Comerç sought to achieve who were capable of healing the human body and with the new school. It wanted to train chemists its changes and also of understanding economic who, with a solid scientific foundation, could sensi- flows and of co-operating to improve the circulation bly and efficiently direct the wide variety of factories of agricultural and manufactured consumer materi- and manufacturing that either belonged to the di- als and goods. This meant achieving the difficult rectors or that their owners entrusted to them. balance, according to Lavoisier’s new chemistry, between health and industrial traditions as the only If Chaptal, with his teaching, had succeeded in giv- way to socially legitimise this new science.13 ing impetus to the manufacturing of a wide variety of chemical products around Montpellier, why not pro- This was a category that Francesc Carbonell i Bravo mote the production in Catalonia, like Chaptal had (1768-1837), the first incumbent of the Junta de done in the neighbouring Languedoc region, of for Comerç’s School of Chemistry, would easily fit into. example some of the more called-for ingredients The descendent of a line of apothecaries, he went to used in the calico factories: dyes like Adrianopolis apothecary college in 1789 and then began to work red; mordents such as alum (aluminium sulphate in his family’s apothecary shop. After spending some
9 CARBONELL i BRAVO, 2005. 10 CARBONELL i BRAVO, 2005, p. 40. 11 GIRALT, 1952. 12 GRAPÍ-VILUMARA and NIETO-GALAN, 2005. 13 NIETO-GALAN, 2005
80 THE FOUNDING OF THE SCHOOL OF CHEMISTRY OF THE JUNTA PARTICULAR DE COMERÇ DE CATALUNYA: A MILESTONE IN THE INSTITUTIONALISATION OF RESEARCH AND HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE SCIENCES IN CATALONIA
time in Madrid, where he studied botany, experimen- between the Junta General de Comercio y Moneda tal physics, mineralogy and chemistry, he went on to in Madrid and the Junta Particular de Comerç in study medicine at the University of Huesca (1791- Catalonia, it was becoming increasingly apparent 1795) and returned to Barcelona where he was pro- that Francesc Carbonell was a likely candidate for fessor of chemistry at the Royal College of Surgery the post of director of the new teaching institution. and pneumatic chemistry at the Practical Medicine As definitive approval for the setting up of the school Academy where he explained and demonstrated was being delayed and the institutions involved with experiments the doctrine and fundaments of were showing increased interest in taking on some- chemistry and its applications in medicine. He was one trained at the Montpellier school, Carbonell also admitted to the Barcelona Royal Academy of moved to Languedoc and, in addition to taking a Science and Arts (1798), which was competing with PhD, received lessons from Jean-Antoine Chaptal, the Junta de Comerç to set up a School of Chemistry Joseph-Guillaume Virenque and Jacques Dra- on the initiative of the authorities in Madrid. parnaud. He then moved back to Madrid where Proust’s advice on how to organise the new Courses in chemistry had already been given at the school’s laboratory converted Carbonell in the ideal Academy from 1767 onwards, first by the apothe- candidate to head the School of Chemistry that the cary Josep Mollar, one of the founders, and then an- Junta de Comerç was to ultimately establish. other apothecary, Francesc Sala, and in 1788, when the Count of Floridablanca submitted a request to the Junta de Comerç de Barcelona to establish a The setting up of a School of Chemistry in School of Chemistry, the Academy made best use of its credentials in relation to the matter. The setting up Barcelona was an ambitious objective which of a School of Chemistry in Barcelona was an ambi- sought to bring to an end the technological tious objective widely supported by the Crown au- dependence on abroad and the tradition and thorities and different social groups in Barcelona and Catalonia, and which sought to bring to an end the routine resulting from the influence of the technological dependence on abroad and the tradi- guilds to be able to develop technical innova- tion and routine resulting from the influence of the tions that were necessary. guilds to be able to develop technical innovations that were necessary. For the Academy, moreover, the introduction of this discipline also meant an im- provement in its unsatisfactory economic situation.14 The Junta de Comerç’s School of Chemistry was fi- nally inaugurated on 16 May 1805 in a solemn cere- The project was temporarily rejected due to financial mony chaired by the provincial governor of Catalonia, difficulties until 1793 when it was again given con- Blas de Aranza, who was surrounded by merchants sideration due to insistence on the importance of registered with the Junta de Comerç, the students chemistry as an applied science within the econom- from the colleges that already belonged to it and a ic and social context in Catalonia at that time. In the large public gathering qualified by the editor of the Di- course of the prolonged discussion on this project ario de Barcelona newspaper as being "literary and
14 GRAPÍ-VILUMARA and NIETO-GALAN, 2005.
81 CONEIXEMENT I SOCIETAT 10 NOTES
refined".15 The shortage of space in the Casa Llotja, and laboratory during the initial years, there were the headquarters of the Barcelona Junta de Comerç, also other distinguished students, some of whom, also enabled the Royal Academy of Natural Sciences according to a custom established by the Junta de and Arts to benefit when the School of Chemistry and Comerç to publicise its activities, carried out “public its laboratory was located in its building. exercises” in the autumn of 1807.16 In these public exercises, an unusual practice and highly innovative at the beginning of the 19th century, the students, after a brief speech by the principal, presented cer- The student body of the School was highly tain laboratory experiments to the public while com- heterogeneous although as a whole it was menting on relevant theoretical fundaments. linked with the arts, commerce and health. When the war came to an end, Carbonell was at the Court and could not return immediately to take up his post at the School, which reopened in Decem- 4. The School of Chemistry in action ber 1814 with the apothecary Agustí Yàñez, one of the students who in 1807 had carried out public ex- The classes, which were open to both registered ercises, as temporary professor until the start of the and unregistered students, were given Monday to 1815 academic year when Carbonell returned. Thursday at half past eleven in the morning, with Saturdays set aside for experimental practicals in The student body of the School was highly hetero- the laboratory, which were soon marked (6 June geneous although as a whole it was linked with the 1806) by the accidental explosion of a glass jar arts, commerce and health.17 Both Yàñez and containing hydrogen that wounded Carbonell in some of his student colleagues from the first years the eye (which he ultimately lost) and caused non- of the School of Chemistry played a leading role serious injuries to two of his students. This did not during these years when activities were being re- prevent the chemistry classes from being held dur- sumed in reorganising the teaching of pharmacy, ing the initial stage up until the French War in 1808, and Carbonell as well, who was consulted about with successful results such as the grant awarded the reform of the study programme at the recently by the Junta de Comerç in 1807 to one of the stu- created Royal Colleges of Pharmacy in relation to dents, Mateu Orfila from Minorca, to broaden his the application of aspects of science that were studies in Paris. Mateu Orfila went on to become useful to this discipline, including chemistry.18 After an eminent toxicologist and dean of the Faculty of taking their corresponding competitive civil service Medicine in Paris. examinations between 1815 and 1817, Agustí Yañez (1789-1857) was given the post of Profes- While Orfila was probably the most outstanding stu- sorship of Natural History at the recently estab- dent to study in the School of Chemistry classroom lished Sant Victorià Royal College of Pharmacy,
15 Diario de Barcelona, 139, 19-5-1805, p. 625-626. 16 CARBONELL, 1807. 17 "The classrooms were filled with students, all mixed together irrespective of class and profession. Paint manufacturers, secondary school graduates, surgery graduates, pharmacy practitioners, […], engravers, […], architects, […], soldiers" (RUIZ y PABLO, 1919, p. 294). 18 CARMONA, 1983.
82 THE FOUNDING OF THE SCHOOL OF CHEMISTRY OF THE JUNTA PARTICULAR DE COMERÇ DE CATALUNYA: A MILESTONE IN THE INSTITUTIONALISATION OF RESEARCH AND HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE SCIENCES IN CATALONIA
Josep Antoni Balcells (1777-1857) that of physics modernisation of the country and thereby a more and chemistry, and Raimon Fors (1791-1859) that significant recognition of the new natural sciences; of pharmaceutical preparations.19 on the other hand, however, it had a negative repercussion on the School of Chemistry because, During the stage of reconstruction following the owing to the possibility of the University of French War, the Junta de Comerç launched a new Barcelona being re-established, the Junta de Com- instrument for the diffusion of technical innova- erç decided to temporarily close its schools pend- tions, namely the monthly publication of the ing knowledge of the teaching plans of the new li- Memorias de Agricultura y Artes journal, which was beral government. When the Junta wanted to published from 1815 to 1821 under the direction of reopen its schools in October 1821, an epidemic of Joan Francesc Bahi, Francesc Carbonell and yellow fever hit Barcelona and the academic staff Francesc Santponç, professors respectively of the that were away from the city, including Carbonell, Junta’s schools of Theoretical and Practical Agri- waited sufficiently long before the epidemic had culture and Botany, Chemistry and Mechanics. passed before returning. Classes at the School of This journal, which was the first serious attempt to Chemistry finally resumed in 1822 (and at the other publish a scientific and technical publication in Ca- schools of the Junta de Comerç) within the frame- talonia, was significantly successful20 and became work of a new university for second and third-level one of the forces making for the cohesion of the education (segunda y tercera enseñanza) set up by scientific and technical recovery in Catalonia during the Barcelona City Council and the Provincial Gov- this period. Special contributions in the field of ernment (Diputació) of Catalonia, of which Car- chemistry, most of them by Carbonell, included bonell was named professor. Unfortunately, he had wine chemistry, brandy production, the use of na- a stroke that was the start of a slow process of tural colours for dyeing and cloth printing, soil physical, personal and professional agony, and he analysis and other less important developments. progressively became more removed from his sci- entific and teaching activity. He was finally pen- In addition to academic activity and an active par- sioned off by the Junta de Comerç and temporarily ticipation in publicising information through the replaced by Josep Roura i Estrada (1797 -1860) for Memorias de Agricultura y Artes, the School of the remaining part of the 1822-23 academic year. Chemistry and its professor carried out supervisory and advisory functions in different industries and At the end of 1823, Barcelona was being besieged manufactures (factories manufacturing calico, mi- by the Cent mil fils de Saint Louis (the Hundred neral acids, explosives, brandy distilleries) in what thousand sons of Saint Louis, an army sent by was a considerable effort in establishing dialogue France to help Ferdinand VII against the liberals) between industry and the crafts. and the liberal regime was about to end. When the new authorities suppressed the University for se- The advent of a liberal political regime in 1820 on cond and third-level education, Roura, who had the one hand signified the possibility of the general willingly offered to continue the classes as soon as
19 YÀÑEZ, 1838. 20 In addition to being distributed in Barcelona, the journal was also distributed in Madrid, Cadiz, Valencia, Zaragoza, Seville, Majorca, Bilbao, Granada, Pamplona, etc. 2.138 copies were sold in 1819 and the Junta de Comerç had a large stock of 11,302 fascicles (GRAPÍ-VILUMARA and NIETO-GALAN, in print).
83 CONEIXEMENT I SOCIETAT 10 NOTES
possible within the framework of the Junta de be the first tests ever in Catalonia (and Spain) to pro- Comerç, proposed the idea of going abroad in the duce gas lighting; in view of the results, the Junta de meantime to gain new knowledge; however, he fi- Comerç approved the project to install gas lighting in nally consolidated his position as temporary pro- the La Llotja building. Roura completed the distilling fessor at the start of the 1824-25 academic year apparatus and gasometers (built by local craftsmen) and was definitively given the professorship of the by June 1826 and the first public gas lighting tests Junta’s School of Chemistry in 1826. were made in the halls of the School of Nobles Arts at La Llotja on the night of the celebrations of June 24 The School of Chemistry under Roura recovered (Sant Joan), which was repeated for three more from the prostration that it had fallen into in the final nights given the large turnout. With the visit of the years when Carbonell was professor, coinciding King and Queen to Barcelona on 4 December 1827, with the convulsive years of the Constitutional Tri- the Junta decided to install gas lighting in the Hall of ennial (1820-23) and he maintained a remarkable Drawing and the Presidential Hall; more than fifteen level of up-to-date teaching activity on innovations years would go by however before gas lighting be- as a result of his frequent trips abroad. He also gan to be commercially supplied in Barcelona.21 maintained the tradition of the public exercises as a When the Junta de Comerç finally contracted its gas means of publicising the School’s teaching work, supply from the Catalan gas company (Societat as Carbonell himself had done. On the other hand, Catalana de Gas) in August 1845, Roura’s work with he had to give up the Memorias de Agricultura y this source of fuel, which had transformed Artes journal, which the Junta de Comerç, with its Barcelona’s social life, also came to an end. dwindling resources, could no longer maintain. On a later trip to France in 1835, Roura concen- trated mainly on the chemistry of wines and brandy. He copied a few apparatuses for produc- The industrial School incorporated the majority ing sparkling wine and acquired a good collection of the schools of the Junta de Comerç together of objects for teaching and experimental purposes for the School of Chemistry, including a hydraulic with their material, teaching staff and other press, samples of sparkling wines and other personnel and should have opened on 1 Sep- drinks, and a collection of minerals and measuring tember 1851, with full funding from the state. instruments. One result of this trip was his experi- ments in blending different Catalan wines from 1836 onwards, which Roura did according to methods he had learned in France and, finally, in There were also other consequences of the journeys 1839, the publication of Memoria sobre los vinos made by Roura that were not directly linked to his y su destilación y sobre los aceites (A report on teaching work in the field of science and technology. wine, wine distilling and oil), which included practi- Following a trip to France in 1825, Roura carried out cal criteria and also introduced the chemical in the School of Chemistry’s laboratory what were to analysis of wine, brandy and oil, together with
21 The first gas company to operate in Barcelona was founded by Charles Lebon in 1841 although it was not until the Catalan Gas Company (Societat Catalana de Gas, founded on 28 January 1843) built what was to be the first gas works in Spain (Barceloneta) that the commercial supply was efficient.
84 THE FOUNDING OF THE SCHOOL OF CHEMISTRY OF THE JUNTA PARTICULAR DE COMERÇ DE CATALUNYA: A MILESTONE IN THE INSTITUTIONALISATION OF RESEARCH AND HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE SCIENCES IN CATALONIA
new techniques of fermentation, brandy distilling cation and three years of further studies leading to and quality control. the qualification of second engineer. The Industrial School incorporated the majority of the schools of the Junta de Comerç together with their material, 5. From the colleges of the Junta de teaching staff and other personnel and should Comerç to the Barcelona Industrial have opened on 1 September of that same year, School with full funding from the state. Josep Roura was named principal on 8 July 1851, with Pere Roqué i Twenty five years of teaching at the School of Pagani, his main disciple and assistant to the pro- Chemistry made Roura a link figure between tech- fessorship of chemistry, as secretary. nical education, which was highly orientated to- wards rationalising existing manufactures on the The academic year finally started on 1 October in basis of the new methods introduced by the im- the great Gothic hall in the La Llotja building in proved understanding of theoretical chemistry, and Barcelona, with speeches by the civil governor for the new system of industrial education, which Barcelona, Ventura Díaz, and professor Jaume viewed technology as being an applied science, Llansó, who had been the last professor of Theo- that, introduced into Spain by a Royal decree of 24 retical and Practical Agriculture and Botany with September 1850, gave an impetus to industrial the Junta de Comerç. One paragraph of Llansó’s education nationwide and set up, amongst others, speech that Lusa calls attention to in his work on the Barcelona Industrial School.22 the setting up of the Barcelona Industrial School23 eloquently expresses the spirit pervading this edu- Roura was permanently active in acquiring the most cational reform that was orientated fundamentally important books on chemistry, dyeing, textile print- at opening up the professional expectations of the ing, geology, mineralogy, physics and agriculture for sons of the growing middle class: the School, as well as laboratory instruments and chemical reagents. On the basis of an inventory car- “The hand that steers the ship of our country has ried out in 1846, the School at that time had an ap- anticipated in its great wisdom the need to stretch preciable quantity of material, including around 300 out and be generous and friendly to the many young reagents, 1,300 collection specimens of minerals members of families who have left the land and the and a library with almost 300 volumes. workshops of their parents to fill the medical, theolo- gy and law schools and to go in search of uncertain The setting up of the new Barcelona Industrial fortune and a position that is seldom eminent. Its School radically transformed the situation. A Royal wish has been to establish, through new studies Decree of 24 March 1851 formally established the based on the indestructible foundations of the fami- Barcelona Industrial School, which was to teach in- ly and property, the development of useful faculties dustrial and mercantile subjects. The industrial that, as public wealth increases, strengthen the so- subjects comprised two years of elementary edu- cial order that is being shaken by doctrines that
22 The Decree established a three-tier system: elementary studies, given in the first level Institutes; further studies, which were given in the industrial schools in Barcelona, Sevilla and Bergara, and higher level studies, which were only set up at the Royal Industrial Institute in Madrid. 23 LUSA, 1996.
85 CONEIXEMENT I SOCIETAT 10 NOTES
have acquired extraordinary proportion. […] These as a result of the interest of the Barcelona City applied studies from now on will form a useful and Council and the Provincial Government that sup- honourable career for all classes in society. Out of ported it when the State was no longer willing to do this will be born more calculating leadership and so. This meant that between 1867 and 1899, when new legislation that, by maintaining the increase in the School of Industrial Engineers in Bilbao began the industrial family within wise limits, will serve to to operate, there was no centre for higher educa- regulate the progressive movement of industry.” tion dealing with industrial subjects in Spain other than the Barcelona School, with the peculiarity This was still not quite the full industrialist rhetoric that, up until 1917, it was the local authorities and of the late 19th century industrial engineers. As pro- not the State that was maintaining this school. fessor of agriculture linked with the Sant Isidre Catalan Agricultural Institute,24 of which he was one The present-day Technical University of Catalonia of the founders and member of the first board of (UPC) is the heir and successor of the Barcelona managers, Llansó considered agriculture, industry Industrial School. The chemistry courses at the and commerce to be equally vital functions for the University of Barcelona, in both the Faculty of wealth of a country and for this reason industry Chemistry as well as the Faculty of Pharmacy, can should not be developed beyond “wise limits” that, also be considered as being heirs to the teaching if so, would be detrimental to agriculture. of chemistry at the Junta de Comerç’s School, giv- en that all of the teaching staff of subjects associat- His were no idle words. Within just a few years, in- ed with chemistry had worked there previously. dustrial education in Spain was in crisis. The Gijón This reason, together with the singularity of the and Bergara schools were closed in 1860, the one events of two hundred years ago, is why impor- in Valencia in 1865 and the Seville school in 1866. tance is attached to remembering the setting up of The Royal Industrial Institute in Madrid disap- the Junta de Comerç’s School of Chemistry, to- peared in 1867 and, from this time on, only the gether with its promoters, professors and the more Barcelona Industrial School survived and this only outstanding events marking its history.
References
CAMARASA, Josep M. Botànica i botànics dels Països Catalans. Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana, 1989.
CARBONELL i BRAVO, F. Ejercicios públicos de Química que sostendran los alumnos de la Escuela gratuita de esta ciencia establecida en la ciu- dad de Barcelona por la Real Junta de Comercio del Principado de Catalunya. Barcelona: Herederos de Suria y Brugada, 1807.
24 The Sant Isidre Catalan Agricultural Institute was founded on 22 May 1851. It brought together the Catalan landowners, especially the largest ones, to defend their interests and foment the study and diffusion of new agricultural techniques.
86 THE FOUNDING OF THE SCHOOL OF CHEMISTRY OF THE JUNTA PARTICULAR DE COMERÇ DE CATALUNYA: A MILESTONE IN THE INSTITUTIONALISATION OF RESEARCH AND HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE SCIENCES IN CATALONIA
CARBONELL i BRAVO, Francesc. Discurs d’obertura de l’Escola de Química de Barcelona (1805). Barcelona: Cambra de Comerç de Barcelona / Societat Catalana de Química / Societat Catalana d’Història de la Ciència i de la Tècnica, 2005.
CARMONA, Anna. De l'apotecari al farmacéutic. Els farmacéutics catalans dels segles XVIII i XIX. Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, 1983.
CARRERA i PUJAL, Jaume. La enseñanza profesional en Barcelona en los siglos XVIII y XIX. Barcelona: Casa Editorial Bosch, 1957.
FONTANA, Josep. «La fi de l'antic règim i la industrialització». In: Vilar. Pierre. (ed.) Història de Catalunya, vol. 5. Barcelona: Edicions 62, 1988.
GIRALT, E. «La viticultura y el comercio catalán del siglo XVIII». Estudios de Historia Moderna, 2 (1952), p. 159-176 and 160-165.
GRAPÍ-VILUMARA, P. and A. NIETO-GALAN. «La química: de les tradicions artesanes a l'assimilació de les noves teories». In: VERNET, J and R. PA- RÉS (dirs.). La Ciència en la història dels Països Catalans. 2. Del naixement de la ciència moderna a la il·lustració, p. nn-nnn. Barcelona / Va- lència: Institut d'Estudis Catalans / Publicacions de la Universitat de València, 2005
GRAPÍ-VILUMARA, P. and A. NIETO-GALAN. « Els professionals de la química del segle XIX. Escoles, indústria i universitat». In: VERNET, J and R. PARÉS (dirs.). La Ciència en la història dels Països Catalans. 3, p. nn-nnn. Barcelona / València: Institut d'Estudis Catalans / Publicacions de la Universitat de València (in print).
IGLÉSIES, J. L'obra cultural de la Junta de Comerç (1760-1847). Barcelona: Dalmau, 1969.
LUSA-MONFORTE, G. (ed). «La creación de la Escuela Industrial Barcelonesa (1851)» Quaderns d’Història de l’Enginyeria, 1 (1996), p. 1-51.
MONÉS, J. L'obra educativa de la Junta de Comerç 1769-1851. Barcelona: Cambra de Comerç, 1987.
NIETO-GALAN, A. Ciència a Catalunya a l'inici del segle XIX. Teoria i aplicacions tècniques a l'Escola de Química de Barcelona sota la direc- ció de Francesc Carbonell i Bravo (1805-1822). (Thesis / UB). Barcelona, Universitat de Barcelona, 1994. [microfiche version: no., 3618. Barcelona: UB, 1999]
NIETO-GALAN, A. «Introducció». In: CARBONELL I BRAVO, Francesc. Discurs d’obertura de l’Escola de Química de Barcelona (1805), p. 17- 30. Barcelona: Cambra de Comerç de Barcelona / Societat Catalana de Química / Societat Catalana d’Història de la Ciència i de la Tècnica, 2005.
PUIG-PLA, C. «El gabinete de máquinas, la Escuela de mecánica y la Cátedra de maquinaria de la Junta de Comercio de Barcelona (1804- 1850)». In: GARCÍA HOURCADE, J. L. et al. (coords.). Estudios de Historia de las técnicas, la Arqueología Industrial y las Ciencias. VI Congreso de la Sociedad Española de Historia de las Ciencias y de las Técnicas, Segovia-La Granja, 9 al 13 de septiembre de 1996, vol.1, 211-222. Salamanca: Junta de Castilla y León, Consejería de Educación y Cultura, 1998.
PUIG-PLA, Carles. «Las Memorias de Agricultura y Artes (1815-1821). Innovación y difusión de tecnología en la primera industrialización de Ca- talunya». Quaderns d’Història de l’Enginyeria, 5 (2002-2003), 20-44.
RUIZ y PABLO, Angel Historia de la Real Junta particular de Comercio de Barcelona 1760-1847. Barcelona: Cámara de Comercio, 1919. [Fac- simile edition (1994). Barcelona: Alta Fulla].
USANDIZAGA-SORALUCE, Manuel, Historia del Real Colegio de Cirugía de Barcelona (1760-1843). Barcelona: Instituto Municipal de Historia de la Ciudad, 1964.
VILAR, P. Catalunya dins l'Espanya moderna. Barcelona: Edicions 62, 4 volums, 1987 (French edition, 1962).
YÀÑEZ, A. Elogio histórico del Dr. D. Fco. Carbonell y Bravo....leído a la sobredicha Academia de Ciencias Naturales y Artes de Barcelona en sesión extraordinaria de 3 de marzo de 1838. Barcelona: Vda. e hijos de Antonio Brusi. Barcelona 1838, p. 8 and 21.
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FUNDING FOR THE CREATION, DEVELOPMENT AND CONSOLIDATION OF THEMATIC NETWORKS: SUPPORT FOR RESEARCH INTEGRATION IN CATALONIA
Victòria Miquel,* Jordi Tasies** and Joan Cadefau***
The thematic networks (XT) project was initiated in 1994 as an instrument for integrating research performed in Catalonia. It was inspired by the fact that one of the problems with the Catalan science and technology system was that research was being performed in isolation; i.e. groups working on similar research lines, occasionally on iden- tical aspects or with aims that were complementary, were not in contact with each other. There was a manifest need, therefore, to ensure that research work would be complementary and not duplicated or repeated, and an ins- trument was clearly needed that would facilitate - or at least encourage - contact between groups. This would give rise, ultimately, to cooperative research that would enhance joint efforts by groups having similar aims.
This annual project, dating from 1994 and culminating in 2004 with the 3rd Research Plan for Catalonia (2001- 2004), has resulted in a total of 207 networks created in the scientific area. This article aims to provide a general overview - in terms of the main results for this period - of what this project has meant and means to the Catalan science sector.
Contents
1. Introduction 2. Official funding programmes 3. The outcome: the creation of thematic networks in the period 1994 to 2004 4. Conclusions
* Victòria Miquel is Technical Head of Projects at AGAUR (Agency for the Management of University and Research Grants). ** Jordi Tasies is Executive Secretary of AGAUR. *** Joan Cadefau is Director of Projects at AGAUR.
88 FUNDING FOR THE CREATION, DEVELOPMENT AND CONSOLIDATION OF THEMATIC NETWORKS: SUPPORT FOR RESEARCH INTEGRATION IN CATALONIA
1. Introduction this has also increased during this period, from 19.8 % to 23.06 %. Research in Catalonia during the 1980s was coor- dinated by the Interministerial Council for Research Another indicator which has improved during the and Technological Innovation (Consell Interdeparta- same period has been the quantity of human re- mental de Recerca I Innovació Tecnològica - CIRIT). sources dedicated to R&D. The number of research This Catalan government body, created at the end staff has increased considerably, from 6,370 re- of 1980, was responsible for coordinating scientific searchers in 1992 to 20,746 in 2004.2 research and technological innovation activities and projects undertaken by Generalitat government de- In the decade of the 1990s, which was charac- partments. Its main aim was to ensure maximum terised by a shortage of resources and a relatively efficacy and optimal distribution of resources. small critical mass of researchers, Catalan re- search had to be optimised from both the point of In 1993, CIRIT drew up the 1st Research Plan for view of efficacy in resource use and competitive- Catalonia. This described a strategic programme ness at the state and international level. One of the to underpin research that undoubtedly has im- problems with the Catalan science and technology proved the organisation and planning of a broad system was that research was being performed in range of R&D activities in Catalonia.1 isolation; i.e. groups working on the same research lines - occasionally on identical aspects or with The period covered by the first three research aims that were complementary - were not in con- plans (1993 to 2004) has witnessed an improve- tact with each other. it was necessary therefore to ment in the indicators that are most typically used ensure that research work would not be duplicated to evaluate research efforts. According to figures or repeated. An instrument was clearly needed that published by the Spanish National Statistics Insti- would facilitate - or at least encourage - contact tute (INE), in 1992 percentage expenditure on between groups. This would give rise, ultimately, to R&D as a proportion of GDP was 0.95 % in Cata- cooperative research that would enhance joint ef- lonia - a percentage that was slightly higher than forts by groups having similar aims. for Spain as a whole, but well below that for the Europe Union. Since 1992 this percentage has im- Although not proposed in the 1st Research Plan for proved gradually; in 2004 it reached 1.44 %, Catalonia (1993-1996), an official funding pro- closing, to some extent, the gap between Catalo- gramme aimed at the creation, development and nia and other European countries. consolidation of thematic networks was first an- nounced in 1994. This initiative corresponded to As to the relative importance of Catalan R&D as a the General Research Promotion Programme, proportion of total Spanish expenditure on R&D, which provided for actions of a horizontal nature
1 CIRIT, 1993. 2 INE data, 2005.
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that would - in a general sense - encourage re- –Action XTs. These have the basic aim of support- search in the sciences and humanities. In subse- ing activities addressed at facilitating information quent research plans the thematic networks - in- exchange between complementary and/or inter- cluded as part of the horizontal programmes - disciplinary groups, with the ultimate goal of en- were classified as across-the-board actions that hancing their work, encouraging their participation would influence various aspects of the Catalan sci- in large-scale projects and sharing joint services. ence and technology system. –Project XTs. These have the aim of facilitating funding for research in specific areas.
The 2nd Research Plan also provided for funds for An official funding programme aimed at the the creation, development and consolidation of creation, development and consolidation of technology transfer networks (TTs) to complement thematic networks was first announced in 1994. the XTs. The underlying aim of the TTs is to support activities aimed at facilitating information exchange between complementary and/or inter-disciplinary groups, qith the ultimate goal of publicising their re- In the 2nd Research Plan for Catalonia (1997-2000), sults and services within the productive sector and the thematic networks featured as an instrument in society.4 for the development of cooperative and interdisci- plinary research in Catalonia.3 This particular Plan, Networks featured again in the 3rd Research Plan for which was organised in terms of seven manage- Catalonia (2001-2004).5 As in the second plan, this ment areas, made special mention of two horizon- funding - like the funding for ARCS - fell under the tal programmes aimed at fostering R&D activities: scope of the Sub-Programme for Mobilising Ac- the General Research Promotion Programme and tions. However, in this 3rd Plan, only the XTs were the Technology Development and Transfer Pro- mentioned (Action or Project XTs), although the TTs gramme. Among other sub-programmes, the Gen- continued to feature in the annual official announce- eral Research Promotion Programme included a ments of funding. The 3rd Plan, while emphasising Mobilising Actions Sub-Programme. In addition to the same aims as the 2nd Plan, attributed the XTs funding for scientific, humanistic and technological principally with the functions of encouraging coop- conferences and symposia (via the ARCS pro- eration between groups and fostering multidiscipli- gramme), funding for the organisation of specialist nary activities - both issues of particular concern at courses in a range of scientific, humanistic and that time in the international scientific context.6 technological fields, and funding for special CIRIT courses, this sub-programme provided for the cre- Despite differences in programmes and actions in ation, development and consolidation of two kinds the 2nd and 3rd Research Plans (see Table 1), in rela- of thematic networks, as follows: tion to official funding for the XTs, the underlying
3 CIRIT, 1997, p.71. 4 CIRIT, 1997, p.73. 5 CIRIT, 2001, p.71. 6 In the 3rd Plan, specific reference was made to “funding for the creation, development and consolidation of thematic networks aimed at cooperation between groups - possibly of a multidisciplinary nature - in order to address specific research themes” (CIRIT, 2001, p.71).
90 FUNDING FOR THE CREATION, DEVELOPMENT AND CONSOLIDATION OF THEMATIC NETWORKS: SUPPORT FOR RESEARCH INTEGRATION IN CATALONIA
aims remained the same, with both emphasising essence - are the networks that we understand to the need to continue encouraging and fostering re- be thematic networks in the general sense. search in Catalonia.
2. Official funding programmes The aims of the successive funding pro- grammes for the creation, development and As commented above, one of the aims of the re- consolidation of thematic networks have not search plans has been to reinforce existing research varied greatly over the years: the consolida- groups and improve coordination. The aims of the successive funding programmes for the creation, tion of teams and interdisciplinary actions, development and consolidation of thematic net- and increasingly, to cooperation with re- works have not varied greatly over the years; they search groups outside Catalonia. almost invariably refer to the consolidation of teams and interdisciplinary actions, and increas- ingly, to cooperation with research groups outside Catalonia.8 One of the main aims of the official funding pro- grammes has been to encourage the establish- Worthy of mention is the fact that during the period ment of links between groups based in different re- of the 2nd Plan, and despite the existence of two search centres; the minimum requirement is five kinds of XTs (Action and Project XTs), official fund- groups from three different institutions. Funding eli- ing was only offered for the Action XTs - which, in gibility requirements have varied somewhat from
Taula 1 Comparison between horizontal programmes in the 2nd (1997-2000) and 3rd Research Plans (2002-2004) Research Plans for Catalonia
2nd Research Plan for Catalonia 3rd Research Plan for Catalonia
Horizontal programmes Horizontal programmes
✓ General Research Promotion Programme ✓ Human Resources Programme Mobilising Actions Sub-Programme Mobilising Actions Sub-Programme • ARCS • ARCS • Special CIRIT courses • XT • XTs (Project/Action) ✓ Technology Transfer Programme Mobilising Actions Sub-Programme • D – TTs
7 CIRIT, 2001. 8 “To support the activities of networks composed of research groups working on related themes but in different research centres in Catalonia, so as to encourage the consolidation of trans- or multidisciplinary teams and joint ventures with quality research teams from outside Catalonia”.
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year to year. In the early years (1994-1996), fund- mentally as supplementing funds already provided ing was offered as follows: by other public national and/or international institu- tions, and including the funds of the network groups (To) groups of researchers from universities and themselves. public research centres in Catalonia, organised into thematic networks composed of a minimum of five Funds therefore could be used for the following research groups from three different institutions. activities: The inclusion of research groups from outside Ca- talonia will be considered if there is evidence of co- 1. organisation of meetings between network operation in the last five years with research groups members. in Catalonia organised into a network. 2. organisation of international seminars and semi- nars aimed at the Catalan business sector. As of 1997, there was a slight shift in emphasis 3. technology transfer activities and research re- with the addition of other requirements and with sults evaluation for groups participating in the the inclusion of the conditions for obtaining funds network. for technology transfer networks (TTs). Funding 4. organisation of specialist international courses. was offered as follows: 5. organisation of stays by researchers from re- search groups outside Catalonia participating in (To) groups of researchers from universities and a network. public research centres in Catalonia organised into 6. organisation and coordination of support servic- thematic networks composed of a minimum of five es to research or industry in Catalonia. research groups from three different centres with a 7. other expenditure, excepting expenditure on majority Catalan shareholding. Research groups equipment. from outside Catalonia may be included provided that they do not outnumber the Catalan institutions As for evaluation, in addition to the criteria estab- in the network. lished by the Scientific and Technical Evaluation Council (CONACIT) during the period of the 2nd As far as the technology transfer networks are con- Plan and the mechanisms and criteria established cerned, particularly welcomed will be the inclusion by the 3rd Plan, the following considerations were of research and development groups from compa- also taken into account: nies, and particularly if based in Catalonia. a) the aims to be achieved by the constitution of a Any funds granted were understood as additional to network in supplementing the activity of each of other funding sources, irrespective of whether these the groups in the network. sources corresponded to the research groups par- b) the relevance and importance of the tasks and ticipating in a network or to the institutions to which activities that it was proposed to finance with the the groups belonged. In this respect, the pro- funds, and any co-funding that was available. gramme conditions specifically indicated as follows: c) the relevance of the network to the aims and the- matic areas proposed in the Research Plan. (That) funding for network actions obtained as a di- d) the number of groups and of components of rect result of this application must be justified funda- each group in a network and their scientific and
92 FUNDING FOR THE CREATION, DEVELOPMENT AND CONSOLIDATION OF THEMATIC NETWORKS: SUPPORT FOR RESEARCH INTEGRATION IN CATALONIA
technical activity. sult of funding awarded in any single year remain e) the international impact of the research carried valid even though they may not have made any out by Catalan groups. renewal applications. f) the level of participation and complementarity between the groups in a network.
As for funding renewals, the following issues were The original aims of this programme have favourably viewed: been achieved: a system has been created for a) aims achieved. research groups in Catalonia, and a network b) projects won. of links has been established between Cata- c) publication achievements. lan and non-Catalan research groups that d) relevance of completed activities. e) international contracts obtained. has substantially increased both the level of f) contributions made by new groups. R&D cooperation and knowledge transfer. g) network aims and activities and the new pro- gramme presented with a view to obtaining re- newed funding. Funding for thematic networks was first granted in Networks may apply for funding renewal every 1994, and the funding granted each year since two years.9 There is no limit on the number of then has been allocated to the creation of new renewals, and funds are awarded to cover two- networks and to the renewal of existing networks. year periods. The number of awards remained steady at between 26 and 33 until 1997. Since 1998, an enlarged budget has led to a substantially larger 3. The outcome: the creation of number of awards being made annually, both for thematic networks in the period the creation and the renewal of thematic networks. 1994 to 2004 Of a total of 3,318,039.54 euros invested in the XTs, nearly 39% has been allocated to the creation By the time the 2004 funding allocations for the of new networks, and 61% to renewals. With the creation, development and consolidation of the- exception of 2003, when there was an upturn in matic networks were awarded, a total of 207 the number of newly created networks, the general networks had been set up in Catalonia. Of these, trend since 1998 has been for the number of new 146 were still in the period of funds application networks to gradually fall. The number of renewals (79 corresponding to the 2003 award valid until has more or less kept pace with the number of the end of 2005, and 67 corresponding to the networks in operation. Table 2 summarises data on 2004 award valid until the end of 2006). It should the annual funding programme for thematic be borne in mind that networks created as a re- networks since its inception.
9 The only exception to this condition is that groups who obtain funding for the first time may apply again the following year.
93 CONEIXEMENT I SOCIETAT 10 NOTES
Table 2 Number of awards and funding granted to new and renewed thematic networks 1994-2004 Number of awards and total funding granted to thematic networks Year New thematic networks Renewed thematic networks TOTAL No. of awards Funding (€)No. of awards Funding (€)No. of awards Funding (€) 1994 29 235,698.92 - - 29 235,698.92 1995 13 93,757.89 20 110,586.23 33 204,344.12 1996 21 141,237.84 5 39,065.79 26 180,303.63 1997 18 100,970.03 8 49,282.99 26 150,253.02 1998 24 117,497.87 34 179,041.51 58 296,539.38 1999 19 132,222.66 22 168,283.39 41 300,506.05 2000 14 64,909.31 57 295,697.96 71 360,607.27 2001 17 108,783.20 32 219,970.45 49 328,753.65 2002 14 99,950.00 46 320,050.00 60 420,000.00 2003 25 119,000.00 48 301,000.00 73 420,000.00 2004 13 72,900.00 54 348,133.50 67 421,033.50 TOTAL 207 1,286,927.72 326 2,031,111.82 533 3,318,039.54
From the above data it is possible to extrapolate been substantial. The TT network concept was a interesting facts in relation to XT funding reper- challenge introduced in the 2nd and maintained in cussions on the Catalan system of research and on the 3rd Research Plan, but achievements in this the dynamics of cooperation between research area have not been as marked. The question of groups. To begin with, the existence of 207 net- technology transfer largely remains to be resolved works in Catalonia indicates a level of cooperation in the Catalan science and technology system, and joint activity between research groups in with the groups in this area failing to make their Catalonia that has been growing steadily over the mark. This assertion is corroborated by the data period covered by the 2nd and 3rd Research Plans on the number of funding awards granted to R&D for Catalonia. In this respect, it can be safely and TT networks between 1997 and 2004. In asserted that the original aims of this programme 2003, the year when the largest number of have been achieved: a system has been created awards were made (73 in total), only 6 awards for research groups in Catalonia, and a network of were made to TT networks, compared to 67 to links has been established between Catalan and R&D networks. non-Catalan research groups that has substantially increased both the level of R&D cooperation and General data on the XT funding programme in knowledge transfer. terms of requirements, number of awards etc., is more revealing if broken down according to broad Specialisation was introduced in 1997, with the scientific areas and specific knowledge areas. Of establishment of two models of networks: note, for example, is the large number of net- research and development (R&D) networks and works created in the medical and health science technology transfer (TT) networks. Achievements area, representing almost 24% of the total; the as far as the R&D networks are concerned have remaining areas each account for between 14%
94 FUNDING FOR THE CREATION, DEVELOPMENT AND CONSOLIDATION OF THEMATIC NETWORKS: SUPPORT FOR RESEARCH INTEGRATION IN CATALONIA
Table 3 Number of awards and funding granted to R&D and TT networks 1997-2004* Number of awards and total funding granted to networks Year R&D TT TOTAL No. of awards Funding (€)No. of awards Funding (€)No. of awards Funding (€) 1997 22 124,409.50 4 25,843.52 26 150,253.02 1998 56 286,021.67 2 10,517.71 58 296,539.38 1999 37 269,854.43 4 30,651.62 41 300,506.05 2000 68 346,182.98 3 14,424.29 71 360,607.27 2001 45 299,304.05 4 29,449.60 49 328,753.65 2002 59 412,350.00 1 7,650.00 60 420,000.00 2003 67 382,600.00 6 37,400.00 73 420,000.00 2004 66 414,433.50 1 6600.00 67 421,033.50 TOTAL 420 2,535,156.13 25 162,536.74 445 2,697,692.87 * Only R&D awards were made prior to 1997
Figure 1 Number of awards granted to R&D and TT networks 1997-2004
70
60
50
40 R&D
30 TT
20
10
0 19971998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 and approximately 16.5% of the total. There are confirm that, in a broad range of areas, and no major differences between the experimental particularly in the medical and health sciences, sciences and the social sciences and the there is a high degree of interaction and humanities; this is contrary to what happens with cooperation between research groups; in other other kinds of funding, in which the latter areas words, an important critical mass is being tend to be under-represented. The data would created.
95 CONEIXEMENT I SOCIETAT 10 NOTES
Table 4 molecular biochemistry and biology (11) and cell Thematic networks by area (1994-2004) biology (10). The number of networks created in Area No. of XTs % of total the medical area reflects the importance of me- Sciences 34 16.43 dicine and the health sciences in the Catalan sci- Life sciences 30 14.49 entific context. Figures for areas other than a Medical & health sciences 48 23.19 handful of key areas are generally similar. Of note Social sciences 33 15.94 also are the 8 networks dedicated to Catalan Engineering & architecture 33 15.94 philology. The remaining areas are represented Humanities 29 14.01 by between 1 and 5 networks. Table 4 lists TOTAL 207 100.00 knowledge areas according to the number of networks. The distribution provides an indication of the number of research groups working in a Data on knowledge areas reveal certain differ- particular area in Catalonia and/or of the areas ences - particularly in areas where the number of where networking dynamics and R&D coopera- networks far exceeds that of other areas - which tion have been most successful. may be related to the degree to which a cooper- ative network is consolidated, or to the lack of a The bodies in receipt of funding are generally the critical mass in the Catalan, Spanish and/or in- public universities or research centres in which ternational context. Only in three areas have 10 the coordinating team for a network is based. or more networks been created: medicine (20), Most institutions in Catalonia are represented, al-
Figure 2 Thematic networks by area (1994-2004)
50
40
30
20
10
0 SciencesLife Medical Social Engineering Humanities sciences & health sciences & architecture sciences
96 FUNDING FOR THE CREATION, DEVELOPMENT AND CONSOLIDATION OF THEMATIC NETWORKS: SUPPORT FOR RESEARCH INTEGRATION IN CATALONIA
though the list of institutions in receipt of funding is however, research centres associated with the headed by the public universities and the CSIC medical and health sciences feature high on the list, (Advanced Scientific Research Council). That said and their relevance is further accentuated by the fact
Table 4 Thematic networks by specific knowledge area (1994-2004)
Knowledge Area No. of XTs Knowledge Area No. of XTs Medicine 20 Molecular biochemistry and biology 11 Cell biology 10 Catalan language and literature 8 Materials science and metallurgical engineering 5 Political and administrative science 5 Chemical engineering 5 Preventive medicine and public health 5 Environmental technologies 5 Administrative law 4 Psychobiology 4 Analytical chemistry 4 Physical chemistry 4 Archaeology 3 Computer architecture and technology 3 Computational and artificial intelligence sciences 3 Didactics of language and literature 3 Condensed matter physics 3 Pre-history 3 Organic chemistry 3 Physiology 3 Economic analysis 3 Microbiology 3 Regional geographical analysis 2 Social anthropology 2 Animal biology 2 Architectonic constructions 2 Didactics and organisation in the school 2 Hydraulic engineering 2 Operational and statistical research 2 Stratigraphics 2 Applied physics 2 Genetics 2 Geodynamics 2 Contemporary history 2 History of science 2 Economic history and institutions 2 Immunology 2 General linguistics 2 Applied mathematics 2 Sociology 2 Food technology 2 Electronic technology 2 Theory and history of education 2 Animal production 2 Pathological anatomy 1 Physical anthropology 1 Plant biology 1 Botany 1 Navigation sciences and techniques 1 Crystallography and mineralogy 1 Experimental science didactics 1 Penal law 1 Ecology 1 Applied economics 1 Financial and accounting economics 1 Edaphology and agricultural chemistry 1 Electronics 1 Aerospatial engineering 1 Agro-forestry engineering 1 Cartographic, geodesic and photogrammetric engineering 1 Systems and robot engineering 1 Manufacturing process engineering 1 Telematic systems engineering 1 Pharmacology 1 English language and literature 1 Latin language and literature 1 Romance languages and literatures 1 Philosophy 1 Philosophy of law 1 Earth physics 1 Earth physics, astronomy and astrophysics 1 Plant physiology 1 External geodynamics 1 Physical geography 1 Human geography 1 Nursing 1 Spanish language 1 Computer systems and languages 1 Logic and philosophy of science 1 Animal medicine and surgery 1 Nutrition and food science 1 Optics 1 Journalism 1 Architectonic projects 1 Social psychology 1 Inorganic chemistry 1 Toxicology 1 TOTAL 207
97 CONEIXEMENT I SOCIETAT 10 NOTES
that the numbers of scientists involved is conside- does not detract from the fact that the number of re- rably lower than in the public universities. The Uni- search groups mobilised by the network system is versity of Barcelona is home to the largest number of impressive. networks (almost 31% of the total); the Autonomous University of Barcelona trails behind in second The vast majority of networks (153 of 207), irrespec- place, with 16% of the total number of networks. tive of scientific or knowledge area, are composed of between 5 and 10 research groups. Another 44 net- The thematic networks are composed of 1,967 re- works consist of between 11 and 20 groups, and search groups from a wide range of different areas. just 10 networks have more than 20 member Although any given research group may be a mem- groups. Focusing on the technology transfer net- ber of more than one network (just as any re- works, one of the success criteria was that these searcher may belong to more than one group), this would attract companies as participants; however,
Table 6 Thematic networks by institution (1994-2004) No. of No. of Institution %Institution % XTs XTs
Universitat de Barcelona 64 30.92 Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona 34 16.43 Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya 15 7.25 Universitat de Girona 14 6.76 Consell Superior d’Investigacions Científiques (CSIC) 12 5.80 Universitat Pompeu Fabra 10 4.83 Universitat Rovira i Virgili 73.38Institut de Recerca Sant Pau 52.42 Fundació Clínic per a la Recerca Biomèdica 31.45Institut Català d’Oncologia 31.45 Institut de Recerca Hospital Universitari Vall d’Hebron 31.45Universitat de Lleida 20.97 Institut de Recerca i Tecnologia Agroalimentàries 20.97Fundació Centre de Regulació Genòmica 20.97 Fundació de Recerca Biomèdica Germans Trias i Pujol 20.97Fundació IrsiCaixa – Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol 20.97 Fundació Jordi Gol i Gurina 20.97Institut d’Estudis Catalans 20.97 International Centre for Coastal Resources Research 2 0.97 Universitat de Vic 10.48 Agència de Salut Pública 10.48Centre Tecnològic Forestal de Catalunya 10.48 CETS Institut Químic de Sarrià 10.48Departament d’Agricultura, Ramaderia i Pesca 10.48 Escola de Policia de Catalunya 10.48Escola Universitària d’Enginyeria Tècnica Industrial d’Igualada 10.48 Fundació Privada Institut de Neurorehabilitació Guttmann 10.48Fundació Privada Salut del Consorci Sanitari del Maresme 10.48 Fundació Vidal i Barraquer 10.48Institut Cartogràfic de Catalunya 10.48 Institut Català d’Arqueologia Clàssica 10.48Institut de Cultura de Barcelona 10.48 Institut de Geomàtica 10.48Institut de Recerca Oncològica 10.48 Institut de Tecnologia de la Construcció de Catalunya 10.48Institut d’Estudis Espacials de Catalunya (IEEC) 1 0.48 Institut d’Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer 10.48Institut Municipal d’Investigació Mèdica 10.48 Junta d’Aigües de Catalunya 10.48Servei Meteorològic de Catalunya 10.48 TOTAL 207 100.00
98 FUNDING FOR THE CREATION, DEVELOPMENT AND CONSOLIDATION OF THEMATIC NETWORKS: SUPPORT FOR RESEARCH INTEGRATION IN CATALONIA
Figure 3 Foreign participation levels are an indicator of the Thematic networks by type of host institution (1994-2004) level of internationalisation of a sector. Table 6 re- Others veals that the difference by geographical origin ac- 5% Research cording to scientific areas is not significant, howev- Centres 17% er: the number of groups from outside Catalonia, from the rest of Spain, and from abroad are largely the same, although of note is the fact that the life sci- ences (at just under 4%) are under-represented, CSIC whereas the social sciences top the list at 15.5%. 6% Figure 4 illustrates these differences in graphic form.
The data described here provide a general perspec- tive on the activity generated by the official funding programme for thematic networks. This pro- Universities gramme has played a central role in the three re- 72% search plans for Catalonia covering the period 1993-2004. As commented previously, the Catalan scientific fabric has changed considerably in the last there are only 17 companies participating in the TT 10 years or so, and the government’s official funding networks, and most have, in fact, no company par- programme aimed at fostering joint endeavours be- ticipation at all. tween research groups has achieved most of its aims. The need to create an active critical mass of The thematic networks may be composed of re- Catalan researchers responds to international re- search groups from outside Catalonia, provided that search trends by addressing the need to enhance coordination is from within Catalonia; apart from net- interaction between research groups and centres, works composed exclusively of groups from Catalo- whether locally, nationally or internationally. The nia and networks shared by groups from Catalonia possibility of including research groups from outside and the rest of Spain, there is an increasing num- Catalonia and Spain in the networks has thus grad- ber of networks with foreign research group par- ually become an important feature of the XT official ticipation. funding programme. The European Union’s 6th
Table 7 Foreign participation in Catalan thematic networks Catalonia Spain Foreign Total Foreign groups Networks/Scientific areas as % of total Sciences 269 30 35 334 10.48 Engineering & architecture 232 32 33 297 11.11 Humanities 190 38 32 260 12.31 Medical & health sciences 310 49 42 401 10.47 Social sciences 174 55 42 271 15.50 Life sciences 354 34 16 404 3.96
99 CONEIXEMENT I SOCIETAT 10 NOTES
Figure 4 Origin of research groups (in %)
Life sciences
Social sciences
Medical & health sciences
Humanities
Engineering & architecture CONACIT areas
Sciences
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Catalonia Spain Foreign
Framework Programme and the launching of new stantially consolidated research activity in Catalonia initiatives such as the Networks of Excellence also and has internationalised Catalan research groups, address this issue. Twelve years after the first fund- as evidenced by the improved indexation of publica- ing was granted for the thematic networks, there is tions by Catalan-based scientists.11 now a need to re-evaluate the R&D system in Ca- talonia, assess international science requirements, In 1994 the need to facilitate cooperation between and - taking full advantage of the impulse provided different groups working in the same research area, by the XTs – foster new initiatives that encourage the foster information exchange, and promote the train- development of international networks in Catalonia. ing of doctors became patently clear. It was also necessary to implicate the range of centres where research was carried out, primarily the universities. 4. Conclusions As is evident from the data presented above, this annual funding programme has been very broad- It is clear that the Catalan science and technology based in terms of participants, and has included the system has changed beyond recognition since the main research institutions of Catalonia. The themat- XT initiative was launched in 1994. ic networks have thus achieved one of their main aims, namely, cooperation between institutions. Internal R&D expenditure, as a percentage of GDP, has increased from 0.88% to 1.44%10 -representing Moreover, as commented in the report evaluating growth of 40%. This increased investment has sub- the 2nd Research Plan for Catalonia,12 the networks
10 INE, 2005. 11 CIRIT, 2005, p. 14.
100 FUNDING FOR THE CREATION, DEVELOPMENT AND CONSOLIDATION OF THEMATIC NETWORKS: SUPPORT FOR RESEARCH INTEGRATION IN CATALONIA
have survived well over time, which would indicate research themes. According to the PRI, this pro- their vitality and compliance with the EU initiative gramme would provide funding to networks of re- for developing networks of excellence in Europe. search groups so that they could eventually establish Likewise, this same report emphasises the need to physical research centres if they felt this to be neces- increase spending on future programmes of this sary. More funding would also be provided for the nature, a need that was also underlined in web- creation and maintenance of networks. based consultations during the period in which the latest Research and Innovation Plan for Catalonia 2005-2008 (referred to as the PRI) was being de- Internal R&D expenditure, as a percentage of signed and drawn up. GDP, has increased from 0.88% to 1.44% re- As a consequence of the many consultations and presenting growth of 40%. evaluations implemented during the development of the PRI, devised to replace some aspects of the XTs was a reference network programme, defined as In sum, the network approach has revealed itself to funding aimed at the creation of networks of groups be a dynamic and powerful research structure in both with common research aims or working on common the Catalan and international research systems.13
References
CIRIT (COMISSIÓ INTERDEPARTAMENTAL DE RECERCA I INNOVACIÓ TECNOLÒGICA). Pla de Recerca de Catalunya 1993-1996. Barcelona: Generalitat de Catalunya. Departament de Presidència, 1993.
CIRIT (COMISSIÓ INTERDEPARTAMENTAL DE RECERCA I INNOVACIÓ TECNOLÒGICA). II Pla de Recerca de Catalunya 1997/2000. Barcelona: Generalitat de Catalunya. Departament de Presidència, 1997. Available (in Catalan) from: http://www10.gencat.net/dursi/ca/de/arxiu_plans/pla2_0.htm
CIRIT (COMISSIÓ INTERDEPARTAMENTAL DE RECERCA I INNOVACIÓ TECNOLÒGICA). III Pla de Recerca de Catalunya 2001-2004. Barcelona: Generali- tat de Catalunya. Departament d’Universitats, Recerca i Societat de la Informació, 2001. Available (in Catalan) from: http://www10.gencat.net/dursi/ca/de/arxiu_plans/pla3_1.htm
CIRIT (COMISSIÓ INTERDEPARTAMENTAL DE RECERCA I INNOVACIÓ TECNOLÒGICA) i CASA (CONSELL D’ASSESORAMENT, SEGUIMENT I AVALUACIÓ). IN- FORME GLOBAL D’AVALUACIÓ DEL II PLA DE RECERCA DE CATALUNYA 1997-2000. Barcelona: Generalitat de Catalunya. CIRIT/CASA, 2003. Avail- able from: http://webtest1.gencat.es/pricatalunya/recursos/avaluacioiiprc2.pdf
CIRIT (CONSELL INTERDEPARTAMENTAL DE RECERCA I INNOVACIÓ TECNOLÒGICA). Pla de Recerca i Innovació de Catalunya 2005-2008. Barcelona: Generalitat de Catalunya. CIRIT, 2005. Available from: http://www10.gencat.net/pricatalunya/
12 CIRIT & CASA, 2003, p.34-35. 13 CIRIT, 2005, p. 18.
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ANNEX: Listing of networks created since 1995
Network name Xarxa temàtica de materials electrònics (electronic materials) SCIENCES Xarxa temàtica del cicle de l’aigua: metodologia i gestió dels recursos (water cycle methodology and resource management) Xarxa temàtica de recursos ambientals (environmental resources) Xarxa temàtica de materials moleculars amb propietats elèctriques, magnètiques i òptiques (molecular materials with electrical, magnetic and optical properties) Xarxa temàtica de ciència i nanotecnologies de superfícies (surface science and nanotechnologies) Xarxa temàtica de síntesi asimètrica (asymmetric synthesis) Xarxa temàtica de sismologia i enginyeria sísmica (seismology and seismic engineering) Xarxa temàtica de dinàmica de fluids i turbulència geofísica (fluid dynamics and geophysical turbulence) Xarxa temàtica sobre la qualitat als laboratoris d’anàlisi (analysis laboratory quality) Xarxa temàtica de geodèsia (geodesics) Xarxa temàtica de tècniques i materials per a sensors i microsistemes (sensor and microsystem techniques and materials) Xarxa temàtica d’aplicacions de la superconductivitat i el magnetisme (superconductivity and magnetism applications) Xarxa temàtica de química teòrica (theoretical chemistry) Xarxa temàtica de dinàmiques no lineals d’autoorganització espaciotemporal (non-linear dynamics of spatial-temporal self-organisation) Xarxa temàtica de recursos d’aigua (water resources) Xarxa temàtica de dinàmica no lineal en dimensió baixa i atractors estranys (low-dimension non-linear dynamics and strange attractors) Xarxa temàtica d’anàlisi i resolució de problemes amb origen físic, biològic i geomètric modelats per equacions en derivades parcials (analysis and resolution of problems with a physical, biological and geometric origin modelled by partial differential equations) Xarxa temàtica de paleoclimatologia (paleoclimatology)
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Network name Xarxa temàtica de catàlisi homogènia amb metalls de transició (homogeneous catalysis with transition metals) Xarxa temàtica en ressonància magnètica nuclear (nuclear magnetic resonance) Xarxa temàtica de síntesi de productes naturals i fàrmacs enantiopurs (natural product synthesis and enantiopure medications) Xarxa temàtica de quimiometria / tecnologia de la mesura química (chemometrics / chemical measurement technology) Xarxa temàtica de centres de recerca del sector adober (tanning research centres) Xarxa temàtica d’aplicacions dels làsers en química (laser applications in chemistry) Xarxa temàtica de riscos naturals (natural risks) Xarxa temàtica d’aliatges moleculars (molecular alloys) Barcelona Consortium on Marine Geosciences Xarxa temàtica de les dades composicionals aplicades a les ciències de la Terra i a l’arqueometria (compositional data applied to the earth sciences and archaeometrics) Xarxa temàtica de física, geologia i enginyeria dels terratrèmols (earthquake physics, geology and engineering) Xarxa temàtica de processament òptic d’imatges (optical image processing) Xarxa temàtica d’espectrometria de masses (mass spectrometry) Xarxa temàtica del canvi climàtic (climate change) Xarxa temàtica de sistemes complexos (complex systems) Xarxa temàtica d’aqüicultura (acquiculture) LIFE Xarxa temàtica de modelització de molècules bioactives (bioactive molecule modelling) SCIENCES Xarxa temàtica de biologia cel·lular i molecular del trànsit de membranes (cellular and molecular biology of membrane transport) Xarxa temàtica per a l’estudi de la biodiversitat (bidiversity studies) Xarxa temàtica de microbiologia d’ambients aquàtics anaeròbics (the microbiology of anaerobic aquatic environments) Xarxa temàtica de disruptors del sistema endocrí (endocrine system interruptors) Xarxa temàtica d’ecologia industrial (industrial ecology) Xarxa temàtica de l’anàlisi d’alternatives a la problemàtica dels grans incendis forestals (analysis of alternatives in the forest fire problem) Xarxa temàtica de l’aplicació de la biologia de sistemes a l’optimització de processos biolò- gics amb finalitat biomèdica, biotecnològica o industrial (application of systems biology to the the optimisation of bilogical processes for biomedical, biotechnological or industrial purposes)
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Network name Xarxa temàtica de química mèdica (medical chemistry) Xarxa temàtica de proliferació cel·lular i neurotoxicitat (cell proliferation and neurotoxicity) Xarxa temàtica d’optimització de la producció viverística i la restauració de zones afectades per grans pertorbacions (optimisation of nursery production and restoration of samaged areas) Xarxa temàtica de biologia molecular de llevats (molecular biology of yeasts) Xarxa temàtica d’aplicacions biomèdiques de la ressonància magnètica nuclear (biomedical applications of nuclear magnetic resonance) Xarxa temàtica de dosimetria de les radiacions ionitzants (dosimetrics and ionizing radiation) Xarxa temàtica de biologia de la reproducció (reproduction biology) Xarxa temàtica de genòmica i proteòmica (genomics and proteomics) Xarxa ECOSTRIMED (ecological status of Mediterranean rivers) Xarxa temàtica de biodiversitat: promoció de cultura científica mitjançant una xarxa virtual de centres i museus de ciències naturals de Catalunya (biodiversity: promotion of a scientific culture through a virtual network of natural science centres and museums in Catalonia) Xarxa temàtica de virologia (virology) Xarxa temàtica de llevats d’interès enològic (yeasts of enological interest) Xarxa temàtica d’agricultura ecològica (ecological agriculture) Xarxa temàtica d’aromes (aromas) Xarxa temàtica d’investigació bàsica en mecanismes cel·lulars i moleculars implicats en neurotoxicitat (basic research into the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in neurotoxicity) Xarxa temàtica d’eficiència productiva i qualitat en el porcí (productive efficiency and quality in pig farming) Xarxa temàtica de tecnologia cel·lular in vitro i la seva aplicació farmacològica (in vitro cellular technology and pharmacological applications) Xarxa temàtica de biogènesi i patologia mitocondrial (mitochondrial biogenesis and pathology) Xarxa temàtica de bioinformàtica (bioinformatics) Xarxa temàtica de teràpia gènica (gene therapy) Xarxa de genòmica ambiental microbiana (microbial environmental genomics)
104 FUNDING FOR THE CREATION, DEVELOPMENT AND CONSOLIDATION OF THEMATIC NETWORKS: SUPPORT FOR RESEARCH INTEGRATION IN CATALONIA
Network name Xarxa temàtica del Grup Oncològic Català Occità (oncology) MEDICAL Xarxa temàtica d’hepatotoxicitat per fàrmacs (drug-induced hepatotoxicity) & HEALTH Xarxa temàtica d’epidemiologia etiològica (aetiological epidemiology) SCIENCES Xarxa d’estudis de la leishmaniosi canina (canine leishmaniasis) Xarxa temàtica sobre el tractament de les complicacions de la hipertensió portal (treatment of portal hypotension complications) Xarxa temàtica de drogodependències (drug dependence) Xarxa temàtica de recerca clínica i bàsica a la SIDA (basic and clinical research into AIDS) Investigació, vigilància i control de la resistència bacteriana als antibiòtics (research, vigilance and control over bacterial resistance to antibiotics) Xarxa d’estudi de la patologia prostàtica humana (human prostate pathology) Biomaterials i implants biohíbrids per a la substitució de teixits tous – Enginyeria de teixits (biohybrid biomaterials and implants for replacing soft tissues - tissue engineering) Xarxa temàtica de productes naturals (natural products) Xarxa temàtica dels ions metàl·lics i les proteïnes transportadores i segrestadores: les seves funcions en condicions normals i patològiques (metallic ions and transport and hijacking proteins: functions in normal and pathological conditions) Xarxa temàtica sobre regeneració i reparació dels sistema nerviós (nervous system regeneration and repair) Xarxa temàtica sobre la mort cel·lular en el sistema nerviós (nervous system cell death) Xarxa temàtica de limfomes cutanis (skin lymphomas) Xarxa temàtica de psicofisiologia cognitiva i neurodinàmica clínica (cognitive psychophysiology and clinical neurodynamics) Xarxa temàtica de tècniques electrofisiològiques en neurociència (electrophysical techniques in neuroscience) Xarxa temàtica del Grup d’Estudi dels Limfomes a Catalunya i Balears (Catalonia & Balearic Island lymphoma study group) Xarxa temàtica d’estudi i tractament de les leucèmies agudes i mielodisplàsies (study and treatment of acute leukaemias and myelodysplasias) Xarxa temàtica sobre biologia i patologia del sistema megacariocític-plaquetari (biology and pathology of the megakaryocyte-platelet system) Xarxa de recerca en neurogastroenterologia (neurogastroenterology) Xarxa temàtica de neoplàsies hematològiques (haematological neoplasias) Xarxa temàtica d’estudi del càncer de mama (breast cancer studies)
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Network name Xarxa temàtica d’estudi dels tumors sòlids (solid tumour studies) Xarxa temàtica de recerca en diabetis a l’atenció primària (reserach into diabetes at primary care level) Xarxa dinamitzadora de recerca en envelliment (research into ageing) Xarxa temàtica sobre patologia de l’úter (uterus pathologies) Xarxa temàtica de càncers hormonodependents: mama, pròstata, endometri (hormone-dependent cancers: breast cancer, prostate cancer, endometrial cancer) Xarxa temàtica de bases bioquímiques i moleculars de la patologia associada a la resistència a la insulina (biochemical and molecular bases for pathologies associated with insulin resistance) Xarxa temàtica de recerca multidisciplinària i epidemiologia del dolor (multidisciplinary research and pain epidemiology) Xarxa temàtica sobre consell genètic en càncer (genetic counselling in cancer) Xarxa temàtica de recerca en activitats preventives i promoció de la salut (research into preventative health and health promotion actions) Xarxa temàtica de registre de càncer de Catalunya (cancer registration in Catalonia) Xarxa temàtica de recerca i vigilància epidemiològica de malalties tropicals i importades (research and epidaemological vigilance of imported and tropical diseases) Xarxa temàtica de potencials cognitius en neurofisiologia clínica (cognitive potential in clinical neurophysiology) Xarxa temàtica de medicina basada en l’evidència: la col·laboració Cochrane Iberoamericana (evidence-based medicine: the Iberoamerican Cochrane collaboration) Xarxa temàtica sobre nutrició (nutrition) Xarxa temàtica sobre prevenció del tabaquisme (prevention of smoking addiction) Xarxa temàtica de models animals de malaltia relacionada amb el sistema nerviós central (animal models for diseases associated with the central nervous system) Xarxa temàtica d’estudi experimental de la diabetis (experimental diabetes studies) Xarxa temàtica sobre estrès oxidatiu (oxidative stress) Xarxa temàtica d’inestabilitat genòmica i mitocondrial en càncer (genomic and mitochondrial instability in cancer) Xarxa temàtica d’estudi de l’activitat cerebral mitjançant ressonància magnètica funcional (studies of cerebral activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging) Xarxa temàtica d’immunologia (immunology) Xarxa temàtica d’autoimmunitat i tolerància (autoimmunity and tolerance)
106 FUNDING FOR THE CREATION, DEVELOPMENT AND CONSOLIDATION OF THEMATIC NETWORKS: SUPPORT FOR RESEARCH INTEGRATION IN CATALONIA
Network name Xarxa temàtica sobre les desigualtats socials en salut (social inequality in health) Xarxa d’atenció d’infermeria en salut mental comunitària (community mental health nursing) Inflammatory Bowel Disease Net Xarxa d’atròfia muscular espinal i malalties de neurona motora (spinal muscular atrophy and motor neuron diseases) Xarxa temàtica de didàctica de la llengua (language teaching) SOCIAL Xarxa temàtica de dret penal economicoempresarial SCIENCES (penal law as it affects the economy and business) Xarxa temàtica d’organització administrativa i burocràcia pública (administrative organisation and public bureaucracy) European Laboratory in Quantitative Economics and Theory of Choice Xarxa temàtica de multimèdia educativa (educational multimedia) Xarxa temàtica sobre organitzacions empresarials i acció col·lectiva (business organisation and collective action) Xarxa temàtica en govern i gestió pública (public management and administration) Xarxa temàtica sobre la seguretat i la societat del risc (safety and the risk society) Xarxa temàtica d’història de la cultura i dels intel·lectuals (history of cultures and intellectuals) Xarxa temàtica d’eleccions, comunicació política i opinió pública (elections, political communications and public opinion) Xarxa temàtica de bioètica i drets humans (bioethics and human rights) Xarxa temàtica sobre l’educació en valors (education in values ) Xarxa temàtica de recerca en economia computacional (computational economics research) Xarxa temàtica de teoria, història i ús educatiu de la literatura infantil i juvenil catalana (theory, history and educational use of Catalan childrens’ literature) Xarxa temàtica sobre l’educació lingüística i la formació d’ensenyants en situacions multiculturals i multilingües (language education and teaching in multicultural and plurilingual situations) Xarxa temàtica sobre l’estat del benestar i globalització de l’economia mundial (the welfare state and globalisation of the world economy) Xarxa temàtica de teoria política: governabilitat política en societats plurinacionals (political theory: political governability in plurinational societies)
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Network name Xarxa temàtica d’història rural (rural history) Xarxa temàtica sobre els drets dels infants i la seva qualitat de vida (childrens’ rights and quality of life) Xarxa temàtica sobre l’atenció a la diversitat dels alumnes en una escola per a tothom (diversity of pupils in one school for all) Xarxa temàtica sobre violència familiar (domestic violence) Xarxa temàtica sobre territori i mobilitat (territory and mobility) Xarxa temàtica de recerca en geografia econòmica (economic geography research) Xarxa temàtica de gestió integral de conques fluvials (integrated management of river basins) Xarxa temàtica de Barcelona Jocs (game theory) Xarxa temàtica d’història industrial i de l’empresa (industrial and company history) Xarxa temàtica d’enquestes i qualitat de la informació estadística (statistical surveys and information quality) Xarxa temàtica de migracions (migrations) Xarxa temàtica Medamèrica (sustainable development) Xarxa temàtica d’Agrupació per la Recerca i Docència d’Àfrica (Africa Research and Teaching Group) Xarxa temàtica sobre govern local (local government) Xarxa temàtica sobre regulació, drets fonamentals i globalització (regulation, basic rights and globalisation) Xarxa de recerca sobre sancions administratives, policia administrativa i seguretat pública (administrative sanctions and policing and public safety) Xarxa temàtica d’hidrologia mediterrània (Mediterranean hydrology) ENGINEERING Xarxa temàtica de zona costanera: una visió pluridisciplinaria & (coastal areas: a pluridisciplinary vision) ARCHITECTURE Xarxa temàtica d’enginyeria de materials (materials engineering) Xarxa temàtica de robòtica avançada (advanced robotics) Xarxa temàtica d’aplicacions d’Internet avançades (advanced Internet applications) Xarxa temàtica de teleensenyament i recerca en automàtica (remote teaching and robotics research) Xarxa temàtica de sistemes col·loïdals (colloidal systems) Xarxa temàtica sobre la simulació CFD del comportament a la mar i maniobres de vaixells (CFD simulation of sea behaviour and boat manoeuvres)
108 FUNDING FOR THE CREATION, DEVELOPMENT AND CONSOLIDATION OF THEMATIC NETWORKS: SUPPORT FOR RESEARCH INTEGRATION IN CATALONIA
Network name Xarxa temàtica de rehabilitació, restauració i manteniment d’edificis (building refurbishment, restoration and maintenance) Xarxa temàtica per a l’enginyeria i la investigació portuàries (port engineering and research) Xarxa temàtica de tecnologia paperera (paper technology) Neuropròtesis per a la rehabilitació (neuroprotheses in rehabilitation) Xarxa temàtica d’anàlisi del cicle de vida (life cycle analysis) Xarxa temàtica d’ecologia i ciutat (ecology and the city) Xarxa temàtica de síntesi i tractament d’imatges (image synthesis and processing) Xarxa temàtica del còmput distribuït amb components de baix cost: difusió i explotació (distributed computation with low-cost components: diffusion and exploitation) Xarxa temàtica de tecnologia i aplicacions de nanopartícules magnètiques en els àmbits de les ciències de la vida i mediambiental (magnetic nanoparticle technology and applications in the life and environmental science areas) Xarxa temàtica sobre control d’inferència (interference control) Xarxa temàtica de piles de combustible (fuel batteries) Xarxa temàtica d’astrodinàmica i control de Catalunya (astrodynamics and control in Catalonia) Xarxa temàtica de plasma amb materials polimèrics (plasma and polymeric materials) Xarxa temàtica de gestió de projectes de xarxes IP orientades a circuits virtuals (IP network projects for virtual circuits) Xarxa temàtica d’ambientalització curricular dels ensenyaments universitaris (university curricula and environmental questions) Xarxa temàtica d’arquitectura, territori i patrimoni cultural (architecture, territory and cultural heritage) Xarxa temàtica de monitoratge i modelització com a eines de suport per a la millorade la qualitat de l’aigua (monitoring and modelling as support tools for improving water quality) Xarxa temàtica d’enginyeria biomèdica (biomedical engineering) Xarxa temàtica de tractament i valoració d’aigües residuals i residus orgànics (evaluation and treatment of residual waters and organic waste) Xarxa temàtica de sensors i detectors de gasos (gas sensors and detectors) Xarxa temàtica de propietats mecàniques dels materials (mechanical properties of materials) Xarxa temàtica de seguretat, codificació i transport de la informació (information security, coding and transportation)
109 CONEIXEMENT I SOCIETAT 10 NOTES
Network name Xarxa temàtica d’intel·ligència artificial (artificial intelligence) Xarxa temàtica de materials i dispositius fotònics (photonic materials and devices) Xarxa temàtica catalana de tractament d’emissions gasoses i olors (treatment of gas emissions and odours) Xarxa temàtica de lingüística aplicada (applied linguistics) HUMANITIES Xarxa temàtica de prehistòria i arqueologia mediterrànies (Mediterranean pre-history and archaeology) Xarxa temàtica sobre l’home i el ferro a Catalunya (man and iron in Catalonia) Centre d’Investigació del Catalanisme Popular (Centre for Research into Popular Catalanism) Xarxa temàtica d’arqueologia urbana i noves tecnologies (urban archaeology and new technologies) Xarxa temàtica dels corrents i les tendències a la literatura catalana del segle XX (trends and currents in 20th century Catalan literature) Xarxa temàtica de dones i cultures (women and culture) IBERTUR – Xarxa de Turisme Cultural (cultural tourism) Percepció, ment i llenguatge (perception, mind and language) Xarxa temàtica de variació lingüística: dialectologia, sociolingüística i pragmática (language variation: dialectology, sociolinguistics and pragmatics) Xarxa temàtica sobre l’origen, l’evolució i el comportament dels primers homínids (origin, development and behaviour of teh first hominids) Xarxa temàtica de gramàtica teòrica (theoretical grammar) Xarxa temàtica d’estudis del discurs (discourse studies) Xarxa temàtica de lexicografia (lexicography) Xarxa temàtica d’història de la llengua i literatura medieval i de l’edat moderna (history of mediaeval and contemporary language and literature) Xarxa temàtica de paisatges culturals i història ambiental (cultural landscapes and environmental history) Xarxa temàtica d’estudi de la disponibilitat de roques silícies per a la producció de l’instrumental lític a la prehistòria (studies on the availability of silica for the production of lithic tools in pre-history Xarxa temàtica d’història intel·lectual de la filosofia catalana (intellectual history of Catalan philosophy)
110 FUNDING FOR THE CREATION, DEVELOPMENT AND CONSOLIDATION OF THEMATIC NETWORKS: SUPPORT FOR RESEARCH INTEGRATION IN CATALONIA
Network name Xarxa temàtica de producció i circulació de «béns de prestigi» elaborats amb matèries primeres d’origen mineral durant el calcolític i primeres etapes de l’edat del bronze (studies on the production and distribution of prestige goods manufactured from raw materials of mineral origin during the Chalcolithic period and early stages of the Bronze Age) Xarxa temàtica sobre la traducció literària en l’època contemporània (contemporary literary translation) Xarxa temàtica d’orientacions i tendències en les arts escèniques a Catalunya (directions and trends in the scenic arts in Catalonia) Xarxa temàtica d’història de la ciència i de la tècnica (history of science and technology) Xarxa temàtica d’estudis sobre la família (family studies) Xarxa temàtica de coneixement, llenguatge i discurs especialitzat (knowledge, language and specialist discourse) Xarxa temàtica de la Renaixença (the Renaixença movement) Xarxa temàtica sobre la vaixella fina d’importació i les seves imitacions a la Hispània Citerior en època tardorepublicana i altimperial: producció i comercialització (production and sale of copies of fine porcelain imports to Hispania Citerior in the time of the late Roman Republic and early Roman Empire) Xarxa temàtica de recerca i innovació de la informació als ensenyaments de ciències de l’educació (information research and innovation in the education sciences) Xarxa de llengües i cultures paleohispàniques (Paleohispanic languages and cultures) Xarxa de recerca sobre coneixements, representacions i usos del català (reserach into knowledge, representations and uses of Catalan)
111 CONEIXEMENT I SOCIETAT 10 NOTES
THE 2006 BUDGET FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF UNIVER- SITIES, RESEARCH AND THE INFORMATION SOCIETY (DURSI) AND ITS DEPENDENT BODIES
Sílvia Vives-Pastor*
An organisation’s budget is the quantified expression of its objectives and reflects its policy priorities. The main objectives of the Department of Universities, Research and the Information Society (DURSI) for 2006 are as fol- lows: to achieve a competitive and high-quality university system in terms of teaching, study and research, with- in the framework of the European Higher Education Space; to continue promoting the growth and quality of the Catalan R&D system in the context of the European Research Area, and to foster effective adoption of informa- tion and communication technologies (ICT) in all social and economic sectors of Catalonia and strengthen the ICT sector.
Contents
1. Introduction: the consolidated budget of DURSI and its dependent bodies 2. The objectives of the DURSI budget for 2006 and main measures 3. The DURSI budget 4. The budgets of DURSI’s associated public corporations 5. The budgets of DURSI’s associated foundations
* Sílvia Vives-Pastor is economic analyst with the Technical Bureau of the DURSI General Secretariat.
112 THE 2006 BUDGET FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF UNIVERSITIES, RESEARCH AND THE INFORMATION SOCIETY (DURSI) AND ITS DEPENDENT BODIES
1. Introduction: the consolidated To exercise these responsibilities with optimum ef- budget of DURSI and its dependent ficacy and efficiency, DURSI employs various bodies management modes. For direct management pur- poses, it comprises an organisational structure made up of the General Secretariat (SG), the The Department of Universities, Research and the Telecommunications and Information Society Se- Information Society (DURSI) is responsible for cretariat (STSI), the Directorate General for Univer- planning, organisation, management and execu- sities (DGU) and the Directorate General for Re- tion of the Catalan Government’s powers in the search (DGR). Other constituent bodies are the area of universities, research, ICT and the infor- General Secretariat of the Inter-University Council mation society. of Catalonia (CIC) and the Inter-Departmental
Graphic 1 Institutional and structural basis of the 2006 budget for DURSI and associated bodies (2006)
Group Universities, Research and the Information Society
Ministry of Universities, Research and the Information Society
General Secretariat (SG)
Telecommunications and Information Society Secretariat (STSI)
Directorate General for Universities (DGU)
Directorate General for Research (DGR)
Associated public corporations
University and Research Aids Management Agency (AGAUR)
Agency for the Quality of the Catalan University System (AQU Catalunya)
Telecommunications and Information Technologies Centre (CTTI)
Foundations
Open University of Catalonia Foundation (FUOC)
Catalan Research and Innovation Foundation (FCRI)
113 CONEIXEMENT I SOCIETAT 10 NOTES
Council for Research and Technological Inno- 2006.7 This Law also includes –for informative and vation (CIRIT). For implementation of its func- budgetary consolidation purposes– the budget of tions, DURSI can also draw on three further as- the afore-mentioned DURSI associate foundations sociated public corporations:1 the University and classified as Catalan public administration in line Research Aids Management Agency (AGAUR),2 with SEC 95 norms. the Telecommunications and Information Tech- nologies Centre (CTTI) and the Agency for the Therefore, in keeping with the institutional and Quality of the Catalan University System (AQU structural dimension of the Department’s budget, Catalunya).3 in addition to Departmental expenditure itself, the 2006 consolidated budget includes the budgets of DURSI public action is also channelled through its associated bodies and foundations, internal two foundations in which the Catalan Government transfers to these bodies being excluded so as to has a majority holding and over which, it therefore avoid duplication. has control: the Open University of Catalonia Foundation (Fundació Universitat Oberta de The total consolidated budget for DURSI and its Catalunya - FUOC) and the Catalan Research and associated entities for 2006 is almost 1,282.7 M€, Innovation Foundation (Fundació Catalana per a la after internal transfers have been deducted. Of Recerca i la Innovació - FCRI). Accordingly, the in- this, 959.6 M€ corresponds to funding assigned to stitutional scope of the 2006 budget, within the the Departmental management units; 338.7 M€, DURSI framework has grown4 with respect to that to the associated bodies, and 63.2 M€ to the as- of previous years and the budgets of these foun- sociated foundations. Internal transfers between dations which, although not mentioned explicitly the Department and the associated entities will to- as coming within Government budgetary sphere in tal 78.9 M€ (see Table 1). article 29 of the Law of Public Finance of Catalo- nia, have, for informative and budgetary consoli- Total projected consolidated expenditure for 2006 dation purposes, been classified as public admin- is almost 248.7 M€ (24.1%) higher than the figure istration bodies in line with the European System for 2005. However, bearing in mind the inclusion of of National and Regional Accounts (SEC 95)5 and the two afore-mentioned foundations for 2006, di- have been assigned to DURSI (see graph 1).6 rect homogenous comparison between both years is not possible. The budget for DURSI and its associated public corporations was approved by Law 20/2005, of 29 If the two foundations are excluded, we obtain a December, on the Catalan Government Budget for consolidated budget of 1,249.7 M€, representing
1. Until 2005, this group included Portal Salut i Qualitat de Vida, SA (PSQV, SA); in 2006 it was no longer included within the DURSI framework for consolidation purposes. 2. FONS et al., 2005. 3. RAURET and GINÉ, 2004. 4. See Order ECF/241/2005, of 31 May, establishing the regulations for preparation of the Catalan Government budget for 2006. 5. The European System of National and Regional Accounts (SEC) is an internationally comparable accounting framework to facilitate systematic and detailed description of an economy, its components and its relations with other economies. The European System of National and Regional Ac- counts in force at present is SEC 95. 6. DURSI and all its associated bodies are encapsulated under the heading Universities, Research and Information Society Group. 7. DOGC 4541, of 31 December 2005.
114 THE 2006 BUDGET FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF UNIVERSITIES, RESEARCH AND THE INFORMATION SOCIETY (DURSI) AND ITS DEPENDENT BODIES
Table 1 2. The objectives of the DURSI 2006 budget for DURSI and its associated bodies (in €) budget for 2006 and main € measures DURSI (SG, STSI, DGU, DGR) 959,575,721.02 Associated public corporations (AGAUR, AQU, CTTI) 338,726,856.47 The objectives of DURSI, together with the main ac- Foundations (FUOC, FCRI) 63,224,697.52 tions projected in order to accomplish them, can be Non-consolidated total 1,361,527,275.01 divided into the three main spheres included by its ti- Consolidable expenses 78,876,221.07 tle: universities, research and the information society. Consolidated total 1,282,651,053.94 Universities an increase of 215.7 M€ (20.9 %) over the previ- The integration of the Catalan universities into the ous year’s figure. The year 2006 reflects a doubling European Higher Education Area (EHEA) is one of of the growth rate, the rate of increase for the 2005 the main areas of action projected for the univer- consolidated budget over 2004 having been 9.1 % sity over coming years. The main criteria and val- (86 M€; see Table 2). ues underlying the EHEA project include respect for Europe’s educational and cultural diversity, the Yet, if the budget for Portal Salut i Qualitat de Vida, fostering of the international competitiveness of SA (PSQV, SA) is excluded from the 2005 figure, European universities, and adoption of a compa- as it is from the 2006 DURSI budget, we find that rable system of university qualifications within Eu- the 2006 budget increases by 21% over that of rope, leading to increased mobility of profession- the previous year. als and students.
Table 2 2006 budget for DURSI and associated public corporations and variation over 2005 (in €) Variation 06-05 2006 2005 in € in % Ministry of Universities, Research and the Information Society (DURSI) 959,575,721.02 859,720,956.94 99,854,764.08 11.6 University and Research Aids Management Agency (AGAUR) 40,716,465.15 38,951,209.33 1,765,255.82 4.5 Agency for the Quality of Catalan University System (AQU Catalunya) 2,414,560.00 2,302,000.00 112,560.00 4.9 Telecommunications and Information Technologies Centre (CTTI) 295,595,831.32 175,122,764.93 120,473,066.39 68.8 Portal Salut i Qualitat de Vida, SA (PSQV,SA) 0.00 820,744.53 -820,744.53 -100.0 Non-consolidated total DURSI and associated public corporations 1,298,302,577.49 1076,917,675.73 221,384,901.76 20.6 Transfer DURSI-AGAUR 40,716,305.15 38,945,109.33 1,771,195.82 4.5 Transfer DURSI-AQU Catalunya 2,360,730.00 2,249,990.00 110,740.00 4.9 Transfer / expenses DURSI-CTTI 5,523,787.99 1,768,964.00 3,754,823.99 212.3 Consolidable expenses total 48,600,823.14 42,964,063.33 5,636,759.811 13.1 Consolidated total DURSI and associated public corporati 1,249,701,754.35 1,033,953,612.40 215,748,141.95 20.9
115 CONEIXEMENT I SOCIETAT 10 NOTES
In line with these criteria, university expenditure for lishing an Autonomous Community bonus pay- 2006 aims to improve the competitiveness and ment for management duties. quality of the Catalan university system in terms of teaching, study and research, within the frame- Regarding measures addressed to adapting Cata- work of the European Higher Education Area, en- lan university courses to the EHEA, DURSI aims to suring that it will be able to provide the highly quali- increase the percentage of students registered for fied human resources needed by Catalonia. This programmes under the EHEA pilot scheme in will be achieved by providing improved funding for 2006 to 45 % which was launched in 2004-2005 public universities, adapting university courses to academic year. This increase will be brought about the EHEA, provision of appropriate infrastructure by the afore-mentioned pilot scheme actions and and evaluation of the quality of university teaching. by providing support for adaptation to the Euro- pean Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) and the establishment of joint Master’s courses run in conjunction with other universities. In addition to improving operational funding for the public universities, the 2006 budget also Another measure is the continued implementation aims to provide the necessary funding for re- of the Jaume Serra i Húnter Programme for em- ployment of university teachers, originally launched form, expansion and improvement of university in 2004. The year 2006 will see the number of full infrastructure and adaptation to their teaching, professorship or associate professorship contracts research and management functions. rise by 100. Under this programme, the universities offer teaching positions and 50% of the salaries are funded by the Catalan Government.
The operational funding provided for Catalan pu- In addition to improving operational funding for the blic universities will increase in line with the sec- public universities, the 2006 budget also aims to ond final provision of Law 1/2003, of 19 February provide the necessary funding for reform, expan- on Catalan Universities, which provided for a sion and improvement of university infrastructure gradual increase until funds provided in 2010 and adaptation to their teaching, research and would represent a real increase of 30% over the management functions. The entire funding pack- 2002 figure. As part of a policy of economic in- age envisaged for the Public University Investment, centives addressed to improving the quality of Replacement and Maintenance Plan 2001-2006 teaching and research, it is also planned to re- (PIU) will be allocated to this purpose and a further store public university teaching and research staff such plan up to the year 2012 will be introduced. spending power lost between 2002 and 2005 over a number of years. This loss totals 4.5%, of Other major projected actions include operational which 2% will be restored in 2006. It is also aimed and building funding for other university bodies, to establish an incentive for improved quality in such as the Catalan Open University (Universitat teaching and research by means of a 50% in- Oberta de Catalunya - UOC), the Barcelona Indus- crease in the Autonomous Community bonus trial School Consortium, the Igualada Technical payment for teaching and research and by estab- School Consortium, etc.
116 THE 2006 BUDGET FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF UNIVERSITIES, RESEARCH AND THE INFORMATION SOCIETY (DURSI) AND ITS DEPENDENT BODIES
Work on evaluation, accreditation and certification The Catalan Research and Innovation Plan 2005- of quality in university and higher education in Ca- 2008 (Pla de Recerca i Innovació 2005-2008 - talonia will continue to be carried out by the PRI) aims to enable Catalonia to make a qualita- Agency for the Quality of the Catalan University tive leap towards this goal.8 The Plan mission System (AQU Catalunya), the latter being the main statement says it sets out to “position Catalonia instrument for promotion and evaluation of the among the leading research and innovation coun- quality of the university system. tries in Europe. It aims to do this by means of the implementation of an integrated public policy, in- Finally, in addition to aiming to achieve a competi- volving public and private agents working together tive and high-quality university system, DURSI also to foster a society based on knowledge and en- aims to ensure equality of opportunity in university trepreneurship, which will ultimately achieve sus- education. This entails a system of grants and aids, tainable economic development and ensure social adapted to socio-economic and regional condi- wellbeing and cohesion.”9 tions, in order to ensure that nobody qualified and willing to undertake university studies is excluded In line with the Research and Innovation Plan for economic or geographical reasons. 2005-2008, the 2006 budget allocates funds to the major DURSI objective of continuing to foster The main measures addressed to this objective the expansion and quality of the Catalan R&D comprise public grant schemes, run by the Uni- system, within the framework of the European versity and Research Aids Management Agency Research Area, thereby contributing to Catalo- (AGAUR): student mobility grants within the Euro- nia’s development by increasing and improving pean ERASMUS programme, which in 2006 will the human capital allocated to R&D, increasing provide 820 students with an additional 200€ per and improving R&D infrastructure and equipment, month, twice the present EU grant; grants for stu- supporting university research and fostering tech- dents attending associated centres and the Uni- nology and knowledge transfer. versity of Vic; grants for students from mountain regions, which will provide 200 students with To expand and improve the quality of the human grant aid of on average 2,000€ and grants for in- capital working in Catalan R&D, grant, aid ternational stays in relation to Master’s and Doc- schemes and programmes will be implemented fa- toral degrees. cilitating the employment of 300 new researchers in trainee positions and the stable employment of Research 100 researchers in the public and private sectors. This will basically be achieved by means of the The Barcelona meeting of the European Council measures included in the research career pro- (2002) set the objective that R&D funding should gramme –researcher trainer grants and contracts,10 be equivalent to 3% of GDP by 2010, and two- Beatriu de Pinós postdoctoral training contracts thirds of this funding be from the private sector. (BP), funding for Ramón y Cajal programme con-
8. Plan webpage (http://www.gencat.net/pricatalunya). 9. VILALTA et al., 2005. 10. VILLAR, 2005.
117 CONEIXEMENT I SOCIETAT 10 NOTES
tracts, ICREA11 programme contracts, University Also important is the funding allocated to DURSI's Research Distinction programme, etc. For 2006, associated research centres, both in terms of op- part of these research measures will be managed erating costs and funds for new buildings or reno- by the University and Research Aids Management vation of present facilities, some of which is pro- Agency (AGAUR). vided by means of a programme-contract. These centres include: the Catalan Chemical Research Institute (Institut Català d’Investigació Química - It is foreseen that 2006 will see approval of ICIQ); the Telecommunications Technology Centre of Catalonia (Centre Tecnològic de Telecomunica- the Catalan Science and Technology Infras- cions de Catalunya - CTTC); the Photonic Science tructure Plan 2006-2010, as envisaged in the Institute (Institut de Ciències Fotòniques - ICFO); Research and Innovation Plan 2005-2008. the Catalan Institute of Classical Archaeology (Ins- titut Català d’Arqueologia Clàssica - ICAC); the Catalan Institute for Cardiovascular Sciences (Ins- titut Català de Ciències Cardiovasculars - ICCC); With regard to increasing and improving R&D in- the August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Insti- frastructure and equipment, emphasis is to be tute (Institut d’Investigacions Biomèdiques August laid both on major infrastructure and science and Pi i Sunyer - IDIBAPS); the Gene Regulation Cen- technology parks and on university and research tre (Centre de Regulació Genòmica - CRG); the centre-related infrastructure, the latter making up Research Centre for International Economics the country’s basic research network. It is fore- (Centre de Recerca en Economia Internacional - seen that 2006 will see approval of the Catalan CREI), the Demographic Studies Centre (Centre Science and Technology Infrastructure Plan d’Estudis Demogràfics - CED), the Mathematical 2006-2010, as envisaged in the Research and Research Centre (Centre de Recerca Matemàtica Innovation Plan 2005-2008. - CRM), the Catalan Forestry Technology Centre (Centre Tecnològic Forestal de Catalunya - CTFC), Expenditure for the work on major research facilities the Catalan Spatial Studies Institute (Institut d’Es- in which DURSI is participating is included. Examples tudis Espacials de Catalunya - IEEC), the Catalan include the Synchrotron Light Laboratory (ALBA)12 in Nanotechnology Institute (Institut Català de Na- Cerdanyola, and the Mare Nostrum supercomputer, notecnologia - ICN), the High-Energy Physics In- on the Technical University of Catalonia’s (Universitat stitute (Institut de Física d’Altes Energies - IFAE), Politècnica de Catalunya - UPC) North Campus in the Animal Biotechnology and Gene Therapy Cen- Barcelona, together with expenditure addressed to tre (Centre de Biotecnologia Animal i Teràpia Gèni- fostering company research and knowledge transfer ca - CBATEG), the Animal Health Research Centre in science parks, mainly the Barcelona Science Park (Centre de Recerca en Sanitat Animal - CReSA) (Parc Científic de Barcelona - PCB) and the and the Institute of Agri-Food Industry Research Barcelona Biomedical Research Park (Parc de Re- and Technology (Institut de Recerca i Tecnologia cerca Biomedica de Barcelona - PRBB). Agroalimentària - IRTA). Funds are also set apart
11. Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies). See BARBERË, 2004. 12. PASCUAL (2003) and GARCIA MONTALVO (2005).
118 THE 2006 BUDGET FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF UNIVERSITIES, RESEARCH AND THE INFORMATION SOCIETY (DURSI) AND ITS DEPENDENT BODIES
for the creation of new research centres, including Telecommunications and the information the Catalan Bio-Engineering Institute (Institut de society Bioenginyeria de Catalunya - IBEC), the Catalan Water Research Institute (Institut Català de Recer- In 2005, the European Council with “i2010. A Euro- ca de l’Aigua - ICRA), the Visual Display, Virtual pean Information Society for Growth and Employ- Reality and Graphic Interaction Research Centre ment” programme, proposes integrated focusing (Centre de Recerca en Visualització, Realitat Virtu- of EU information society policies and audiovisual al i Interacció Gràfica - VIRVIG) and the Environ- media by creation of the Single European Informa- mental Epidemiology Research Centre (Centre de tion Area, fostering innovation and investment in Recerca d’Epidemiologia Ambiental - CREAL). ICT research, and construction of a European in- formation society based on an inclusion principle. Another key factor is the support provided to uni- versity research and quality assurance. This will Therefore, the overarching objective of 2006 DURSI be effected by means of the funding provided budget funding provided for the realm of telecom- through specific university agreements and the munications and the information society is to university infrastructure set out in the Research strengthen the telecommunications infrastructure Promotion Programme, which also includes sup- and foster the necessary cultural and organisational port measures for consolidated research groups changes for effective adoption of information and and reference networks. communication technologies (ICT) in all areas of so- ciety and the economy, and to strengthen the ICT In the area of technology and knowledge transfer, sector, so as to position Catalonia among the Euro- the Knowledge Transfer Consortium (Consorci de pean knowledge society leaders. Transferència de Coneixement - CTC), made up of representatives of the Catalan Government In the sphere of telecommunications infrastructure, (DURSI) and universities, will work to transfer the the measures are addressed to improving ICT ac- knowledge generated by the universities to in- cess, enhancing the attractiveness of telecommu- dustry, together with the programmes facilitating nications services and ensuring optimum access employment for researchers and technologists at conditions, together with generation of specialised all stages of their professional development (pre- knowledge and added value in the ICT sector. doctoral, postdoctoral, junior and senior re- searcher levels). To enhance accessibility, it is planned to bring for- ward implementation of the Telecommunications Finally, mention must also be made of the mea- Infrastructure Master Plan 2005-2008 (Pla Direc- sures addressed to improvement of coordination of tor d’Infraestructures de Telecomunicacions - R&D policies, and provision of support to interna- PDIT) and, to do this, the participation of the tional research and scientific cooperation, commu- Telecommunications and Information Technolo- nication and dissemination, research projects in gies Centre (CTTI) will be drawn on. The main specific sectors and a wide range of R&D activities, PDIT initiative is to advance in promotion and ope- through a range of intermediary bodies, including ration of a high-capacity open communication in- the Catalan Research and Innovation Foundation frastructure network, which will be managed by (FCRI) and the Institut d’Estudis Catalans. the infrastructure management body ITCat (In-
119 CONEIXEMENT I SOCIETAT 10 NOTES
fraestructures de Telecomunicacions de Catalu- set out in the Services and Contents Master Plan nya). The aim is to intervene in the telecommuni- 2005-2007 (Pla de Serveis i Continguts - PDSC). cations market so as to facilitate services in areas Among the measures provided for by the Plan is which private initiative does not intend to serve. IT- grant-aid for development of ICT training projects Cat will plan and implement the network, while the (Formació en tecnologies de la informació i la co- conventional suppliers must use it and introduce municació - FTIC) and the implementation of the real competition into the sector. initial stages of a programme for accreditation of ICT skills, within the framework of the Digital Lit- Within the framework of the PDIT it is also planned eracy and Training Plan (Pla d’Alfabetització i For- to continue implementing measures designed to mació Digitals - PAiFD), together with the remo- extend the coverage and capacity of the fixed net- delling and promotion of the Catalan Telecentre work, ensuring that rural broadband will cover a to- Network (Xarxa de Telecentres de Catalunya - tal of 2,064 towns and villages (BAR project) and to XTC) and development of the Digital University enhance radiocommunication infrastructure in less project. accessible zones (RADIOCOM project). With regard to measures to enhance the range With regard to generating specialised knowledge of digital services and contents on offer, a grant and added value in the ICT sector, the Tec- programme is to be established for creation and noRegió project is of note. This project aims to publication of digital content, together with cam- promote research and development among the paigns and awareness-raising programmes on network of ICT companies in Catalonia. open software and measures to ensure the pre- sence of Catalan in the ICT sphere, including Finally, other measures worthy of mention are the support for consolidation of the Llengua.org implementation, at marginal cost, of optical fibre portal as a frame of reference for language and in the main infrastructural works and a projected ICT issues. analogue switch-off pilot project for 2006, to en- sure correct introduction of digital terrestrial tele- Finally, also worthy of note is the support to be vision (DTT). given to statistical studies and promotion of the Catalan Information Society Observatory Foun- In relation to the objective of promoting the ne- dation (Fundació Observatori de la Societat de cessary cultural and organisational changes for la Informació de Catalunya - FOBSIC), aiming to effective adoption of information and communica- help it develop into the flagship body in the tion technology (ICT), the aim is to stimulate de- realm of the information and knowledge society mand and use of ICT, promoting training for the in Catalonia. general public, enhancing the attractiveness of the services on offer and digital content produced in Catalonia, ensuring the presence of the Catalan 3. The DURSI budget language, and promoting open software. The DURSI budget has grown consistently since In order to stimulate demand and use of ICT, it is creation of the department in 2000. Indeed, be- planned to continue implementing the measures tween 2000 and 2006 the budget rose by almost
120 THE 2006 BUDGET FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF UNIVERSITIES, RESEARCH AND THE INFORMATION SOCIETY (DURSI) AND ITS DEPENDENT BODIES
75.1 %, increasing from 548.1 M€ to 959.6 M€, tions and Information Society total 18.3 M€, or a figure equivalent to 4 % of total government 1.9 % of Departmental expenditure. The remaining spending13 (see graph 2). 19.6 M€, or 2% of the Departmental budget, is ac- counted for by de DURSI General Secretariat. The overall DURSI budget for 2006 is 99.9 M€ higher than that of 2005, a rise of 11.6 %. The main growth in absolute terms is that of the funding allocated to the Directorate General for The management unit classification Universities, which receives 80.6 M€ more than in 2005, a percentage rise of 11.2% from the pre- In terms of management unit structure (who vious year. In relative terms, the main growth cor- spends the money), a large proportion of the 2006 responds to the Directorate General for Research, budget (796.9 M€, or 83% of the total) will go to wich increases by 15.2%, 16.5 M€. The budget the Directorate General for Universities. The Direc- allocated to the Telecommunications and Infor- torate General for Research will receive funding of mation Society Secretariat rises by 8.3 %, while almost 124.8 M€, or 13 % of total DURSI expendi- that of the General Secretariat rises by 7.8 % (see ture, while funds allocated to the Telecommunica- Table 3 and Graph 3).
Graphic 2 Growth of the DURSI budget (in M€)
1000
959.6 900 859.7 800 757.7 700 702.0 647.6 600 589.8 548.1 500
400 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
13. This figure comprises the sum total of the budgets of the Catalan Government organs (the Catalan Parliament, the Advisory Council, the Om- budsman’s Office, the Legal Advisory Committee, the Catalan Broadcasting Council, the Economic and Social Labour Council and the Catalan Data Protection Agency, the Government departments, and spending not attributable to current spending by administrative units (pensions, debt, expen- ses of some departments and budgetary contingency funds).
121 CONEIXEMENT I SOCIETAT 10 NOTES
Table 3 DURSI budget for 2006 and variation on 2005. Management unit classification (in €) Variation 06-05 Management units 2006 2005 in € in % General Secretariat (SG) 19,610,265.20 18,187,708.86 1,422,556.34 7.8 Telecommunications and SI Secretariat (STSI) 18,268,287.00 16,860,526.25 1,407,760.75 8.3 Directorate General for Universities (DGU) 796,913,923.17 716,356,847.36 80,557,075.81 11.2 Directorate General for Research (DGR) 124,783,245.65 108,315,874.47 16,467,371.18 15.2 Total 959,575,721.02 859,720,956.94 99,854,764.08 11.6
Graphic 3 111.6M€ or 15.3 %. Expenditure on current as- Management unit classification of the DURSI budget for 2006 (percentage of total) sets and services (chapter 2) decreases by 9.2%.
SG Capital operations account for 9.7% of expenditure 2.0% STSI DGR 1.9% for 2006. Within this category, capital transfers 13.0% (chapter 7) total 91.7 M€ or 9.6 % of DURSI’s budget, and drop by this same percentage from the 2005 figure. Real investment, at 1.8 M€, drops by 1.4 M€ from the figure for 2005.
Financial operations account for a total of 0.5 M€ or almost 0.1 % of the total budget in 2006 and corre- spond entirely to variations in financial assets (chap- ter 8). These are mainly in the form of foundation ex- DGU penses paid to institutions and capital contributions 83.0% to DURSI’s associated public corporations.
As a Department, DURSI tends to transfer rather Spending areas than spend funds. In fact, 97.2 % of total spending is transferred to other bodies, the remainder mainly In terms of the purpose of spending areas (i.e., on serving for purchase of goods and services and what it is spent), current transfers total 865.5 M€, personnel expenses (see Table 4 and Graph 4). 14.6% more than the previous year’s figure; capital ex- penditure at 93.5 M€, is 9.2% lower than that of 2005 An examination of budgetary distribution combining and financial expenses at 0.6 M€, rise by 1,304.5 %. the management unit and spending areas dimen- sions shows that the bulk of DURSI’s current trans- Current operations account for 90.2 % of DURSI fers correspond to the Directorate General for Uni- expenditure; within this category, current transfers versities (86.3 % of the total), which spends the (chapter 4) total 840.8 M€ or 87.6 % of the total money on the Catalan public universities; the Direc- budget, reflecting a rise from the previous year of torate General for Research’s current transfers ac-
122 THE 2006 BUDGET FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF UNIVERSITIES, RESEARCH AND THE INFORMATION SOCIETY (DURSI) AND ITS DEPENDENT BODIES
Table 4 DURSI budget for 2006 and variation on 2005. Spending areas classification (in €) Variation 06-05 Chapters 2006 2005 in € in % 1. Salaries 9,680,470.59 9,358,010.05 322,460.54 3.4 2. Goods and services 15,025,274.51 16,541,267.96 -1,515,993.45 -9.2 4. Current transfers 840,795,563.39 729,179,812.90 111,615,750.49 15.3 6. Real investment 1,840,238.00 3,204,991.15 -1,364,753.15 -42.6 7. Capital transfers 91,658,174.53 101,395,864.88 -9,737,690.35 -9.6 8. Variation in financial assets 576,000.00 41,010.00 534,990.00 1,304.5 Current expenditure (chap. 1 to 4) 865,501,308.49 75,079,090.91 110,422,217.58 14.6 Capital expenditure (chap. 6 and 7) 93,498,412.53 104,600,856.03 -11,102,443.50 -10.6 Financial expenses (chap. 8) 576,000.00 41,010.00 534,990.00 1,304.5 Total 959,575,721.02 859,720,956.94 99,854,764.08 11.6 count for 12.5 % of all DURSI’s current transfers, current transfers account for 1.2 % of the total, and and are mainly spent on research centres, universi- are allocated to bodies working to promote the infor- ties and the University and Research Aids Manage- mation society and telecommunications. ment Agency (AGAUR); finally, the Telecom- munications and Information Society Secretariat’s In the area of capital transfers, 75.2 % of the total corresponds to the Directorate General for Universi- Graphic 4 ties, which mainly spends it on public university DURSI budget 2006 as allocated to spending areas building work. The Directorate General for Research (percentage of total) receives 18.9 % of the total, the bulk of which is Salaries transferred to research centres to pay for building 1.0% Goods and Capital services work; the remaining 5.9 % corresponds to trans- transfers 1.6% fers to the Telecommunications and Information So- 9.6% ciety Secretariat and is mainly used to fund projects run by the Telecommunications and Information Technologies Centre (see Table 5 and Graph 5).
Classification by programmes
Classification of the 2006 DURSI budget by pro- grammes14 (i.e., the intended effects of the spend- Current transfers ing) shows that the expenditure area “Production 87.6% of Public Assets of a Social Nature” absorbs 83 %
14. According to the explanatory report accompanying the Catalan Government budgets for 2006, the aim is to place the emphasis on allocation per expenditure programme and the aim of spending assignments rather than other criteria of a more administrative nature. The functional and per pro- gramme classification was revised and replaced by one in which spending was classified by expenditure area, policy and programmes.
123 CONEIXEMENT I SOCIETAT 10 NOTES
of the total at 796,4 M€, all of which goes towards “Research, Development and Innovation” policy, Education policy. Of this, 793 M€ goes to the “Uni- which absorbs 12.8 % of the DURSI budget; the “Re- versity Education” programme, and the remaining search” programme receives a total of 101 M€, or 3.4 M€ to “Grants and Study Aids”. 82.4%, of the funding allocated to this policy, the re- maining 21 M€ goes to the “Agro-Food Science and The area “Production of Public Assets of an Economic Technology Research”, “Biomedical and Health Sci- Nature” receives 140 M€, of which 122.6 M€ goes to ence Research” and “Technological Development
Table 5 DURSI budget for 2006. Management unit and spending areas classification (in €)
SG STSI DGU DGR TOTAL Chapters € % € % € % € % € % of total of total of total of total of total
1. Salaries 9,680,470.59 49.4 0.00 0.0 0.00 0.0 0.00 0.0 9,680,470.59 1.0 2. Goods and services 8,496,994.61 43.3 2,478,388.00 13.6 2,640,351.00 0.3 1,409,540.90 1.1 15,025,274.51 1.6 4. Current transfers 229,230.00 1.2 10,061,971.00 55.1 725,230,912.99 91.0 105,273,449.40 84.4 840,795,563.39 87.6 6. Real investment 1,192,570.00 6.1 191,658.00 1.0 0.00 0.0 456,010.00 0.4 1,840,238.00 0.2 7. Capital transfers 0.00 0.0 5,376,270.00 29.4 68,963,068.71 8.7 17,318,835.82 13.9 91,658,174.53 9.6 8. Variation in financial assets 11,000.00 0.1 160,000.00 0.9 79,590.47 0.0 325,409.53 0.3 576,000.00 0.1 Current expenditure (chap. 1 to 4) 18,406,695.20 93.9 12,540,359.00 68.6 727,871,263.99 91.3 106,682,990.30 85.5 865,501,308.49 90.2 Capital expenditure (chap. 6 and 7) 1,192,570.00 6.1 5,567,928.00 30.5 68,963,068.71 8.7 17,774,845.82 14.2 93,498,412.53 9.7 Financial expenses (chap. 8) 11,000.00 0.1 160,000.00 0.9 79,590.47 0.0 325,409.53 0.3 576,000.00 0.1 Total 19,610,265.20 100.0 18,268,287.00 100.0 796,913,923.17 100.0 124,783,245.65 100.0 959,575,721.02 100.0
Graphic 5 DURSI budget 2006 as allocated to spending areas by management unit (% of total)
100%
80%
SG 60% STSI DGU 40% DGR
20%
0% Salaries Goods Current Real Capital Var. financial and services transfers investment transfers assets
124 THE 2006 BUDGET FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF UNIVERSITIES, RESEARCH AND THE INFORMATION SOCIETY (DURSI) AND ITS DEPENDENT BODIES
and Innovation” programmes. A total of 17.4 M€, ac- Funds allocated to “Administration and General counting for 1.8 % of the total budget, is allocated to Services” policy total 23.2 M€, or 2.4 % of total “Information and Knowledge Society” policy, 8.9 M€ budget, the bulk of which is assigned to the going to the “Telecommunications” programme, and “General Management and Administration” pro- 5 M€ to “Information and Knowledge Society”. gramme.15
Table 6 DURSI budget for 2006. Classified by expenditure policies and programmes (in €)
SG STSI DGU DGR TOTAL € % € % € % € % € % Code Programmes of total of total of total of total of total
121 General Management and Administration 19,498,502.20 99.4 855,398.00 4.7 540,048.16 0.1 2,207,000.00 1.8 23,100,948.36 2.4 122 Administration and Service Staff Training 111,763.00 0,6 0.00 0.0 0.00 0.0 0.00 0.0 111,763.00 0.0 12 Administration and General Services 19,610,265.20 100.0 855,398.00 4.7 540,048.16 0.1 2,207,000.00 1.8 23,212,711.36 2.4 1Institutional Operation and General Administration 19,610,265.20 100.0 855,398.00 4.7 540,048.16 0.1 2,207,000.00 1.8 23,212,711.36 2.4
422 University Education 0.00 0.0 0.00 0.0 792,987,215.50 99.5 0.00 0.0 792,987,215.50 82.6 425 Grants and Study Aids 0.00 0.0 0.00 0.0 3,386,659.51 0.4 0.00 0.0 3,386,659.51 0.4 42 Education 0.00 0.0 0.00 0.0 796,373,875.01 99.9 0.00 0.0 796,373,875.01 83.0 4Production of Public Assets of a Social Nature 0.00 0.0 0.00 0.0 796,373,875.01 99.9 0.00 0.0 796,373,875.01 83.0 531 Telecommunications 0.00 0.0 8,922,260.00 48.8 0.00 0.0 0.00 0.0 8,922,260.00 0.9 532 Information and Knowledge Society 0.00 0.0 8,490,629.00 46.5 0.00 0.0 0.00 0.0 8,490,629.00 0.9 53 Information and Knowledge Society and telecommunications 0.00 0.0 17,412,889.00 95.3 0.00 0.0 0.00 0.0 17,415,889.00 1.8 571 Research 0.00 0.0 0.00 0.0 0.00 0.0 101,036,683.96 81.0 101,036,683.96 10.5 572 Agro-Food Science and Technology Research 0.00 0.0 0.00 0.0 0.00 0.0 4,697,778.00 3.8 4,697,778.00 0.5 573 Biomedical and Health Science Research 0.00 0.0 0.00 0.0 0.00 0.0 16,466,783.69 13.2 16,466,783.69 1.7 574 Technological Development and Innovation 0.00 0.0 0.00 0.0 0.00 0.0 375,000.00 0.3 375,000.00 0.0 57 Research, Development and Innovation 0.00 0.0 0.00 0.0 0.00 0.0 122,576,245.65 98.2 122,576,245.65 12.8 5Production of Public Assets of an Economic Nature 0.00 0.0 17,412,889.00 95.3 0.00 0.0 122,576,245.65 98.2 139,989,134.65 14.6
Total 19,610,265.20 100.0 18,268,287.00 100.0 796,913,923.17 100.0 124,783,245.65 100.0 959,575,721.02 100.0
15. The programme “General Management and Administration” includes the totality of DURSI personnel expenses since the complexity of the res- tructuring of the Government’s human resources management information systems does not permit assignation of DURSI personnel to the specific sectoral programmes to which they correspond for 2006.
125 CONEIXEMENT I SOCIETAT 10 NOTES
Joint analysis of the budget distribution from the Graphic 6 management unit and by programme perspec- Expenditure policies structure of the 2006 DURSI budget (percentage of total) tive shows that, in keeping with the names of the various DURSI management units, education R&D&i policy programmes are concentrated in the Di- 12.8% Information and Administration and rectorate General for Universities and cover De- Knowledge general services partmental objectives in the university sphere; Society and 2.4% Telecommunicat. programmes regarding Research, Development 1.8% and Innovation correspond to the Directorate General for Research and include DURSI ob- jectives in the sphere of research, while the pro- grammes forming part of Information and Knowl- edge Society and Telecommunications policy are concentrated in the Telecommunications and In- formation Society Secretariat and address De- partmental objectives in this area. Programmes forming part of the “Administration and General Services” policy are mainly funded by General Education Secretariat resources, although the remaining 83.0% management units also contribute the resources assigned to them to cover AGAUR expenses ari- sing from projects commissioned by these units 4. The budgets of DURSI’s (see Table 6 and Graph 6). associated public corporations
The University and Research Aids Management Agency (AGAUR) Classification of the 2006 DURSI budget by programmes (i.e., the intended effects of the AGAUR’s principal function is to manage and imple- ment, in the framework of public modernisation and spending) shows that the expenditure area flexibilisation policies, grants, loans, subventions “Production of Public Assets of a Social Na- and other measures to foster university studies, re- ture” absorbs 83 % of the total at 796.4 M€, all search and technological development and infor- mation and communication technologies (ICT) in of which goes towards Education policy. Catalonia, so as to optimise use of public resources.
In 2006, it is projected that AGAUR will run a range of programmes to address the following Budgetary variation from 2005 to 2006 is not DURSI objectives: presented due to a lack of homogenous data as a result of revision in 2006 of the functional and –To provide support to higher education institu- by programme format. tions, both in terms of improving teaching quality
126 THE 2006 BUDGET FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF UNIVERSITIES, RESEARCH AND THE INFORMATION SOCIETY (DURSI) AND ITS DEPENDENT BODIES
and scientific and technical equipment. (MQD). In the area of telecommunications and the –To consolidate and strengthen scientific and information society, the main funding support is technological research, and research groups. that provided for information and communication –To facilitate funding of university studies for stu- technology training projects (FTIC). dents at first, second and third cycle levels. –To foster international cooperation with higher AGAUR’s total allocated funding for 2006 is education centres. 40.7M€, an increase of 1.8 M€ or 4.5 % on the –To provide support to the process of linguistic previous year’s figure. normalisation in Catalan university teaching and to support the use of the Catalan language in higher education. –To facilitate public adoption of ICT and foster the AGAUR’s total allocated funding for 2006 is implementation of open software. 40.7 M€, an increase of 1.8 M€ or 4.5 % on the previous year’s figure 2005-2008. With regard to research, the main grant pro- grammes managed by AGAUR in quantitative terms are the predoctoral grants for trainee re- searchers (FI), the supports for Consolidated Re- Practically all of AGAUR’s funding comes from search Groups (SGR) and the support provided for DURSI transfers: 1.8 M€ from the Telecom- the Beatriu de Pinós postdoctoral training con- munications and Information Society Secretariat; tracts (BP). In the university sphere, the main pro- 6.3 M€ from the Directorate General for grammes include the support for international Universities, and 32.7 M€ from the Directorate stays for Doctoral and Master’s students in Catalan General for Research. The funding provided by public universities (IQUC), the ERASMUS mobility the Directorate General for Universities in 2006 is programmes and funding for projects aiming to im- 1.5 M€ more than in 2005, representing a rise of prove teaching quality in Catalan universities 30.5al for Research decreases by 1.5 M€, a drop
Table 7 Projected income for the University and Research Aids Management Agency 2006 (in €) Variation 06-05 Chapters 2006 2005 in € in % 3. Taxes, goods and other revenues 90.00 20.00 70.00 350.0 4. Currents transfers 38,346,305.15 26,684,591.25 11,661,713.90 43.7 5. Patrimonial income 0.00 6,000.00 -6,000.00 -100.0 7. Capital transfers 2,370,000.00 12,260,518.08 -9,890,518.08 -80.7 8. Variation in financial assets 50.00 20.00 30.00 150.0 9. Variation in financial liabilities 20.00 60.00 -40.00 -66.7 Currenet expenditure (chap. 3 to 5) 38,346,395.15 26,690,611.25 11,655,783.90 43.7 Capital expenditure (chap. 7) 2,370,000.00 12,260,518.08 -9,890,518.08 -80.7 Financial expenses (chap. 8 and 9) 70.00 80.00 -10.00 -12.5 Total 40,716,465.15 38,951,209.33 1,765,255.82 4.5
127 CONEIXEMENT I SOCIETAT 10 NOTES
of 4.3 %. It is noteworthy that the 2006 budget for 11.7 M€ (43.7 %) over the previous year. The AGAUR is the first providing for funding from the remaining 2.4 M€ is allocated for capital Telecommunications and Information Society operations, a decrease of 9.9 M€ or 80.7% on Secretariat. the 2005 figure. This decrease is mainly due to the drop in the sum paid by the Directorate Of the total AGAUR budget, 38.3 M€ is allocated General for Research in relation to the aids for to operating costs, representing an increase of research equipment and infrastructure (PEIR).
Table 8 Projected expenditure for the University and Research Aids Management Agency for 2006. (in €) Variation 06-05 Chapters 2006 2005 in € in % 1. Salaries 2,253,974.72 1,305,175.51 948,799.21 72.7 2. Goods and services 536,113.44 460,934.49 75,178.95 16.3 3. Financial expenses 50.00 40.00 10.00 25.0 4. Current transfers 35,556,256.99 24,924,441.25 10,631,815.74 42.7 5. Depreciation and current surplus* 0.00 20.00 -20.00 -100.0 6. Real investment 245,000.00 260,518.08 -15,518.08 -6.0 7. Capital transfers 2,125,000.00 12,000,010.00 9,875,010.00 -82.3 8. Variation in financial assets 20.00 10.00 10.00 100.0 9. Variation in financial liabilities 50.00 60.00 -10.00 -16.7 Current expenditure (chap. 1 to 5) 38,346,395.15 26,690,611.25 11,655,783.90 43.7 Capital expenditure (chap. 6 and 7) 2,370,000.00 12,260,528.08 -9,890,528.08 -80.7 Financial expenses (chap. 8 and 9) 70.00 70.00 0.00 0.0 Total 40,716,465.15 38,951,209.33 1,765,255.82 4.5 * Chapter as designated in DURSI 2005 budget.
Table 9 Projected expenditure for the University and Research Aids Management Agency for 2006. Classified by expenditure policies and programmes (in €)
€ % Code Programmes of total
121 General Management and Administration 3,035,138.16 7.5 12 Administration and General Services 3,035,138.16 7.5 1Institutional Operation and General Administration 3,035,135.16 7.5 422 University Education 2,305,040.48 5.7 425 Grants and Study Aids 3,386,659.51 8.3 42 Education 5,691,699.99 14.0 4Production of Public Assets of a Social Nature 561,699.99 14.0 532 Information and Knowledge Society 1,738,000.00 4.3 53 Information and Knowledge Society and Telecommunications 1,738,000.00 4.3 571 Research 30,251,627.00 74.3 57 Research, Development and Innovation 30,251,627.00 74.3 5Production of Public Assets of a Economic Nature 31,989,627.00 78.6 Total 40,716,465.15 100.0
128 THE 2006 BUDGET FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF UNIVERSITIES, RESEARCH AND THE INFORMATION SOCIETY (DURSI) AND ITS DEPENDENT BODIES
In AGAUR’s 2006 budget, expenditure in the area –To ensure mid-term inclusion of the Catalan “Production of Public Assets of an Economic Na- Agency in the register of European agencies, so ture” accounts for 78.6 % of total spending, with that decisions concerning evaluation, certifica- an allocation of 32 M€, of which 30.3 M€ goes tion and accreditation serve to enable the entire to the “Research” programme, the remaining 1.7 Catalan university system to be in line with other M€ being allocated to “Information and Knowl- European universities with regard to possible edge Society”. The “Production of Public Assets standardisation processes. of a Social Nature” area absorbs 14 % of total AGAUR expenditure, with spending of 5.7 M€, of which 3.4 M€ goes to “Grants and Study Aids”, and 2.3 M€ to “University Education”. The The budget allocated to AQU Catalunya for “Management and General Administration” pro- 2006 totals 2.4 M¤, an increase of 0.1 M¤ or gramme receives a total of 3 M€, 7.5 % of the 4.9 % over the previous year. total AGAUR budget.
Agency for the Quality of the Catalan University System (AQU Catalunya) The budget allocated to AQU Catalunya for 2006 totals 2.4 M€, an increase of 0.1 M€ or 4.9 % over The Catalan University Law (LUC) defines AQU the previous year. Catalunya as the main instrument for promotion and evaluation of the Catalan university system. A total of 97.8 % of the resources allocated to AQU Catalunya derives from transfers and capital contri- The functions of AQU Catalunya are evaluation, ac- butions from DURSI via the Directorate General for creditation and certification of quality in universities Universities. The remaining funds mainly derive and higher education teaching centres of Catalo- from fees received for services rendered. nia. More specifically, in 2006 its tasks are: Of the total projected expenditure for 2006, almost –To evaluate the quality of educational pro- 2.4 M€ is assigned to current operations, a rise of grammes, teaching and research institutions 5 % over the previous year, and the remaining and the impact of the education provided; to 40,000 € is allocated to capital expenses. evaluate teaching staff and award research and advanced research accreditations, evaluate The entire AQU Catalunya budget for 2006 is allo- teaching staff in private universities, teaching cated to the “Production of Public Assets of a So- merits, and research; and to generate confi- cial Nature” area, and specifically to the “University dence and reliability in the university system with Education” programme. regard to teacher and programme evaluation activities and processes. Telecommunications and Information –To participate actively in adaptation of Catalan Technologies Centre (CTTI) university courses to the requirements of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) for The Telecommunications and Information Technolo- 2010. gies Centre (CTTI) was established to integrate all the
129 CONEIXEMENT I SOCIETAT 10 NOTES
Table 10 Projected income for the Agency for the Quality of the Catalan University System for 2006 (in €) Variation 06-05 Chapters 2006 2005 in € in % 3. Taxes, goods and other revenues 41,400.00 39,990.00 1,410.00 3.5 4. Current transfers 2,320,750.00 2,210,010.00 110,740.00 5.0 5. Patrimonial revenues 12,410.00 11,990.00 420.00 3.5 7. Capital transfers 0.00 40,000.00 -40,000.00 -100.0 8. Variation in financial assets 40,000.00 10.00 39,990.00 N.S. Current expenditure (chap. 3 to 5) 2,374,560.00 2,261,990.00 112,570.00 5.0 Capital expenditure (chap. 7) 0.00 40,000.00 -40,000.00 -100.0 Financial expenses (chap. 8) 40,000.00 10.00 39,990.00 N.S.
Total 2,414,560.00 2,302,000.00 112,560.00 4.9
Table 11 Projected expenditure for the Agency for the Quality of the Catalan University System for 2006 (in €) Variation 06-05 Chapters 2006 2005 in € in % 1. Salaries 1,166,660.00 1,060,622.31 106,037.7 10.0 2. Goods and services 1,092,880.00 1,051,357.69 41,522.3 3.9 3. Financial expenses 10.00 10.00 0.0 0.0 4. Current transfers 115,010.00 150,000.00 -34,990.0 -23.3 6. Real investment 40,000.00 40,010.00 -10.0 0.0 Current expenditure (chap. 1 to 4) 2,374,560.00 2,261,990.00 112,570.0 5.0 Capital expenditure (chap. 6) 40,000.00 40,010.00 -10.0 0.0
Table 12 Projected expenditure for the Agency for the Quality of the Catalan University System for 2006. Classification by expenditure policies and programmes (in €) € % Code Programmes of total 422 University education 2,414,560.00 100.0 42 Education 2,414,560.00 100.0 4Producion of Public Assets of an Social Nature 2,414,560.00 100.0
Total 2,414,560.00 100.0
130 THE 2006 BUDGET FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF UNIVERSITIES, RESEARCH AND THE INFORMATION SOCIETY (DURSI) AND ITS DEPENDENT BODIES
Catalan Government’s computer and telecommuni- the rural broadband and RADIOCOM schemes al- cations services into a single structure. According to ready in application. The budget also provides for in- CTTI’s statutes, its functions are management, come arising from variations in financial liabilities to a whether directly or indirectly, of implementation and total of 119.3 M€ (an increase of 99.3 M€ on the operation of the telecommunications and telematic 2005 figure), this arising due to a loan taken out by services, systems and networks necessary for the CTTI to cover implementation of the Telecommunica- work of the Catalan Government and its associated tion Infrastructure Master Plan. bodies, organisms and companies, and it charges a fee covering the full cost of services provided. CTTI has a total budget of 295.6 M¤ for 2006, CTTI’s main objectives for 2006 are to strengthen an increase of almost 120.5 M¤ or 68.8 % over communication, knowledge and strategic vision in relation to the Government’s telecommunications, the previous year’s figure. so as to improve the ICT services and systems available to Government Departments and to im- plement the specific ICT projects assigned to it. Its Of total projected CTTI expenditure for 2006, a to- budgetary priorities can be summarised as follows: tal of 157.7 M€ is allocated to cover operating ex- penses, a rise of 12.9 % from the year before; an- –To optimise Government expenditure on ICT, im- other 116.7 M€ corresponds to capital operations, prove Departmental ICT administrative systems an increase of 431.9 %, and the remaining 21.2M€ and establish a new model for provision of cor- goes to financial operations, up by 56.2 %. porative ICT services. –To direct, implement and control the service pro- The significant rise in expenditure arising form cap- jects of Catalan Government Departments and ital operations is due to the building work associa- associated entities, and to implement investment ted with the Telecommunications Infrastructure programmes in ICT infrastructure as commis- Master Plan (PDIT) and the establishment of the sioned by the Government’s Departments and Public Telecommunications Infrastructure manage- associated entities. ment structure promoted by the Telecommunica- –To manage ICT infrastructure for provision of tions and Information Society Secretariat. services to the Catalan Government and esta- blish an infrastructure management structure. The entire CTTI budget for 2006 is allocated to the expenditure area “Production of Public Assets of CTTI has a total budget of 295.6 M€ for 2006, an an Economic Nature”, and more specifically to the increase of almost 120.5 M€ or 68.8 % over the “Telecommunications” programme. previous year’s figure.
All funding to cover CTTI’s operating expenses of 5. The budgets of DURSI’s 171.4 M€ derive from fees charged for the provision associated foundations of services, a rise of 32.9 M€ with respect to 2005. Capital income for 2006 includes the DURSI transfer As mentioned in section 1, the institutional scope for to cover expenditure arising from implementation of the consolidated DURSI budget for 2006 is larger
131 CONEIXEMENT I SOCIETAT 10 NOTES
Table 13 Projected income for the Telecommunications and Information Technologies Centre for 2006 (in €) Variation 06-05 Chapters 2006 2005 in € in % 3. Taxes, goods and other revenues 171,439,571.32 138,552,262.64 32,887,308.68 23.7 4. Current transfers 0.00 1,050,000.00 -1,050,000.00 -100.0 5. Patrimonial revenues and operating deficit (art. 56)* 0.00 12,701,538.29 -12,701,538.29 -100.0 7. Capital transfers 4,856,260.00 2,818,964.00 2,037,296.00 72.3 9. Variation in financial liabilities 119,300,000.00 20,000,000.00 99,300,000.00 496.5 Current expenditure (chap. 3 and 4) 171,439,571.32 139,602,262.64 31,837,308.68 22.8 Capital expenditure (chap. 5 [art.56] + chap. 7) 4,856,260.00 15,520,502.29 -10,664,242.29 -68.7 Financial expenses (chap. 9) 119,300,000.00 20,000,000.00 99,300,000.00 496.5 Total 295,595,831.32 175,122,764.93 120,473,066.39 68.8 * Chapter as designated in DURSI 2005 budget spending areas classification. Article 56: resources generated by operations.
Table 14 Projected expenditure for the Telecommunication and Information Technologies Centre for 2006 (in €)
Variation 06-05 Chapters 2006 2005 in € in % 1. Salaries 15,283,363.43 12,335,301.28 2,948,062.15 23.9 2. Current goods and services 140,133,407.89 111,189,423.07 28,943,984.82 26.0 3. Financial expenses 2,236,000.00 2,326,000.00 -90,000.00 -3.9 4. Current transfers 0.00 1,050,000.00 -1,050,000.00 -100.0 5. Depreciation and operating surplus* 0.00 12,701,538.29 -12,701,538.29 -100.0 6. Real investment 116,740,500.00 21,947,000.00 94,793,500.00 431.9 8. Variation in financial assets 0.00 5,000,000.00 -5,000,000.00 -100.0 9. Variation in financial liabilities 21,202,560.00 8,573,502.29 12,629,057.71 147.3 Current expenditure (chap. 1 to 5) 157,652,771.32 139,602,262.64 18,050,508.68 12.9 Capital expenditure (chap. 6) 116,740,500.00 21,947,000.00 94,793,500.00 431.9 Financial expenses (chap. 8 and 9) 21,202,560.00 13,573,502.29 7,629,057.71 56.2 Total 295,595,831.32 175,122,764.93 120,473,066.39 68.8 * Chapter as designed in DURSI 2005 budget functional classification.
Table 15 Projected expenditure for the Telecommunications and Information Technologies Centre for 2006. Classification by expenditure policies and programmes (in €)
€ % Code Programmes of total
531 Telecomunications 295,595,831.32 100.0 53 Information and Knowledge Society and Telecommunications 295,595,831.32 100.0 5Production of Public Assets of an Economic Nature 295,595,831.32 100.0 Total 295,595,831.32 100.0
132 THE 2006 BUDGET FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF UNIVERSITIES, RESEARCH AND THE INFORMATION SOCIETY (DURSI) AND ITS DEPENDENT BODIES
than in previous years due to incorporation –for in- –To obtain the strategic instruments required to formative and budgetary consolidation reasons– of advance the objectives and projects of the Cata- DURSI’s associated foundations which, although not lan Open University. specifically mentioned in article 29 of the Law of Public Finance of Catalonia, have been classified as pu- FUOC has a total budget of almost 58.4 M€. Of blic administration bodies in line with the European total income, 49.5 % (i.e., 28.7 M€), comes from System of National and Regional Accounts (SEC 95). registration fees; DURSI transfers at 26.8 M€, account for another 46.2 %. On the expenditure Given that 2006 is the first year that these associat- side, 52.7 M€ is allocated to current operations, ed foundations have been included in the Catalan the remaining 5.7 M€ going to capital operations. Government budget, comparisons are not made The “University Education” programme, within the with data from previous years. “Production of Public Assets of a Social Nature” area, receives 53.9 M€, i.e., 92.3 % of total Catalan Open University Foundation (FUOC) expenditure, the remaining 7.7 % (4.5 M€) corresponds to the “Information and Knowledge FUOC is a product of the knowledge society and Society” programme, within “Production of Public contributes to improvement of Catalonia’s social Assets of an Economic Nature”. and human capital, and competitiveness, mainly by providing access to life-long education, carrying The Catalan Research and Innovation out specialised research on the information and Foundation (FCRI) knowledge society, and by providing training in the sphere of ICT for educational purposes to a large FCRI’s Strategic Plan 2005-2009 sets out its mis- number of teachers and professionals. sion as follows:
FUOC’s budget for 2006 is addressed to the fol- –To contribute significantly to the coordinated streng- lowing objectives: thening of the Catalan research and innovation sys- tem, promoting strategic initiatives and proposals. –To place programmes at the centre of the Catalan –To promote and support research and innovation Open University’s (UOC) teaching action and fos- and dissemination of results, in the framework of ter its quality, sustainability, innovation and adap- the development of the European Knowledge Area. tation to the European Higher Education Area –To help position Catalonia among the leading R&D (EHEA). and innovation regions in Europe. –To complete definition of teacher policy and con- solidate new university teaching and academic In implementing its Strategic Plan, FCRI’s budget- structures and roles. ary funding for 2006 is addressed to the following –To grow in Spain and in South America, improv- objectives: ing the quality of teaching provided, integrating management processes and applying them to –To stimulate the knowledge transfer process, fos- accomplishment of these objectives. tering entrepreneurial culture, harnessing the out- –To advance in the formation and consolidation of comes of public and private research work, and research groups and their results. contributing to the competitiveness of the Cata-
133 CONEIXEMENT I SOCIETAT 10 NOTES
lan economy (“Research and Industry” strand). opment of the necessary critical mass and at- –To contribute to strengthening and supplement- tracting scientific talent to Catalonia (“Attracting ing support measures for all Catalan research and Supporting Scientific Talent” strand. and researchers, enhancing the service and –To constitute a genuine focus for scientific com- quality of research settings, fostering the devel- munication in Catalonia, working to disseminate
Table 16 Projected income for DURSI’s associated foundations for 2006 (in €) Chapters FUOC FCRI 3. Taxes, goods and other revenues 30,574,219.19 558,108.00 4. Current transfers 22,275,716.33 4,185,855.00 5. Patrimonial revenues 0.00 101,000.00 7. Capital transfers 5,529,799.00 0.00 Operating budget (chap. 3 and 5) 52,849,935.50 4,844,963.00 Capital budget (chap. 7) 5,529,799.00 0.00 Total 58,379,734.50 4,844,963.00
Table 17 Projected expediture for DURSI’s associated foundations for 2006 (in €) Chapters FUOC FCRI 1. Salaries 23,940,473.00 1,452,531.00 2. Goods and services 28,429,710.09 2,398,002.00 3. Financial expenses 356,435.75 83,800.00 4. Patrimonial revenues 0.00 910,630.00 6. Real investments 5,653,115.68 0.00 Operating budget (chap. 1 to 4) 52,726,618.80 4,844,963.00 Capital budget (chap. 6) 56,531,115.70 0.00 Total 58,379,734.50 4,844,963.00
Table 18 Projected expenditure for DURSI’s associated foundations for 2006. Classification by expenditure policies and programmes (in €)
FUOC FCRI € % € % Code Programmes of total of total
422 University education 53,878,548.44 92.3 0.00 0.0 42 Education 53,878,548.44 92.3 0.00 0.0 4Production of Public Assets of a Social Nature 53,878,548.44 92.3 0.00 0.0 532 Information and Knowledge Society 4,501,186.08 7.7 0.00 0.0 53 Information and Knowledge Society and Telecommunications 4,501,186.08 7.7 0.00 0.0 571 Research 0.00 0.0 4,844,963.00 100.0 57 Research, Development and Innovation 0.00 0.0 4,844,963.00 100.0 5Production of Public Assets of an Economic Nature 4,501,186.08 7.7 4,844,963.00 100.0 Total 53,878,548.44 100.0 4,844,963.00 100.0
134 THE 2006 BUDGET FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF UNIVERSITIES, RESEARCH AND THE INFORMATION SOCIETY (DURSI) AND ITS DEPENDENT BODIES
science and technology, increasing the social vation System (“Advice on Knowledge Policies” prestige of science and researchers, promoting strand). science as a career among the young and con- stituting a genuine centre for scientific communi- FCRI has a total budget of almost 4.8 M€. A total cation (“Science and the Public” strand). of 70.8 % of its total income, i.e., 3.4 M€, is in the –To provide advice on public science, technolo- form of transfers from DURSI. The entirety of the gy and innovation policies, facilitating the nec- Foundation’s expenditure comes under the “Re- essary information for decision-making, in the search” programme within “Production of Public framework of the Catalan Research and Inno- Assets of an Economic Nature”.
References
BARBERÀ, Salvador. “La Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats”. Coneixement i Societat, 2004, vol. 4, p. 88-95.
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VILALTA Josep M., Joan CADEFAU, Alba PUIGDOMÈNECH and Marta AYMERICH. “Un instrument per a la política de recerca i innovació a Catalunya en l’Europa del coneixement: el Pla de recerca i innovació (2005-2008)”. Coneixement i Societat, 2005, vol. 7, p. 72-99.
VILLAR, Fina. “Els programes de beques de formació de personal investigadors de la Generalitat de Catalunya (1989-2003)”. Coneixement i So- cietat, 2005, vol. 7, p. 110-131.
VIVES PASTOR, Sílvia. “El pressupost del Departament d’Universitats, Recerca i Societat de la Informació i les entitats que en depenen per al 2004”. Coneixement i Societat, 2004, vol. 6, p. 106-121.
VIVES PASTOR, Sílvia. “El pressupost del Departament d’Universitats, Recerca i Societat de la Informació i les entitats que en depenen per al 2005”. Coneixement i Societat, 2005, vol. 8, p. 130-145.
On line references16 Website of the Department of Economy and Finance of the Catalan Government: http://www.gencat.net/economia Website of the Catalan Research and Innovation Plan 2005-2008 (PRI): http://www.gencat.net/pricatalunya0
135 resúmenes en castellano resums en català CONEIXEMENT I SOCIETAT 10 RESÚMENES EN CASTELLANO
LAS UNIDADES DE LA BLOGOSFERA CATALANA EL MODELO PEDAGÓGICO DE LA TRANSFERENCIA Y UNIVERSITAT OBERTA DE Mercè Molist COMERCIALIZACIÓN DE CATALUNYA (UNIVERSIDAD TECNOLOGÍA UNIVERSITARIA Los blogs son actualmente el fenómeno ABIERTA DE CATALUÑA - UOC): UNA VISIÓN DESDE EL AULA Pere Condom Vilà y Josep Llach Pagès más emergente y popular en Internet. Lo demuestran las cifras: cada cinco meses Teresa Santacana Este trabajo presenta los resultados del se dobla el número de blogs en el mun- análisis de cincuenta y dos unidades de do. La comunidad lingüística catalana no El contenido de este artículo pretende ha- transferencia de tecnología generada en es una excepción. En pocos años, desde cer llegar al lector una visión del modelo el sector público. El objetivo del análisis 1999, han aparecido infinidad de blogs pedagógico de la Universitat Oberta de consistía en aportar información y conoci- catalanes, de las más diversas temáticas Catalunya (Universidad Abierta de Catalu- miento que facilitase en nuestro entorno el y autores, desde los de personas desco- ña - UOC) a partir, por una parte, de la ex- diseño de unidades de comercialización nocidas hasta los de políticos, cantantes i periencia pedagógica de la autora, tanto de patentes y spin-offs por parte de las escritores famosos. Esta revolución ha desde la praxis cotidiana como desde la autoridades universitarias y de las agen- sido posible gracias a la aparición de ser- gestión, y, por otra, desde su perspectiva cias de innovación. El proyecto ha sido fi- vicios gratuitos de alojamiento y creación como antigua alumna de la UOC, actual- nanciado por el Centre d’Innovació i Des- de blogs, que facilitan mucho la tarea de mente graduada en psicopedagogía. Una envolupament Empresarial (CIDEM) de la mantener un blog y permiten hacerlo in- introducción de carácter personal y una Generalitat de Catalunya. cluso a una persona sin conocimientos definición de la concepción constructivis- técnicos, y también a los directorios Ca- ta de la pedagogía para enlazar con los tapings y Bitacoles.net, que ofrecen un fundamentos pedagógicos de la UOC en punto de partida para localizar los blogs tanto que entorno virtual de aprendizaje en catalán. Estos servicios son la colum- pretenden, junto con las conclusiones, na vertebral de la blogosfera catalana, ofrecer una pincelada de un nuevo mode- qua algunos denominan catosfera y se lo de aprendizaje, un modelo educativo basa mayoritariamente en el voluntaria- basado en la personalización y el acom- do: nadie gana dinero en ella y todo se pañamiento integral del estudiante que hace por vocación. Aunque la catosfera rompe las barreras del espacio y del tiem- no tiene la gran influencia social y política po. Y también demostrar que la UOC, que han conseguido los blogs en Esta- como entorno virtual, pretende crear un dos Unidos, cada día se aproxima más a contexto de aprendizaje constructivo, co- ella, aprovechando un hueco clave en municativo, adaptado al mundo actual y Cataluña: la falta de medios de comuni- orientado desde objetivos de mejora e in- cación en catalán. novación.
138 LA FUNDACIÓN DE LA ESCUELA LAS AYUDAS PARA LA CREACIÓN, EL PRESUPUESTO DEL DE QUÍMICA DE LA JUNTA EL DESARROLLO Y LA DEPARTAMENTO DE PARTICULAR DE COMERCIO DE CONSOLIDACIÓN DE REDES UNIVERSIDADES, INVESTIGACIÓN CATALUÑA: UNA EFEMÉRIDE DE TEMÁTICAS: APOYO A LA Y SOCIEDAD DE LA LA INSTITUCIONALIZACIÓN DE LA INTEGRACIÓN DE LA INFORMACIÓN (DURSI) Y DE LAS INVESTIGACIÓN Y LA INVESTIGACIÓN EN CATALUÑA ENTIDADES DEPENDIENTES PARA EDUCACIÓN SUPERIOR EN 2006 Victòria Miquel, Jordi Tàsies CATALUÑA y Joan Cadefau Sílvia Vives Pastor Josep M. Camarasa La convocatoria de redes temáticas (xar- El presupuesto de una organización es la Con motivo de la conmemoración, en xes temàtiques – XT) se inició en 1994, expresión cuantificada de sus objetivos y 2005, del segundo centenario de la inau- como un instrumento integrador de la in- refleja las líneas políticas que se priorizan. guración de la Escuela de Química de la vestigación en Cataluña. En aquel mo- Para el año 2006, el Departamento de Real Junta Particular de Comercio de mento, una de las problemáticas existen- Universidades, Investigación y Sociedad Cataluña, un hito particularmente signifi- tes en el sistema catalán de ciencia y de la Información de la Generalitat de Ca- cativo de los balbuceos de una política tecnología era que la investigación se rea- talunya se plantea unos objetivos que se de educación superior científico-técnica lizaba de forma individual, en el sentido de orientan, en el ámbito universitario, a al- y de investigación en Cataluña, se pasa que había grupos que trabajaban en las canzar un sistema universitario competiti- revista a la historia de las instituciones y mismas líneas de investigación , a veces vo y de calidad por lo que se refiere a do- los hombres que protagonizaron en Cata- incluso en los mismos aspectos o en cencia, estudio e investigación en el luña los inicios de la educación superior otras con objetivos que podían ser com- marco del Espacio europeo de educación técnica desde las cátedras y escuelas de plementarios. Así pues había que evitar el superior; en el ámbito de la investigación a la Junta de Comercio hasta la creación trabajo repetitivo y hacerlo complementa- seguir impulsando el crecimiento y la cali- de la Escuela Industrial de Barcelona. rio, había que diseñar desde la adminis- dad del sistema catalán de R+D, en el tración un instrumento que ayudara, o por marco del Espació europeo de investiga- lo menos pudiera favorecer, el contacto ción, y, en el ámbito de las telecomunica- entre grupos y que diera lugar a una in- ciones y la sociedad de la información, a vestigación colaborativa, en que grupos favorecer la adopción efectiva de las tec- con objetivos similares se potenciaran nologías de la información y la comunica- unos a otros. Esta convocatoria anual, ini- ción (TIC) en todos los ámbitos sociales y ciada como se ha dicho en 1994, finalizó económicos del país y potenciar el sector en 2004 con el III Pla de recerca de Cata- de las TIC. lunya (2001-2004), con un total de 207 re- des creadas, de todos los ámbitos cientí- ficos. En esta nota se pretende dar una visión general de lo que ha sido y ha re- presentado esta acción en el panorama científico catalán a través de sus principa- les resultados durante este período.
139 CONEIXEMENT I SOCIETAT 10 RESUMS EN CATALÀ
LES UNITATS DE TRANSFERÈNCIA I LA BLOCOSFERA CATALANA EL MODEL PEDAGÒGIC DE LA COMERCIALITZACIÓ DE UNIVERSITAT OBERTA DE Mercè Molist TECNOLOGIA UNIVERSITÀRIA CATALUNYA (UOC): UNA VISIÓ DES DE L’AULA Pere Condom Vilà i Els blocs són actualment el fenomen més Josep Llach Pagès emergent i popular a Internet. Ho demos- Teresa Santacana tren les xifres: cada cinc mesos, es dobla Aquest article presenta els resultats de l’a- el nombre de blocs al món. La comunitat El contingut d’aquest article pretén fer arri- nàlisi de cinquanta-dues unitats de trans- lingüística catalana no n’és una excepció. bar al lector una visió del model pedagògic ferència de tecnologia generada al sector En pocs anys, des del 1999, han sortit de la Universitat Oberta de Catalunya públic.L’objectiu de l’anàlisi era aportar blocs en català com bolets, de les més di- (UOC) a partir, d’una banda, de l’experièn- informació i coneixement adreçats a facili- verses temàtiques i autors, des de perso- cia pedagògica de l’autora, tant des de la tar en el nostre entorn el disseny d’unitats nes desconegudes fins a polítics, can- praxi quotidiana com des de la gestió, i, de comercialització de patents i spin-offs tants i escriptors famosos. Aquesta d’una altra, des de la seva perspectiva per part de les autoritats universitàries i de revolució ha estat possible gràcies a com a antiga alumna de la UOC, actual- les agències d’innovació. El projecte ha l’aparició de serveis gratuïts d’allotjament i ment graduada en psicopedagogia.Una estat finançat pel Centre d'Innovació i creació de blocs, que faciliten molt la tas- introducció de caràcter personal i una de- Desenvolupament Empresarial (CIDEM) ca de mantenir un bloc i permeten que finició de la concepció constructivista per de la Generalitat de Catalunya. pugui fer-ho una persona sense coneixe- enllaçar amb els fonaments pedagògics ments tècnics, i també els directoris Cata- de la UOC quant a entorn virtual d’apre- pings i Bitàcoles.net, que ofereixen un nentatge pretenen, juntament amb les punt de partida per localitzar els blocs en conclusions, fer una pinzellada d’un nou català. Aquests serveis són la columna model d’aprenentatge, un model educatiu vertebral de la blocosfera catalana, que basat en la personalització i l’acompanya- alguns anomenen catosfera i que es basa ment integral de l’estudiant i que trenca les majoritàriament en el voluntariat: ningú no barreres de l’espai i el temps. I també de- hi guanya diners i tot es fa per vocació. mostrar que la UOC, com a entorn virtual, Encara que la catosfera no té la gran in- pretén crear un context d’aprenentatge fluència social i política que han aconse- constructiu, comunicatiu, adaptat al món guit els blocs als Estats Units, s’hi acosta actual i orientat des d’objectius de millora i cada dia més, aprofitant un forat clau a d’innovació. Catalunya: la manca de mitjans de comu- nicació en català.
140 LA FUNDACIÓ DE L’ESCOLA DE ELS AJUTS PER A LA CREACIÓ, EL EL PRESSUPOST DEL QUÍMICA DE LA JUNTA DESENVOLUPAMENT I LA DEPARTAMENT D’UNIVERSITATS, PARTICULAR DE COMERÇ DE CONSOLIDACIÓ DE XARXES RECERCA I SOCIETAT DE LA CATALUNYA: UNA EFEMÈRIDE DE TEMÀTIQUES: SUPORT A LA INFORMACIÓ I DE LES ENTITATS LA INSTITUCIONALITZACIÓ DE LA INTEGRACIÓ DE LA RECERCA A QUE EN DEPENEN PER AL 2006 RECERCA I L’EDUCACIÓ CATALUNYA Sílvia Vives Pastor SUPERIOR DE LES CIÈNCIES A Victòria Miquel, Jordi Tasies CATALUNYA i Joan Cadefau El pressupost d’una organització és l’ex- Josep M. Camarasa pressió quantificada dels seus objectius i La convocatòria de xarxes temàtiques reflecteix les línies polítiques que es prio- Amb motiu de la commemoració, el 2005, (XT) es va iniciar l’any 1994, com un ins- ritzen. Per a l’any 2006, el Departament del dos-cents aniversari de la inauguració trument integrador de la recerca a Cata- d’Universitats, Recerca i Societat de la In- de l’Escola de Química de la Reial Junta lunya. En aquell moment, un dels proble- formació es planteja unes fites que s’o- Particular de Comerç de Barcelona, una mes que hi havia dins del sistema català rienten, en l’àmbit universitari, a aconse- fita particularment significativa de les be- de ciència i tecnologia era que la recerca guir un sistema universitari competitiu i de ceroles d’una política d’educació superior es realitzava de manera individual, en el qualitat pel que fa a la docència, l’estudi i cientificotècnica i de recerca a Catalunya, sentit que hi havia grups que treballaven la recerca, en el marc de l’Espai europeu es passa revista a la història de les institu- en les mateixes línies de recerca, algunes d’educació superior; en l’àmbit de la re- cions i els homes que protagonitzaren els vegades en els mateixos aspectes i, altres cerca, a continuar impulsant el creixement inicis a Catalunya de l’educació superior vegades, amb objectius que podien ser i la qualitat del sistema català d’R+D, en el tècnica, des de les càtedres i les escoles complementaris. Així doncs, calia que marc de l’Espai europeu de recerca, i, en de la Junta de Comerç fins a la creació de aquesta feina no fos repetitiva, sinó que fos l’àmbit de les telecomunicacions i la so- l’Escola Industrial de Barcelona. complementària; calia dissenyar un instru- cietat de la informació, a afavorir l’adopció ment, des de l’administració, que ajudés al efectiva de les tecnologies de la informa- contacte entre grups —o que almenys el ció i la comunicació (TIC) en tots els àm- pogués afavorir— i que donés lloc a una bits socials i econòmics del país i a poten- recerca col·laborativa, on grups amb ob- ciar el sector de les TIC. jectius similars es potenciessin els uns als altres. Aquesta convocatòria anual, inicia- da com s’ha dit l’any 1994, va finalitzar l’any 2004 amb el III Pla de recerca de Ca- talunya (2001-2004), amb un total de 207 xarxes creades, de tots els àmbits cientí- fics. En aquest article es pretén donar una visió general del que ha estat i ha represen- tat aquesta acció dins del panorama cientí- fic català a través dels principals resultats durant aquest període.
141 . CONEIXEMENT I SOCIETAT Knowledge and Society. Journal of Universities, Research and the Information Society. Minister for Universities, Research and the Information Society Number 10. January-April 2006 Carles Solà i Ferrando
ISSN (english e-version): 1696-8212 ISSN (catalan printed version): 1696-7380 ISSN (catalan e-version): 1696-8212 Legal deposit (english e-version): B-38745-2004 Legal deposit (catalan printed version): B-27002-2003 Secretary General Legal deposit (catalan e-version): B-26720-2005 Ramon-Jordi Moles i Plaza Chief editor Josep M. Camarasa i Castillo Secretary of Telecommunications and the Information Society Josep Oriol Ferran i Riera Editorial board Joan Bravo i Pijoan, Joan Cadefau i Surroca, Joan Esculies i Serrat, Jac- queline Glarner, Xavier Lasauca i Cisa, Montserrat Meya i Llopart, Esther Director General of Universities Pallarols i Llinàs, Vicent Partal i Montesinos, Carles Perelló i Valls, Emilià Ramon Vilaseca i Alavedra Pola i Robles, Alba Puigdomènech Cantó, Josep Ribas i Seix, Jordi Sort i Miret, Ignasi Vendrell i Aragonès, Josep M. Vilalta i Verdú
Director General of Research Coordinating editor and production Francesc Xavier Hernàndez i Cardona Glòria Vergés i Ramon
Design Director of the Interdepartamental Commission for Research Quin Team! and Technological Innovation (CIRIT) Marta Aymerich i Martínez Layout Inom,sa
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SUMMARY
ARTICLES
Technology transfer units and marketing of university technology 06 Pere Condom-Vilà i Josep Llach-Pagès CONEIXEMENT The Catalan blogosphere 28 Mercè Molist
The Open University of Catalonia (Universitat Oberta de Catalunya - UOC) pedagogical model: The classroom perspective 56 Teresa Santacana CONEIXEMENT I SOCIETAT Knowledge and Society. Journal of Universities,
NOTES I
SOCIETAT Research and the Information Society. The founding of the School of Chemistry of the Junta Particular de Comerç de Catalunya: Number 10. January-April 2006. A milestone in the institutionalisation of research and higher education in the sciences in Catalonia. 74 Josep M. Camarasa http:// www.gencat.net/dursi/coneixementisocietat Funding for the creation, development and consolidation or xarxes temàtiques (thematic networks): Suport for research integration in Catalonia 86 Victòria Miquel, Jordi Tasies and Joan Cadefau
The 2006 budget for the Ministry of Universities, Research and the Information Society (DURSI) Technology transfer units and marketing of university technology The Catalan blogosphere The Open and its dependent bodies 108 Sílvia Vives Pastor University of Catalonia (Universitat Oberta de Catalunya - UOC) pedagogical model: The classroom perspective The founding of the School of Chemistry of the Junta Particular de Comerç de Catalunya: A milestone in the institutionalisation of research anb higher education in the sciences in Catalonia Funding for the creation, development and consolidation of xarxes temàtiques (thematic networks): Suport for research RESÚMENES EN CASTELLANO / RESUMS EN CATALÀ 135 integration in Catalonia. The 2006 budget for the Ministry of Universities, Research and the Information Society (DURSI) and its dependent bodies