Valencia (Spain).- King
Felipe VI highlighted this Tuesday that the "sum of efforts" is "essential" when you want to build a powerful and productive science and technology system, which reduces vulnerabilities and attracts the interest of commercial partners, and to achieve this, the European dimension is "fundamental".
Felipe VI, who presided over the ceremony for the presentation of the thirty-seventh edition of the Rei Jaume I 2025 Awards at the Lonja de los Mercaderes in Valencia (east), which was not attended by the acting president of the Valencian Government, Carlos Mazón, began his speech with a remembrance of those affected by the storm in October of last year.
"Great scientific achievements stem from cooperation, synergies, teamwork," said the king, who added that in a "world of large blocs, the European Union allows us to compete better" and stressed that the Jaume I Awards this year are a "great example of that spirit of openness and collaboration".
"Reconstruction is progressing, although never fast enough"
Felipe VI, who delivered his speech in Valencian and Spanish, referred to last year's storm, in which 229 people died, noting that "not far from where we are, reconstruction is advancing, although never fast enough, and normality is gradually returning to the lives of the affected areas".
"But, life here will not be the same no matter how much it is rebuilt and recovered. There are losses that are irreparable and unrecoverable. Many Valencians still live with the material and emotional effects of the devastation that that dana produced a year ago."
Therefore, he added, "every time I have returned to this land since then, and fortunately there have been many times, I have wanted to start by addressing those affected: to remember that they are, that you are, very present, that we know that there is still much to be done; and that you have the affection and support of all Spaniards and, of course, that of the Crown."
According to the monarch, these awards "invite - even oblige - to reflect on how much we owe to those who open new horizons to knowledge, growth and well-being. And they send society a powerful message of optimism, of hope, at a time when it is so needed."
"Great scientific results come from cooperation"
"To the always complex reality of the researcher - long training, difficult funding and results never assured - is added, in recent times, a geopolitical situation not very conducive to international scientific exchange and cooperation. This combination of factors heightens uncertainty and can discourage vocations or discourage support," he indicated.
According to the king, "it is not solely in our hands, as a country, to reverse that international drift", but rather to insist on the evidence that, as Mario Draghi said in his thanks for the Princess of Asturias Award for International Cooperation, "we build our prosperity on openness and multilateralism"
"That political and social teaching also applies to science: great scientific results come from cooperation, synergies, and teamwork. It doesn't seem coincidental that scientific Nobel Prizes are awarded, more and more frequently, to collaborations and teams."
Therefore, he indicated, "it is precisely now when it makes the most sense to insist on scientific networks and mobility between R&D&I centers and companies. The sum of efforts is essential when you want to build a powerful and productive science and technology system, that reduces vulnerabilities and attracts the interest of business partners."
Felipe VI presented the Rei Jaume I awards to this year's winners: José Luis Mascareñas (Basic Research); Jan Eeckhout (Economics); Nuria López-Bigas (Biomedical Research); Victoria Reyes (Environmental Protection); María Jesús Vicent (New Technologies); Damià Tormo (Business Revelation); and Silvia de Sanjosé (Clinical Research and Public Health).
The awards, whose jury is made up of twenty Nobel laureates, are endowed with 100,000 euros in each of their seven categories, and a part of it has to be reinvested by the award winners in their research and in entrepreneurship.
Spanish
