On December 3rd, Salud por Derecho, along with David Hammerstein from Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue, took a trip to Valencia to meet with a group of researchers from INGENIO (CSIC-UPV), the Institute of Innovation and Knowledge Management, an organization made up of more than 30 researchers from different academic backgrounds including economics, sociology, biophysics, and engineering. Based at Valencia’s Polytech University, INGENIO carries out a range of activities from research to training and divulgation that contribute to improving science and innovation policies and practices. In particular, we met with a small team that is working on analyzing processes and indicators related to biomedical science. The goal of this meeting was to exchange ideas and share the work that each of our organizations is carrying out as well as explore synergies and opportunities for future collaboration.
Many of the focus areas of INGENIO’s research team are relevant to the work that Salud por Derecho is carrying out through the Catalytic Project. Here are just a few of the key highlights:
- The impact of scientific networks. One area of research at INGENIO includes analyzing the “CIBER” groups, or biomedical research centers working in network to see what types of actors are involved as well as their characteristics and motivations in order to discover how these collaborations influence scientists’ participation in translational research activities.
- Introducing new evaluation indicators. The team also seeks to explore and open the door to new types of measurements that can be used to evaluate impact beyond the number of scientific publications and patents that a researcher produces. Indicators based on collaborations with societal actors and on institutional or organizational practices that break down barriers between researchers to facilitate discovery are a few examples of the areas of INGENIO’s current research.
At Salud por Derecho, we are grateful for the opportunity to meet with like-minded organizations and search together for areas where there is a need to develop new thinking on ways to improve and strengthen the current biomedical research model. We look forward to exploring these “research questions” together in the future and engaging new actors in this very important debate.
Erika Meyer
Projects Officer
