The CEOE Foundation and the Fundación General del CSIC hold an event on CSR policies in science and innovation.

The event brought together leading representatives from the scientific and business worlds to discuss the interests and benefits of CSR actions linked to science and innovation.

The Fundación General CSIC (FGCSIC) and the CEOE Foundation held an event at the Royal Botanical Garden on ‘How to profit from CSR policies linked to science and innovation’. The event focused on the interests and benefits of incorporating scientific activities into companies’ Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategies and explored the advantages of this formula for public-private collaboration based on scientific patronage.

Ramón Torrecillas, Director General of the FGCSIC, and Fátima Báñez, President of the CEOE Foundation, opened the event by welcoming the attendees and expressing the importance of building bridges between science and business to establish a strong and solid innovation ecosystem. For Fátima Báñez, “the alliance between the CEOE Foundation and the Fundación General del CSIC is committed to competitiveness, talent and social commitment. The science and business binomial is a winning combination for society. We combine our commitments with the conviction that public-private collaboration is the great bridge to excellence”. Ramón Torrecillas, in turn, highlighted “the role of the Fundación General CSIC as an agent that promotes public-private collaboration to bring together the interests of the worlds of science and business”.

This was followed by the debate ‘The impact of science supported by CSR’, in which Isabel Díaz, assistant vice-president for Internationalization and Cooperation at the CSIC; Eduardo Gil, researcher at the CSIC’s Institute of Micro and Nanotechnology; Carlos Montero, chief Technology Officer at Agbar; and Juan Almagro, R&D coordinator at Acerinox, took part, with Paloma Domingo, deputy director of the FGCSIC, acting as moderator. They highlighted how scientific research can be incorporated into the most diverse areas of interest for corporate strategies, whether associated with their lines of business or with the challenges of society with which each company wants to identify, such as those contemplated in the Sustainable Development Goals.

Carlos Montero and Juan Almagro explained the commitment of their organizations to promoting the necessary cooperation between industry and public research to be competitive. They also highlighted how the R&D&I development pathway offered by the FGCSIC is easily incorporated into their CSR actions, opens the possibility of exploring new lines of research and allows access to possible future scientific collaborators with whom to undertake collaborative projects of greater scope. 

The meeting was followed by the round table discussion ‘Scientific research as added value in Corporate Social Responsibility strategies’, with the participation of Ramón Torrecillas, director general of the FGCSIC, and Pedro Mier, president of CEOE’s R&D&I Commission, and moderated by César Maurín, director of CEOE’s Department of Digitalization, Innovation, Commerce and Infrastructures.

Ramón Torrecillas insisted on “the added value that including scientific research in its CSR initiatives represents for a company” and stressed “the advantages of working with the FGCSIC in this field, due to its experience as well as its proximity to the largest public institution dedicated to research in Spain, the CSIC, and the returns it offers in terms of access to new sources of knowledge, tax deductions (improved in the case of collaborating with the FGCSIC as an entity that carries out Priority Patronage Activities), visibility and reputation”.

Meanwhile, Pedro Mier indicated that “innovation is the main tool for the competitiveness of companies in today’s rapidly changing world. At the CEOE’s R&D&I Commission, we work to encourage and facilitate innovation in Spanish companies by promoting an appropriate budgetary, legal, work and tax environment, collaboration with universities and science and technology hubs, the intelligent use of innovative demand and collaborative work between companies and sectors.”
 
About Fundación General CSIC
The Fundación General CSIC is a private non-profit organisation whose main role is to strengthen the CSIC’s capacities, acting as an agent to promote a public-private commitment to research in order to achieve greater effectiveness and social impact through its activity results. Its purpose is to promote public-private collaboration in the field of scientific research, innovation, and the enhancement of knowledge.