What if they say “no”?

This is one of these occasions in which you can safely say “I told you”. A few months ago I commented on the European constitution and how it was crazy having to vote an overall “yes” or “no” for the whole text. Well, France is voting on it in a few hours, and the latest polls seem to indicate that the outcome might well be “no”. What then? Will the European Union re-write the whole text and try another referendum in a few years?

The stupid thing about all this is that people have been asked whether they like the whole text. We had to say “yes” or “no” to the whole thing. From my conversations with people, most of us like many things of the proposed text but dislike some others. Many people, like myself, have voted “no” because they disliked a small fragment or two, not because they dislike most of it. Now, if France says “no”, somebody will have to write the whole text again and they will not have a clue about which parts the people liked and which parts caused the people to say “no”. Therefore, these guys will not have a better chance to write a successful text this time. Which is a shame. What is the cost of repeating the process? I don’t want to think that public funds are being wasted to pay people to redo something without a better chance to succeed than the first time. It’s trying at random!

Slow and Zen

Today I bought two books that I have wanted for some time. The first is “Slow” by Carl Honoré, a praise of decelerating our lifestyles in order to enjoy more. The second book is “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” by Robert M. Pirsig; the title says it all.

I will read them soon and keep you posted.

Spin-off hatcheries

When I first came to work at uni here in Australia, I was expecting to find a degree of spin-off encouragement mechanisms similar to what I was used to in Spain. I was coming from my own company, which we had created a few years before in order to commercialise research results obtained by me and my team at the University of Santiago de Compostela. What I found in Sydney is that universities here are generally more advanced that unis in Spain, but lagging behind as far as spin-off companies is concerned. I have thought about it for a while but I cannot find any reasonable explanation. Perhaps there is one, but just in case there is not, here is my recipe for a successful spin-off hatchery.

Since universities are most probably the biggest creators of research results, it seems logical that they are the ones who must foster the creation of start-up companies that can enhance, “productise” and sell these research results. The authors of the research, i.e. the scientists or academics that created the research results in the first place, are the most appropriate people to found and direct these companies. In the absence of this kind of companies, research results will be published in scholar journals, discussed by academics, and most likely end up archived in the bottom of a drawer. What a pity.

So, universities need to encourage that any academic who has obtained a significant piece of research think a little about it and determine whether the research result has commercial potentiality. If not, well, keep working. If it does, then the academic needs all the support that he/she can obtain to study the feasibility of a business plan and, perhaps, embark on the new adventure of setting up a company.