Spain’s Canary Island’s Launch €5 Million Initiative To Attract New Scientific Talent

Spain’s Canary Island’s Launch €5 Million Initiative To Attract New Scientific Talent.

The Canary Islands have allocated a total of five million euros in a bid to attract new scientific talent and another million to retain and prevent scientists already living on the Islands from abandoning their research or emigrating after completing their doctoral thesis.

The Canary Islands have a history of scientific research

The unique geographical and environmental conditions make the Canary Islands an excellent natural research laboratory for the development and testing of new technologies, which may subsequently be implemented at the continental level.

Each of the islands offers one or more test sites for new technologies, such as the island of Fuerteventura for photovoltaics or the island of El Hierro as an example of a 100% energy self-sufficient island.

The Canary Islands have been able to transfer successfully to their African neighbours their own expertise and technological developments, mainly in the renewable energy and water technology sectors, for providing basic services such as electrification and water supply services to isolated rural communities.

The Canary islands Agency for Research, Innovation and Information Society (ACISII), together with the Ministry of Economy, Knowledge and Employment, has formalised 60 new pre-doctoral contracts this year, destined to defray the expenses of the doctoral thesis to young scientists, and another 10 to postdoctoral researchers, through the recent Catalina Ruiz program.

By launching this project, the Canary Islands are hoping to make the science and research sector more attractive to Canarians, given that many are forced to emigrate or leave their research career half-way due to lack of local job opportunities.

Among the destinations selected by the beneficiaries are Germany, the Czech Republic, Australia, Italy, the United States and Spain. Once this period is over, they will join the Canarian Archipelago research centre for a year.

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