Dr. Jordi Sunyer attends Vanguard Awards of Science

Yesterday an important representation of the Catalan scientific community met in La Pedrera. The reason was that La Vanguardia presented its first Award of Science. This event was attended by the CREAL co-director, Jordi Sunyer, on behalf of this research center.

Vanguardia Award for Science, a joint initiative of Caixa Catalunya and Godó Group to promote research excellence, invited citizens to vote the most important scientific advances made in Spain in 2010. A scientific committee selected eight different science investigations. The only criterion for selection, as well as excellence, was that the director or the first author of the research works at a Spanish institution. Finally there were 6,462 votes.

The winners

1. PROGRESS IN GREEN CHEMISTRY
Fernando Rey and Avelino Corma, Institute of Chemical Technology, Valencia, have discovered how to produce boggsita, a mineral that promises to reduce the environmental impact of the petrochemical sector. Obtained 26% of the vote.
2. CRISIS AND THE LABOUR MARKET
Economists Juan José Dolado (Universidad Carlos III) and Samuel Bentolila (Cemfi) have shown that single contract would moderate the impact of the crisis on unemployment in Spain. 22% of the vote.
3. BIOLOGICAL COMPUTER
Ricard Solé and Francesc Posas, from UPF, have developed cellular networks that computing following the logic of conventional computers. The vote on 16% of the readers.