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Dr. Fernando D. Stefani in the single-molecule nanophotonics lab
Dr. Fernando D. Stefani in the single-molecule nanophotonics lab

Inventions and Innovations, in La Vanguardia

ICFO director writes in La Vanguardia about the concept of training through research

July 25, 2006
Prof. Lluis Torner publishes an article in the newspaper La Vanguardia, about the difference between research discoveries, technological inventions, and commercial innovations. The article discusses US examples based on famous data gathered by Prof Bob Byer (Stanford University) about the core concepts behind start-up companies created in Silicon Valley during the last decades. The article is also inspired by Virginia Gewin’s report entitled `The technology trap´ (Nature, October 2005) about licensing and technology transfer in US Universities.

The article intents to stress that creative people, more than money, are the key ingredient of an innovative society and for the generation of wealth out of science and technology. The author encourages PhD students to join private companies after graduation, to exploit there the skills and attitudes they acquired during their post at the forefront of scientific research.
ICFO's PhD student Gajendra Pratap Singh working in the optical tweezers lab