Portugal and Spain are situated above the European average in percentage of women researchers in all sectors considered, although the lowest participation corresponds to the business sector and the highest, to the governmental sector.

Spain stands at the head of the countries of the EU-27 in the global computation of digital society indicators (connectivity, Internet use, etc). Portugal, however, is situated at the tail end.

Who publishes most: men or women? The percentage of women who publish in the STEM areas in Portugal and Spain is higher than the European average, which reflects how the proportion of women researchers in the academic sector exceeds, in turn, the European average.

Who invents most: men or women?  The proportion in Portugal is one out of every four and in Spain, one out of every fiver. Do they exceed the European average?

Portugal is in an intermediate situation in relation to the leading countries in environmental innovation, whereas Spain is among the leading countries.

The model of governmental support for business R&D differs between Portugal and Spain, with a predominance of indirect support in Portugal`s case and direct support in that of Spain

How has science developed in Portugal and Spain and how has it influenced the construction of the Iberian nations?  The two books reviewed here analyse the subject.

One of the great current challenges in research is process integrity and the reliability of results. What reforms are taking place in this area?

International excellence, strong support for innovation and transfer and bringing science closer to society. CaixaResearch Institute symbolises the commitment of the ”la Caixa” Foundation to supporting biomedical research.

Successful experiences such as the Patient Innovation Platform confirm that the future of innovation in health involves connecting patients, carers and other agents from the care sector.

What is society’s opinion regarding the possible impacts of science and technology? Establishing citizen participation mechanisms is necessary to generate confidence and detect points for improvement.

How should science be evaluated? Does the possibility exist of using other criteria beyond bibliometric impacts, which value different facets of the social impact of research?

Challenge-Driven Innovation is a research funding programme that is pioneering in Europe due to its multidisciplinary, intersectoral and challenge-oriented focus.

In Portugal and Spain, only 6% of PhD holders work in the business sector. There is a broad margin for improvement in the relationship between science and business.

Research and innovation in Portugal and Spain have developed along parallel paths, albeit with some distinctive features. 

Andrew W. Wyckoff, the OECD’s current director of Science, Technology and Innovation, reviews the major challenges posed by the digital transformation in the economic, social and educational sphere. 

This article examines how being motivated by disease prevention (“safety”) or pleasure promotion (“pleasure”) shapes the way people construe sexual health and pursue their sexual goals.

The Social Observatory of ”la Caixa” Foundation launches an open and competitive call to fund excellent, innovative and socially-oriented research projects. Proposals must generate new knowledge to broaden our understanding of the major challenges of today’s society, using quantitative methods.

The Social Observatory call to support research projects in social sciences that use data from quantitative surveys on factors of vulnerability in childhood Portugal is open until 5 April.