Why Spain’s research and development is going nowhere

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The discovery of penicillin wasn’t enough in itself to change the world: it first had to be made into a medicine, and then distributed to humanity. This leap is one that many breakthroughs and inventions by Spanish scientists working at the country’s universities very often fail to make. Research that could improve lives, such as flour for people with celiac disease, a self-driving tractor, or a kit for analyzing wine and beer, and that have taken years to develop and cost millions of euros, are either never developed, or are taken abroad.

In May 2014, Spain’s state broadcaster reported on a bright blue, self-driving tractor created by a consortium of 14 partners led by the country’s National Research Council (CSIC) that had cost €8 million of EU funds to develop. Guided by maps traced by drones that identified areas in fields where soil quality was poor, the tractor used up...

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http://elpais.com/elpais/2015/06/08/inenglish/1433750633_214156.html