Octavio Camino, a Telecommunications engineer, spent more than 28 years working at the European Space Agency and still sadly perceives how Canarian universities train technicians who end up leaving abroad. He is also saddened by the Canarian institutional silence to promote the candidacy of the Spanish Space Agency against that of Seville before the decision of the Council of Ministers that is expected for tomorrow.
How have you seen the process for the candidacy of Canary Islands to the Spanish Space Agency?
I don’t know the details but I do think that Gran Canaria has been bidding for aerospace issues for many years, in addition to Tenerife has the Institute of Astrophysics. I think that the Canary Islands should have presented a single candidacy because between what Gran Canaria, Tenerife and Fuerteventura We would have presented a very strong proposal, but by dividing, you know what always happens. The image is given that we are divided, which is what usually happens in the Canary Islands, which is honestly a shame.
The proposal presented by Gran Canaria takes into account the potential of the other islands. Shouldn’t that be an advantage?
But it is that any candidacy must make use of all the resources available to the Canary Islands because for that we are talking about the Spanish Space Agency. In fact, we should even propose issues at the national level because this Agency tries to solve many problems that we have been dragging along for years, one of them is that there is coherence and that aerospace work can be coordinated throughout the national territory. What has surprised me is that they have asked many things to the candidacies for the squad that supposedly has to come from Madrid, but nothing has been asked about what they want to change and that is a bit strange. A national Agency is being promoted and, however, a proposal on the decentralization that is sought with this body is not requested. From my point of view, the bases requested by the Government are very poor because many necessary things are left out.
The Canary Islands are divided but Seville is the opposite because Andalusia has turned to the candidacy and is the favorite along with León, right?
At an institutional level, it is true that Seville has turned to the Andalusian Parliament, in the cities, among the population, billboards and a powerful institutional campaign, and yet here I do not understand the shyness we always have to do these things as if we were given afraid to go to compete. During the summer there has been a very frustrating silence at the institutional level because this candidacy offers long-term opportunities. How many times has a government offered the possibility of decentralizing public bodies? I think none and since we don’t know how long this government will last, we must take advantage of every opportunity. For this reason, when one of these candidacies is launched, it is necessary to go with all the soul and strength possible, to delude the Canaries that this is something that would be very important for the Canary Islands. However, the institutional silence has been evident in front of Seville. It seems that the canarian inferiority complex is maintained and I don’t understand it.
After 28 years of experience in the European Space Agency, do you see this new body as a lever to encourage science and research in the face of the predominance of the service sector in the Canary Islands?
There isn’t much science when laying bricks, we have employees who water the gardens and clean the apartments, but there isn’t much science because we’ve been doing the same thing for many years and we’ll continue doing the same. The commitment to innovation and technology is long-term. This summer the pact for science and innovation in the Canary Islands was signed by which everyone commits to supporting science regardless of the party that is in government. This is a good basis so that there is no temptation to shoot for some islands more than others or for particular or partisan interests. Something like space requires long-term investments and a strategic plan that allows you to adapt to circumstances and work with a view to the future. Personally, I believe that if this pact has been signed in the Canary Islands, it is to commit all the parties and so that the scientific sectors can move forward regardless of who is in power. At the European Space Agency, every three years we presented a plan for the next three years and that allowed us to work with the commitment of the governments without having to wait for the elections in each country. In the Canary Islands we should be consistent with this pact to work in the long term because what we need is for quality knowledge, technology and employment to come. I would like less to be talked about and more to be done because here everyone says yes in words but then nothing materializes. Companies have been demanding infrastructures for years to carry out their tests or tests, so I would like the governments of the Canary Islands to have people who do more and talk less. In this way you can also tell the citizens that we are investing in the future and in quality jobs so that what happened to me or to so many other engineers who had to go abroad does not continue to happen. It is a terrible drain that the Canaries pay for universities to train technicians and we do not offer them work here. This cycle must be broken with a long-term strategic plan.
It is necessary to attract companies with high added value but they need to have a single window
Is Canarian infrastructure valued in Europe, such as the IAC, the La Palma Observatory or the INTA in Gran Canaria?
The IAC is a scientific center and most of the scientists who use it are from Europe and the world. Fortunately we have the IAC and knowledge has been generated in the Canary Islands and Tenerife in the field of astrophysics but, honestly, we must not only think about the scientific part but also the commercial part because when private companies are asked to invest He will do it if it does not give him benefits. The Canary Islands have to do something more to attract companies that are dedicated to knowledge and that can generate business and employment, which is why it is essential that the commercial and economic aspect be fundamental in the future strategy, because otherwise the companies will not come if they do not there are infrastructures. What we lack are companies with high added value that invest in R&D. I think it is important to give more support to the Canary Islands Aeronautical and Aerospace Cluster, which is very young and needs institutional support.
Aren’t facilities given to companies to settle in the Islands?
When someone asks you have to tell them where to go. A single window is missing here, everything is complicated and the bureaucracy is to cry. It would be good to consider having one-stop shops for the technological and scientific sectors as part of this strategy, so that when we want to attract companies they don’t have to go crazy going to so many sites or to so many websites. What facilitates business is a specific place where you can inform them of everything. There are economic, fiscal, university or climatological reasons for companies to come, in addition to the fact that we have some centers that all together would make us more powerful, although we also have some handicaps that are not fully resolved. There are many things that are moving but there needs to be a defined strategy, more coordination and not going to a thousand places.
Wouldn’t the Space Agency be the catalyst for all these initiatives if its headquarters were in the Canary Islands?
I think not. Honestly, you cannot wait for the Spanish Space Agency or whatever happens to develop what I am proposing. All over the world this is moving much faster and I think it will take at least five years or more for the Agency to have some autonomy and independence. I am telling you this because most of the staff work in Madrid and that means that this new organization will be very dependent on Madrid in its early years, so it will take several years until it has some degree of operating autonomy. The Canary Islands cannot wait that long to get on this train, which we already lost a few years ago and cannot be repeated. I would not even wait for the Spanish Space Agency but would propose to the canarian government make a strategic plan to move forward whether or not the Agency comes. This body would be very good for long-term work, but you also have to think about the short term and for that, the Canary Islands is the one that has to take the initiative and not depend on external factors. If the Agency falls elsewhere, then we will have to be in contact with them so that they take us into account, but in the meantime we must develop our own strategy.
