Times of crisis are special windows to find innovative solutions. That idea comes from Silvia Schwaag Serger, one of the highest voices in Sweden, when it comes to innovating. She has a very fresh perspective on talent: she proposes to push the limits, in pursuit of development, through diversity and a mental change that includes acquiring generic skills, in accordance with the needs of the 21st century.
These days Silvia Schwaag is in Havana, as far as she has come to participate in the International Congress «University 2022», an event that in its thirteenth edition began on February 7, and has brought together more than 200 academics in its conference sessions from twenty countries.
The thinker is closely linked, from her knowledge, to a Sweden that has known how to combine different forms of talent, that has experienced the incorporation of women into scientific professions and the approach of young people to companies that they have ended up leading. “If we don’t dare to dream, then we don’t believe in innovation”, Silvia has said and this is how press reports pick it up.
That is the conviction of someone who, this Thursday morning, gave a conference from the Palace of the Revolution on the subject that he is passionate about: innovation. She did so at the invitation of the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party and President of the Republic of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez.
“The section of the National Innovation Council, corresponding to this month, we are going to focus on the conference on Innovation that Dr. Silvia Schwaag is going to offer us,” said the Head of State in a meeting that also included, from the presidency, the member of the Political Bureau and Prime Minister, Manuel Marrero Cruz; with the deputy prime minister, Inés María Chapman Waugh; as well as with the member of the Political Bureau and Minister of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FAR), General of the Army Corps, Álvaro López Miera.
Díaz-Canel Bermúdez spoke of Silvia as “a friend of Cuba, an expert in innovation issues, who has been participating in the University 2022 event, and who with great pleasure for us, and with satisfaction, agreed to the proposal that we made to her.” to develop a master conference within our Innovation Council».
That was the beginning of a concise and very interesting intervention, about a matter that reveals the Greater Antilles. The thinker, currently a member of the Swedish Government’s Innovation Council, has been exploring her theoretical universe for twenty years.
It is stated that she has designed, implemented and analyzed innovation policies in the Swedish context, and that her relationship with the concept of diversity comes from realities such as being born in Germany; having moved years later to the United States; speak German, English, Swedish and French fluently; and have a good knowledge of Italian and Mandarin. «Since I was little I realized that the world is diverse and that only from diversity can changes be faced. Now, in the midst of a pandemic, diversity and innovation go hand in hand more than ever », she has shared that definition.
The professor is convinced that only through innovation can the COVID-19 epidemic and other similar ills that, in her opinion, possibly come to pass, be overcome. For her, the new coronavirus has not brought new problems: what she has done is worsen existing ones. With a very pleasant simplicity, once she stood on the podium in the Palace of the Revolution, she said that she was very pleased to be in Cuba —where she had been for the last time in 2005—, and gave heartfelt thanks for the invitation extended to her by the Cuban President. .
The section of the National Innovation Council, corresponding to this month, we are going to focus on the conference on Innovation that Dr. Silvia Schwaag is going to offer us. Photo: Revolution Studios.
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How is innovation measured and what are its sources? Asked, among other reflections, Silvia Schwaag Serger; and then spoke of premises such as the training of human resources, research on innovation issues, the development of the academic sector, computerization and the use of new Information and Communication technologies, as well as the combination of the Academy with the industry, and the care of social capital.
Among other concepts that stem from her experience, the professor recalled that innovation goes beyond technology; that competitive capacity is vital for the development of innovation —a transformative tool that can occur even outside university careers, attending to interests, to specific demands, born from different users at the national level.
In this matter of innovating, Silvia emphasized, it is very important not to passively assimilate the policies of other nations: the discovery of our own variants that contribute to government approaches is of great value. On the other hand, she affirmed, there is an urgent need to promote development based on sustainability. She also warned that Latin America is one of the two regions in the world where research has decreased, and in this context, Cuba has, for good, a “very great commitment” to science.
Innovation, said the professor, is a society policy that must be viewed as a whole. And in it we must attend to social innovation, the role that students can play, and the new missions that can bring about real transformations within the country.
«I spent a lot of time at the university, Silvia recalled, for the teaching staff to give students the skills to face the problems of the 21st century». And with that idea, it led to others such as an invitation to go beyond the conventional educational system and enlist the new generations for a mental, cultural change that leads to a general view of the problems of a country and the world, and that has the approach that one opportunity attracts others.
Times of crisis are special windows to find innovative solutions. Photo: Revolution Studios.
Gratitude for the knowledge, and for the impulse
It was inevitable that the hosts asked Silvia many deep questions. The expert spoke much more than what is told here; and at the end of the meeting, her dignitary thanked him for “the quality of her conference.”
The Cuban President spoke of coincidences between what Silvia raised and what is being done in Cuba; coincidences “with the way in which we are looking for science and innovation to really constitute a pillar in the management of the Government, and so that they become a force for transforming action at the level of society”.
“I think we share a whole group of elements that are important, that are conceptual bases to work on, and of knowledge,” said Díaz-Canel, who, alluding to the Island’s National Innovation Council, commented that the entity has experienced its sessions of analysis, all animated by giving answers to a group of problems.
From all the sessions we have had, decisions have been made for the Government, explained the Head of State; e he referred to urgent issues such as the training of human resources, computerization and digital transformation of society; or to issues related to the interconnections between sectors.
For her contribution in terms of knowledge, and because “she has also encouraged us in the ways of doing things,” Díaz-Canel Bermúdez gave heartfelt thanks to Professor Silvia, and invited her to hold future exchanges between her and the National Innovation Council of Cuba.
I think we share a whole group of elements that are important, that are conceptual bases to work on, and of knowledge. Photo: Revolution Studios.
