"The capacity to attract talent is a differential factor for Think Tanks"
21 de January de 2019
21 de January de 2019
The auditorium at the Joaquín Costa Campus was the venue for a new Business Networking session organized by ADECEC (Association of National and International Consultants), EAE's partner' entitled "The role of Think Tanks in the generation of public opinion".
Almudena Alonso, the Director of ADECEC, welcomed the attendees to a discussion panel chaired by David Simón, the Head of Public & Government Affairs at Grayling. The guest speakers taking part in EAE's Business Networking session were María Solanas, the Program Director at the Real Instituto Elcano, Marta Angerri, the General Secretary of the Círculo de Economía, Diego Sánchez, the CEO of the Foro Regulación Inteligente, and Roger Montañola, an entrepreneur & former MP.
The discussion began with an analysis of the relationship between Think Tanks and the academic and scientific world. María Solanas emphasized that the two complementary worlds nourish each other and highlighted that they play an indisputable role in terms of establishing forward-thinking recommendations for society. "We need to analyse public opinion to conduct a consistent and solid analysis based on reality without a specific interest. The only objective is the common good". Marta Angerri agrees that both worlds are complementary and emphasized the work of these expert groups when gathering different perspectives of the same reality.
Diego Sánchez highlighted the lack of platforms for reflection in public opinion, where Think Tanks have a big contribution to make. "We live in hard times in which immediacy dominates and reflection is increasingly necessary". Moreover, Diego advocates taking a step even further forward so that their work is not limited to the public sphere.
The use of social media and its power to influence public opinion was seen as a positive aspect for the members of the panel. The General Secretary of the Círculo de Economía explained that "social media is essential when we are able to offer quality content". Diego Sánchez gave a more pessimistic perspective in this regard, stating that, at the Foro Regulación Inteligente (Smart Regulation Forum), "we strive to draw correlations with respect to how the world is going to change over the next 30 years and that is not always well received by social agents".
In terms of financing, both public and private, of Think Tanks, Roger Montagnola gave the example of the United States, where companies make a real social commitment in this respect. In the case of the Real Instituto Elcano, 83% of its capital comes from private companies. "Companies are important because they play a fundamental role in civil society" explained María, emphasizing the high degree of independence and autonomy that they work with at her institution.
The Círculo de Economía is funded by the contributions of its members (currently 1,300) and the financing of 120 partner companies. In contrast, the Foro Regulación Inteligente generates revenue through its analysis department and consultancy service. "The projects we undertake for companies have nothing to do with the projects we do for the public sector", explained Diego Sánchez.
To bring the round of questions to a close, they summarized the terms that best define Think Tanks, such as research, autonomy and long-term policy vision. These three values are the ABC of this type of intellectual reflection institution as far as all the panel members are concerned. In María Solanas's opinion, it is essential that Think Tanks have the capacity to attract talent, remain independent and work with intellectual honesty when drafting documents. "We may not have a crystal ball, but we have the capacity to think in a forward-thinking way about trends that we see today so that we are prepared".
Roger Montagnola highlighted the analytical contributions of Think Tanks with respect to what is happening in the world and how our institutions can be protected. Diego Sánchez underlined aspects such as independence and the capacity to attract talent and understand what is happening. In the CEO's opinion, "no Think Tank can be successful unless it embraces these values (research, autonomy and long-term policy vision)".
To bring the Business Networking session at ADECEC to a close, Javier Dorado, the Director of Public Affairs at Weber Shandwick, summarized the key conclusions of the session, such as the long-term vision of Think Tanks, their distance from political parties and their position with respect to the value chain and policy makers, having a foot in both camps". Javier also emphasized the importance of factors such as research, calm discussion and the capacity of Think Tanks to influence public opinion.