The 'AseBio Journalism Awards', organized within the framework of BIOSPAIN 2023, recognize the work of journalists Belén Diego and Miguel Sanmartín

The Natural Science Museum of Madrid hosted on Thursday, February 22nd, the presentation of the 'AseBio Journalism Awards', which recognized the two best coverages of BIOSPAIN 2023, a flagship event in the biotechnological sector in Spain held last September in Barcelona.

BIOSPAIN 2023, organized in collaboration with Biocat, the Barcelona City Council, and the Government of Catalonia, has been the epicenter of the latest trends and innovations in areas such as health, agri-food, industrial transformation, or green transition. The more than 60 sessions that comprised its program highlighted how biotechnology emerges as a deep tech that is transforming the world and addressing fundamental issues through technologies such as advanced therapies, precision nutrition, CRISPR, messenger RNA, the microbiome, or the valorization of waste, bioplastics, and biomaterials.

"Translating scientific advances into understandable terms for society is one of the great challenges of communication, due to their complexity and the rigor with which they must be conveyed. During the pandemic, we saw how biotechnology was in the spotlight of the media, arousing the interest of a large part of the population. Therefore, recognizing the work of excellent scientific journalism helps us to make visible the very important role it plays, communicating to the general population the latest advances in innovation for health and planet care," highlighted AseBio's president, Rocío Arroyo, during the presentation.

In this context, and with the aim of recognizing the best journalistic pieces produced by communication professionals covering the event, the submission period for nominations was open from September 26th to October 15th, 2023. Once concluded, the jury of the AseBio Journalism Awards meticulously evaluated all the received nominations to choose the two winning journalists:

• Belén Diego, contributor to Diariofarma and correspondent for APM Health Europe in Spain and Portugal. Her piece, published in Diariofarma, focuses on defining unmet medical needs within the framework of the new European pharmaceutical regulation.

"In recent years, we have seen how BIOSPAIN has grown to the point where journalists in the field mark it on the calendar months in advance, knowing that we cannot miss it. I can only express my gratitude because the jury thought that, among all of them, the work of Diariofarma deserved this distinction. At the rate it's going, the next journalists to receive this recognition will have had to compete with more colleagues, making their merit even greater," she declared.

• Miguel Sanmartín, founder of Capital Radio and host of the program "Biotecnología Capital". The work for which he has been awarded the prize is based on a series of radio reports in which he combined BIOSPAIN coverage with interviews of various professionals attending the event to delve into the main trends.

"I receive this award as recognition of work that began over 10 years ago, during which we sought to provide a platform for companies, many of them small or what are now called 'startups', to tell their stories, their dreams, and also their problems or difficulties, especially with financing in the initial stages. It is also gratifying to see how many of them have overcome obstacles, grown, expanded, and evolved to bring products to market," Sanmartín expressed.

"For all these reasons, I am thrilled that this small space to talk about health, industry, and business is being recognized, always striving to provide a business perspective while being housed in an eminently economic station like Capital Radio. I also thank my home, which we founded 10 years ago, for taking a chance, despite not having much advertising support, and for maintaining a project over time that may seem a bit 'odd'. I believe we have contributed to bringing to the public's attention everything that biotechnology does, for a longer time than we realize, by all of us," he concludes.

Challenges and opportunities in scientific communication: from specialization to the general public

In recent years, scientific information has dominated the media, political debates, and social conversations as a result of Covid-19.

Scientific communication has transitioned from being niche information aimed at a specialized audience to capturing the interest of the general public. This transition poses significant challenges and, at the same time, great opportunities, as well as a promising horizon. With the aim of analyzing the current landscape of scientific communication, an interesting debate has been held following the presentation of the AseBio Journalism Awards.

The debate was initiated by moderator Beatriz Díaz Lorenzo, Communications & Corporate Brand Director at Zendal and a member of the awards jury. "Precise and effective scientific communication is both a cause and a consequence of social progress. Without innovation and science, there is no progress, and its dissemination is essential to understand and address challenges from a multilateral perspective," she stated.

Lluis Montoliu, researcher at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and deputy director of the National Center of Biotechnology (CNB), emphasized in his participation that "a very important part of the scientific research we conduct as researchers is to communicate our achievements to society in a way that is understandable to everyone. And not only the successes, but also the difficulties and challenges we face for which we have not yet been able to find a solution."

In this sense, Montoliu stressed that "the science that matters is the one that is told," especially "from public research centers, funded by everyone, we must make an additional effort to explain using accessible language everything we investigate and what we have the privilege of discovering or solving.

An opinion shared by Belén Diego is: "Scientific communication is a field where the work is precious, but it also means living with medical dictionaries. In a perfect world, instead of the dictionary, you have experts who convey knowledge clearly and make it easier for you to tell it. That doesn't always happen, but it does occur, and increasingly so."

"Scientific communication plays a very important role in disseminating scientific advances, research, and innovation in health or the global challenges we face as a society, in a context where technological developments occur at a rapid pace and often generate various ethical connotations," shared Silvia Labé, Director of Marketing, Communication, and Competitive Intelligence at Biocat, who emphasized that "the introduction of new technologies will revolutionize and, predictably, optimize the process and impact of scientific communication, ensuring and facilitating a better understanding of concepts and reducing gaps between the scientific community and society."

Miguel Sanmartín has stated that "the great challenge of scientific communication is that it is understandable, that with a language that doesn't have to be 'childish,' our grandmothers, with all due respect, are able to understand what we are talking about. And there's a challenge in both directions. On the journalist's side, they must ensure that the language is accessible and try to make the issues themselves understood. On the other hand, the challenge for the scientist is to have a different perspective depending on the medium or target audience. It's not the same to publish in a scientific journal as in a general-interest media outlet. Although in both cases, the challenge is to make it as simple as possible, which doesn't mean resorting to excessive simplification," he points out.

On her part, Pilar López, Deputy Director of Communication and Scientific Culture at the National Museum of Natural Sciences, has pointed out that one of the main challenges facing communication in the scientific field from her experience is capturing the attention of the public without gimmicks. "A major challenge is to capture the attention of citizens towards current scientific topics without resorting to sensationalism lacking rigor, by contextualizing scientific messages so that they can be understood smoothly by different segments of the population. Especially among the younger generation, fostering the development of that critical thinking so necessary to navigate a world increasingly dominated by uncertainty."