The development of nanoscience has been valued by the participants in Bilbao as "Debatamos sobre ciencia. Play and decide" in the debate

2011/04/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Nanoteknologia
• Azokak, biltzarrak

"We discussed science. In March he organized the "Play and Decide" initiative in collaboration with the Elhuyar Foundation. The recipients of the initiative were citizenship and nanotechnology as a topic of debate. At the end of the two-hour game, participants were in favour of the development of nanotechnology and asked that regulation and public debate be encouraged to do well. The conclusions of Bilbao have also been disseminated in Europe through the website www.playdecide.eu, and have joined initiatives of this type in other European countries.

In total, about thirty people participated in the meeting held at the Alhondiga in Bilbao. It was the first time that a session of this type was held in Euskal Herria, and the organizers were satisfied with the result. In the words of Eneritz Muguruza, session guide: "The participants enjoyed the game very well and were very excited. In addition, despite being an initiative for adults, there have also been some kids and they have been very good, they have reached the conclusions, along with the rest."

The program has focused on a debate game. Participants have worked for two hours on nanotechnology and, in general, on technological progress and its impact on society: opportunities, risks, fears, measures, managers, financing, social participation… and have tried to combine the group approach. Nerea Rodríguez is clear that it was worth going: "If I had to tell my friends what has been done today, I would tell them that it has been a very good experience, I have learned a lot and what I liked most has been to watch playing, discussing with the other participants, that you can learn a lot, almost without realizing it, sometimes. The game makes the subject more agile, since nanotechnology is not a simple theme. I would definitely do it again."

The desire to take part in an open debate on science and technology led Eguzkiñe Bidaurrazaga to Alhon<unk> Bilbao. He believes that little is discussed about technology and science: "The debate usually goes behind progress, we don't know very well what they are doing; in the case of nanotechnology, for example, I have realized that the game is more developed than I thought. At our table almost all of us have agreed that there is a lack of information about everything and that in order to be able to comment it is necessary to have information".

Conclusions to Europe

At the end of the session, the results are added to those of other PlayDecidas. Both Bidaurrazaga and Rodríguez highly appreciate the possibility of sharing the conclusions obtained in Bilbao. According to Bidaurrazaga: "I think it's important to make people's opinions known, and I'd like more forums of this kind, to come somewhere, to influence what is done. At the moment they are mostly consultative, but if they open up, people could know more." For Rodriguez "it is very good to be able to share opinions on a continent and let everyone know what the opinion of others is."

The "Play and Decide" initiative is based on the European PlayDecide project. The aim is to foster social debate and listening to conclusions. For this, in addition to information, they propose a game that gives guidelines for debate and consensus. As already indicated, it is the first time that an initiative of this type is held in Euskal Herria, but the organization has shown its interest in doing so more times. María Gil, head of the Scientific Communication Department of the Elhuyar Foundation, stressed that "with this project we want to do more than inform; we seek the participation of people, reflect on a topic, reach conclusions, in general, on very close issues".