#ZeroHunger is the motto for the World Food Day that is celebrated on October 16 leaded by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) worldwide. #ZeroHunger is also part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of the World Health Organization (WHO).
Achieving #ZeroHunger is not only about feeding hungry people, but also about doing it in a healthy and sustainable way. Food safety in our times is not only a matter of quantity, but also of quality. Unhealthy diets have become the first risk factor for disease and death worldwide and that is why we need to reach the entire population a sufficient variety of safe, nutritious and affordable foods, while caring for the health of the planet on which we all depend. World Food Day asks us to take action in all sectors to reach #ZeroHunger, 100% nutrition.
But what is a healthy and sustainable diet? FAO itself determines that a healthy diet is one that provides nutritional needs to maintain an active life and reduce the risk of contracting diseases through the consumption of safe, nutritious and diverse foods. And a sustainable diet supports entrenched solutions to food production with a low level of greenhouse gas emissions and a moderate use of natural resources such as soil and water, while increasing food diversity for the future.
What is the current situation?
The high consumption of dishes rich in sugars, refined starches, fats and salt have become the basis of food for developed countries, limiting the consumption of traditional dishes made with vegetables, legumes, whole grains, etc. We cook less, move less and consume more prepared dishes. The result is that we are malnourished. Do you find it alarming? Don’t you think it’s for so much? Let’s see some figures:
Currently, there are already more people with obesity and overweight in the world than those who are hungry: almost 800 million people (672 adults and 124 children) in the world suffer from obesity and another 40 million children are overweight. However, it is estimated that there are about 820 million people who suffer from hunger (approximately one in nine).
Unhealthy diets along with sedentary lifestyles have overcome smoking as the main risk factor for disability and death in the world.
Approximately 2 billion euros are spent each year to treat health problems related to obesity.
These are some of the conclusions reached by FAO related to hunger and malnutrition but they are not the only ones. Our way of feeding ourselves is also having environmental consequences:
The environmental damage caused by the food system could increase from 50 to 90%, due to the higher consumption of processed foods, meat and other products of animal origin in low and middle income countries.
Of some 6,000 species of plants grown for food throughout the history of mankind, today only three species (wheat, corn and rice) supply almost 50 percent of our daily calories. We need to consume a wide variety of nutritious foods.
Climate change threatens to reduce both the quality and quantity of crops, reducing crops. Rising temperatures are also exacerbating water scarcity, changing the relationship between pests, plants and pathogens, and reducing marine resources.
The current food system – which includes farming, animal husbandry, processing, packaging and transportation – is responsible for 37% of the total greenhouse gas (GHG)emissions generated annually, and losses and food waste also collaborates with 8-10% of the total sum. Belén Blanco tells us in more detail in the post “Tell me what you eat… and I’ll tell you if it’s good for the planet”.
For all this, because they are realities, all together we must raise awareness of the problem of hunger, malnutrition, food waste, climate change, etc. FAO calls on all people to get involved in implementing some measure to achieve the #ZeroHunger.
Who are the actors involved in this change taking place? The answer is all. Modify the way of producing, supplying and consuming food. The involvement of the industry in limiting saturated and trans fats, added sugars and salt. Eliminate advertising and promotion in unhealthy foods and especially those aimed at children and adolescents. Implement educational programs on nutrition and health. Actions from all levels are necessary.
And I, as a consumer, what can I do? As a consumer, as a citizen, as a human being on this planet, you can. Think about how you consume, how you eat and act on your own, individual level and with the people around you. Here are a series of measures that can guide you:
World Food Day is not the only forum in which it strives to improve food security, but FAO also participates with WHO and other agencies in the implementation of the United Nations Decade of Nutrition Action (2016-2025). It aims to strengthen joint action to reduce hunger and improve nutrition worldwide and assist all countries in their specific commitments. The SOFI report is published annually to provide information on the progress made to eradicate hunger, achieve food security and improve nutrition. The last one was published on July 15, 2019.
On World Food Day, FAO launches a strong message: we can end hunger and all forms of malnutrition to become the #ZeroHunger generation. But this will entail the joint action of all, from the commitment of each one of us in the change in the way we feed ourselves, to the cooperation between countries for an efficient transfer of technology, for example, through the correct decision-making of governments or by the involvement of private companies and the media.
As you may already know, the increase in greenhouse gas emissions (mainly carbon dioxide and methane) as a consequence of human activity is one of the main reasons behind the faster pace of the climate change in the last decades. And among the wide range of causes, passenger cars are one of the main sources of CO2 emissions, accounting for a 12% of the total emissions (European Commission).
For this reason, the European Union has been adopting increasingly stricter measures to regulate the levels of emissions. In 2015, a limit of 130 grams CO2/km was set. Moreover, by 2021 a more ambitious target is planned to be fixed at 95 grams CO2/km.
In this context, car manufacturers have been forced to reduce fuel consumption (or increasing the autonomy in electric vehicles) and emissions in his petrol and diesel-fuelled models. How can automakers do that? Besides designing more efficient engines, the main strategy is lightweighting. This technique consists of reducing the weight of the car by replacing the heavier materials (i.e. steel) by lighter ones such as plastic or composites.
However, currently the mismanagement and misuse of plastics rather than the material itself is one of the top environmental issues, since 8 million tons out of the 300 million tons of plastic which are annually produced end up in the ocean (According to data from the International Union for Conservation of Nature). So seems that increasing the use of plastics in cars does not look like and ideal solution, right? Well, how about using an alternative material with similar of even better performance than conventional plastics and reduced environmental footprint? It doesn’t seem an easy task, although bioplastics may be part of the answer.
What are bioplastics, and why they seem to be so trendy nowadays? According to European Bioplastics, it’s a heterogeneous set of materials with different properties and applications which can be biobased, biodegradable or both.
In other words, since they are biobased, their use potentially reduce the consumption of fossil fuels while their biodegradability widens the possibilities of treatment at the end-of-life stage. As a result, these materials could achieve the desired combination of performance and sustainability.
This is what the BIOMOTIVEproject is all about. It tries to develop materials (textile fibres, foams made of polyurethane for automotive seating and other polyurethane-based parts for the interior of cars) from biobased sources which combine good technical properties with reduced environmental impact. Starting from renewable raw materials such as forest biomass and vegetable oils not in competition with the food chain, it is expected to produce at industrial scale products with up to 80% biobased content.
The project has received funding under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme and gathers European private companies and institutions sharing the ideal of reducing the impact of the industry paving the way towards a more sustainable economy.
The role of CARTIFin the project is to perform the sustainability assessment of the final products, since the prefix “bio” does not necessarily mean that a product is better for the environment than its fossil-based counterpart. To determine that on a scientific basis, it is important to evaluate the impacts of the product along its whole life cycle (that is, from the extraction of raw materials to the end of life) considering not only the environmental impacts, but also social and economic aspects.
So the next time you are holding a plastic object, before throwing it away, it is worth considering from where it came and where will it go.
We are increasingly aware of the food that we eat, the nutrition intake that food brings and the impact of our shopping and consumption habits have on the planet. That is as it should be.
The food we consume, that is, ourdietary habits, contributes in one degree or another, to our health, but also, to the planet health by leaving a climatic footprint. Specifically, food production contributes to the effect on global warming through cultivation system, how animals have been raised, how they have been stored, processed, packaged and transported to the different markets around the world.
The current world food production system is affecting the terrestrial and marine ecosystems in a significantly way, thus contributing to the obvious climate change. It is not about being an alarmist, but is about becoming aware of a reality that is already happening.
On 8 august, the new report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 107 experts from 52 countries) on “Climate Change and Earth”. The figures speak in this report and show that the current food system – which includes farming, animal husbandry, processing, packaging and transport – is responsible for the 37 % of the total greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) that are generated annually and that, food losses and food waste also collaborates with 8-10 % of the total.
The consequences of these emissions are directly related to the increase of the CO2 level in the atmosphere, the increase in the temperature of the planet, the climatic disasters or the rise in the sea level, which turn into a clear threat to the quality and quantity of current crops. Therefore, affecting food security for the population, for the inhabitants of the planet, for all of us.
It is necessary to address the risks that are already present and reduce vulnerabilities in food production and distribution systems and land management.
According to the data from the IPCC report, climate change will affect food security by limiting access to certain foods, reducing nutritional quality and increasing their prices. The effects will be much more marked in low-income countries.
The Report stated that is necessary limiting global warming to 1.5 oC instead of 2 oC … And yes, this difference of half a degree is crucial on the effects on the soil, marine species and ecosystems and, also about the benefits that this would bring in nature for all humans; fishery, water supply and food insurance, in addition to health, safety and economic growth.
To limit warming, a reduction in CO2 and other GHG emissions is required by 45 % by 2030 (compared to the levels of 2010) and achieve net zero emissions by 2050. This requires a profound change and a rapid action in reducing these emissions in all sectors (energy, land, cities, transport, buildings, industry) so is necessary a greater investment in the application of new strategies and technology breakthrough.
With the focus on these actions aimed at adapting and mitigating the effect of climate change, the report indicates as better opportunities; an urgent change in human diet to achieve a reduction in GHG emissions linked to food production, an improvement in livestock and farming production systems to reduce the energy and water consumption currently used and, a reduction, to get eliminate, losses and food waste.
A healthy and sustainable diet includes foods with a lower carbon footprint so that, such diet, would be based on the consumption of vegetables, legumes, cereals, nuts and seeds as essential foods and foods of animal origin produced in resilient, sustainable and low GHG emission systems.
The report expressly states that, currently, livestock systems for meat and meat products production demand more water and soil and generate higher emissions of gases compared to those of cereal and seed production. This effect is greater in developed countries where breeding is carried out intensively and is urged to produce them in a sustainable manner.
In the study carried out by Poore & Nemecek (2018) it was also evidenced that the environmental impact of the production of food of animal origin exceeds that of plant production, highlighting the need to reformulate the practices carried out in this activity . They also showed that, although producers are a vital part of the solution to this problem, their ability to reduce environmental impact is limited. These limits mean that the same product can have a greater impact than another nutritionally equivalent and therefore, they also urge a change in the pattern of the diet.
The need to adapt our diet to the limits of sustainability aspects is evident and, so much so, that the IPCC refers to it as “low-GHG carbon diet”.
Low-greenhouse gases emission diets are balanced diets that require less water and less land use and cause less GHG. These are diets with more foods based on coarse grains, legumes, fruits, vegetables nuts and seeds and foods of animal origin produced in a sustainable way.
Other actions aimed at diversifying the food systems proposed in the report in relation to the form of food generation are; the implementation of integrated production systems, the improvement of broad-genetic resources, more intelligent and integrated agricultural systems, best livestock production practices and the reduction of fertilizers use. All of them, in order to reduce the environmental impact through better soil management as a strategy to achieve sustainable use and, therefore, quality food production.
Regarding the reduction of food waste, it is aimed at curbing the need to produce more and, therefore, to reduce the overexploitation of the soil and the consumption of water and nitrogen-based fertilizers, deforestation of areas to convert them into agricultural land and, in the cycle in which we are currently, worse crops are getting worse, poorer in nutrients and the consequent and foreseeable increase in the cost of cereals.
There is no one ideal solution, but a sum of many different actions.
We need to rethink our current food system and find new solutions to feed ourselves on a planet that continues growing. We are facing the challenge of finding effective solutions to produce food in a sustainable way. The way we produce food matters, in other words how we select what we are going to eat matters since it can face climate change and with the reduction in the pressure we are exerting on the land.
What we eat has a story to tell us … and that story makes us responsible and complicit in those effects. It is important to take a step forward in our diet and start thinking about what we eat beyond the hedonic aspect, since our consumption actions affect the productive capacity of the soil and, therefore, the quality of what is produced and even to the nutritional value of food. On the other hand, raising awareness of a more sustainable diet, in addition to collaborating in mitigating the effects of climate change, probably offers significant positive benefits on human health in the medium term.
In the arduous path towards sustainable development, research to obtain alternative fuels to fossils is presented as a key point. In this framework, two interesting actors have emerged to stay: biogas and biomethane.
Before going into the subject, let’s dig a bit into the current national gas system. Natural gas is one of the fuels most used by society, both in industry and in homes. Chemically, it is a gas composed mainly of methane 95-99% (CH4) and small proportions of other compounds. From its treatment, management and consumption in Spain, we must know two important aspects:
Almost all the natural gas we consume in Spain comesfrom non-renewable sources.
All this gas is mainly imported from countries such as Algeria, Norway, Nigeria or Qatar, either through the network of gas pipelines or through the transport of liquefied natural gas in large gas tankers.
While it is true that in comparison with other fuels the use of natural gas is better seen as it reduces emissions of CO2, particles and NOx, it isstill a fossil fuel. World natural gas reserves are estimated on 193 trillion m3, enough to cover demand for 52 years.
Biogas and biomethane are considered an interesting sustainable alternative in the fuel supply chain. Biogas is the fuel gas resulting from the degradation of organic compounds through a biological process. Depending on the precursors used, the volume composition of biogas ranges between 50% and 70% methane and 50% and 30% CO2. Biogas is an ideal fuel to generate heat or electricity, but, due to its low concentration of methane, it can not be used in its original form as a fuel for transportation nor can it be injected into the natural gas network. However, it can be ‘upgraded’ to be suitable for these last two applications. This improved biogas is known as biomethane. The CH4 / CO2 ratio of biomethane ranges between 95/5 and 99/1, a composition very similar to natural gas.
The key to make biogas and biomethane sustainable gases is to use as waste raw material that can not be reused or recycled. Not only do we talk about the typical urban waste that goes to the landfill, but also agricultural, livestock or wastewater are of high interest. These residues, when degraded, spontaneously emit methane into the atmosphere, whose impact on greenhouse emissions (GHG) is 21 times higher than CO2. In this way, this methane is generated in a controlled manner and after combustion is transformed into CO2, thus reducing the impact of GHG emissions.
The potential that Spain has to develop biomethane is very wide. Agriculture and livestock, one of the main engines of the national economy, generate an extensive amount of waste that contains very good “methanisable” characteristics. Likewise, every year each Spaniard generates half a tonne of direct waste, which is around 22,000 tonnes/year. The fact of being able to convert this waste into a fuel makes it possible to reduce greenhouse effect emissions at the same time as covering part of the imported natural gas consumption. The advantages are not only environmental; this new model allows the creation of new green jobs.
For the generation of biomethane there are multiple technologies, the anaerobic digestion followed by an upgrading is one of the best known and exploited. Anaerobic digestion consists on introducing a residue in a digester in absence of oxygen. In this digester the waste comes into contact with a biological culture (yes, bacteria) that are responsible for breaking down (hydrolysis) the long carbon chains, typical of organic matter, into smaller chains. After a few days, these bacteria continue to degrade the most simple carbon chains into methane. The product of this process is a mixture of gases, known as biogas, mainly composed of 60% methane, 40% CO2 and a minimum concentration of impurities such as hydrogen sulphide. In the process is generated a liquid waste called digestate that can be reused as a fertilizer because it is rich in nitrogen and phosphorus.
Once the anaerobic digestion is finished it is necessary to improve the quality of the biogas so that it can be used as fuel for vehicles or injected into the natural gas grid, this process is known as upgrading. After upgrading, the biomethane has a concentration close to 99%. There are different technologies that allow this process to be carried out:
Amine Absorption: Amines have high selectivity to attract CO2. The process is about “showering” the biogas with a dissolution of amines, which will sweep away the CO2, leaving the methane almost pure. The major disadvantage of this process is that the amines are not environmentally favourable.
Pressure swing adsorption (PSA): At high pressures, gases tend to be attracted to solid surfaces, or “adsorbed”. The higher the pressure, the more gas is adsorbed. Once the pressure is reduced the gas is released or un-adsorbed. This process requires a very high initial investment.
Membranes: This is a physical separation, as the biogas stream is passed through a porous membrane. The CO2 passes through the pores, while the methane remains. In order to obtain good separation yields, it is necessary to apply high pressures, making the process more expensive. In addition, methane slip is usually around 20% through the membrane pores, especially as they deteriorate.
Membrane contactor: These are the newest of those exposed. This technology agglutinates numerous membranes in the same shell, allowing the gas to pass through the inside of the membranes and a liquid flow through the casing. This combines physical and chemical separation. In this way, it is possible to work at lower pressures than in traditional membranes, as the water is able to dissolve part of the CO2, as well as reducing methane slip.
Once purified the biomethane would be almost ready for final use, or injection into the network. The last necessary process would be to compress it until the normal working pressure, for example, the natural gas grid is at a pressure of between 16-60 bars, or if it is desired to use as fuel a pressure of approximately 200 bars is required.
In some European countries such as Germany or Italy there are already industrial facilities that allow the production of biomethane, however, in Spain the biomethane market is still to be exploited. Aware of the potential that we have to develop the technology, policies are needed to make this market open gradually and be able to produce our own biomethane. This would reduce gas imports, the amount of waste produced and greenhouse gas emissions (and their corresponding EU fines) at the same time as creating jobs.
With the promise of 75 billion devices connected to the Internet around the world in 2025, the ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) opens the door to a future of opportunities for companies to optimize their processes, whether in the form of manufacturing their products, supervising their quality or monitoring the critical machines in the factories: ovens, manufacturing lines or refrigerated warehouses.
In our daily experience as consumers, we can find a multitude of technological offers in IoT devices that we integrate into our lives in a fast and, sometimes, impulsive manner, either because of fashions or real benefits. However, the incorporation of these technologies in companies is not done in such an impulsive way, since it involves a careful study of feasibility and profitability, often complex to demonstrate, as usually happens with new technologies.
In addition, IoT possesses a significant flexibility to integrate itself into the IT infrastructures of the factories. The ‘i’ of IoT means “internet”, which seems to be automatically associated with a direct connection to the Internet of “things” in the factories, and this generates panic because of possible cybersecurity threats for almost any company. To fight against these barriers, information and training are key aspects.
Within this framework, the IOTEC Spain-Portugal cross-border cooperation project is being developed. This initiative aims to create a collaborative network of different actors (researchers, public bodies, ICT solutions providers and industrial companies) of both countries to facilitate the IoT integration in companies. Participants in IOTEC have analyzed different industrial and ICT companies to look for gaps and strengths and to be able to relate supply and demand of IoT. From CARTIF, we coordinate the activities around the industrial companies in order to know their IoT needs through a detailed analysis of their organizational and productive processes that include management, product design, manufacturing process and logistics.
This analysis included a series of technological audits to different agroindustrial companies, analyzing the potential of application of IoT in different parts of its productive process. 40 different organizational parameters were evaluated according to the methodology defined within the IOTEC project. For example, in the section on manufacturing processes, four aspects of great relevance were analyzed meticulously:
The type of process or productive transformation, which is fundamentally defined by aspects such as the raw materials used or the manufacturing steps.
The traceability requirements of raw materials, intermediate products and final products. This traceability has special relevance in agrifood companies.
The control of the production process that is triggered by different mechanisms according to the company: production orders, on demand, availability of raw materials (e.g. vintage).
The need to capture data in the plant as the first phase of complete digitalization of a productive process.
Once all the parameters were analyzed, it was carried out an exhaustive classification of different IoT technologies that could be applied in the industry and have a direct impact on the improvement of efficiency. Next, you can see these technologies:
All identified technologies were prioritized by those attending the “Forum of business opportunities through IoT and Blockchain” that took place on November 14, 2018 in Valladolid. The attendees to the event had the opportunity to reflect and vote on this set of technologies to assess their need and the importance of its dissemination by the IOTEC project. Once these priorities are established, it is now necessary to make them known so that IoT solution providers can adapt their offers to real needs.
Likewise, work is being carried out on dissemination and training activities to bring IoT technologies closer and concrete examples of their application to the set of industrial companies in the regions of Castilla y León and the Centre of Portugal participating in the IOTEC network. Any company supplying or demanding IoT technologies can participate in the project forum and benefit directly through collaboration and training opportunities in this exciting set of technological solutions such as the IoT.
The end of Game of Thrones has left many of us an existential vacuum and an unprecedented duel. Precisely when we entered the acceptance phase, a new series of creators of “The Wall”, “Tension with North Korea” and “The crisis of Venezuela” comes to our screens: ‘Game of Trump’.
The recent veto of the Trump administration, the immediate suspension imposed on the Huawei company and the reactions of the companies Google (USA), ARM (UK), Vodafone (UK) Panasonic (Japan) and Toshiba (Japan), generate many doubts about what is happening in the world of technology due to the geopolitical dimension that this field is acquiring. And now, we ask ourselves: how can it affect us in the short and medium term as Spanish citizens and members of the European Union?
In this sense, from the CARTIF Health and Welfare Area we try to reflect and assess the scope of this new edition of the Game of Trump series and analyse the implications that these technologies can have on the socio – sanitary services and the effects of this new war on our quality of life.
Season I: Huawei and Google mobile phones
When we think about improving the quality of life of people with some new technological development, we always keep in mind that people seek to receive services on site, without the need to go physically to a specific place. That is why we believe that it is indisputable that the present and the future of the technological services that we receive go through mobility. In this respect, Huawei is one of the most important actors, being the second manufacturer of phones in the world in terms of sales and popularity among a public that praises especially the duration of their batteries and the quality of their cameras.
The owners of the company’s mobile phones, which number in the millions, are bewildered by the news that Google has broken relations with Huawei, ceasing to provide its software to the Chinese company, which uses Google’s Android operating system. As a result, Google’s decision deprives Huawei of the user interface and widely used applications such as Google Play, Google Maps and Google Mail.
Season II: The supremacy for the domain of 5G
At this point, analysts indicate that the mobile battle, although it is very important from the economic and commercial points of view, is not the most significant point of the confrontation. What is at stake is the supremacy in 5G technology and in this respect Europe has something to say. Since, although the leader in 5G is Huawei, there are two companies belonging to member countries of the European community which are in second and fourth place for their contributions to 5G technology, Ericcson and Nokia, while the first company in the US is in fifth place. This seems to be the reason for the apparent tantrum that everyone thinks will end up resolving with a negotiation, because the future is unstoppable. The Trump administration seems to prefer to slow the deployment of 5G to be dependent on Chinese and European technologies. Meanwhile, those who believe in conspiracies think that they are only pressing to access the keys and thus be able to spy on us.
It is estimated that Huawei will possess in the future up to 30-35% of the global standards of 5G and behind these standards we find the international specifications designed to boost the interoperability of the technology. But what is this about 5G and interoperability? And, above all, what applications can this have in the health field? ‘What are you gay? What are you running?’
Season III: What is 5G and how does it affect us?
The future of the social-health field is “promised” to us in pink thanks to the relationship between 5G and interoperability. For this reason, we have to talk about several lines of technological development in which we are working in CARTIF. An example is the ‘internet of things’ (IoT), which is nothing more than a network of physical objects, machines, people and other devices that allow connectivity and communications to exchange data for smart applications and services. These devices are made up of smartphones, tablets, consumer electronics, vehicles, social robots, companion robots and sensors that allow them to be controlled remotely through the existing network infrastructure, creating opportunities for direct integration between the physical and digital worlds, which improves efficiency, accuracy and economic benefits.
5G technology is the one designed to optimize and improve internet connection speeds, considerably reducing the response time of the network and, therefore, capable of generating a range of opportunities in all digital sectors.
Technologies such as mobile, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth will enable IoT communications through use cases and the 5G is the network that will connect these things. The IoT devices will have different capacities and data demands and 5G network will be necessary to be able to support all of them. With the ‘internet of things’, we will see services that only need a small amount of data and a long battery life, as well as devices that require high speeds and reliable connectivity. (1) (2)
Similarly, from our scientific skepticism regarding technology, it is necessary to note that, as is common in our lives, not everything is in pink and we are aware that there are going to be aspects to take into account to develop a technology humanized designed only to significantly improve the quality of life of people. For example, the increase in speed and volume of information imply higher powers at higher frequencies, and the consequences of the bio-compatibility of these new electromagnetic emissions is a field of study really important. On the other hand, there is the aspect, not less important, of the privacy of the data. Currently, thanks to Big Data and AI there are many companies that have more information about the determinants of our health than the socio-health systems to which we attend (and we all know that the scope of the data ‘is dark and full of terrors’). Some think that this is the true Iron Throne, and there are interests so that, as some cluster us as potential consumers. They want to cluster us to manipulate us.
Final season IV: Making virtue of necessity
The socio-health system is in a critical state from the point of view of sustainability, given the aging of the population and the cuts in budgets. To make the system sustainable as a whole, it is necessary to optimize the connection between necessary resources and available services. We really believe that this can only be solved by an adequate, intelligent and person-centered use of technology.
At the international level, the aging of the population is affecting all the regions and countries of the world that have reached a certain level of development. There is no doubt that the extension of life is one of the main achievements of our society, although it is true that this achievement also poses important challenges and opportunities for our economy, health system and social protection.
In Spain, demographic aging is very marked and this is especially evident in the larger regions, characterized by a rural population whose young people tend to migrate to cities. In these areas, providing social and health services is more expensive and difficult due to the lack of resources. The social commitment has allowed to transform this unfavorable situation into a virtue. Therefore, the social-health system of Spain is considered as one of the best in the world, due to the good results it presents, combining high levels of efficiency and quality with a comparatively lower cost.
In this respect, Castilla y León, according to the State Observatory for Dependency carried out by the National Association of Directors and Managers of Social Services corresponding to the management of the year 2018, is recognized again (twelfth consecutive year) as the autonomous community that manage better the Dependency in Spain. The corresponding mark of Castilla y León is 9.3 out of 10. The average score of the Spanish communities stands at 5.04 points. Therefore, we are talking about an unprecedented success.
The ecosystem of our region, embodied in the SIVI and BIOTECYL Clusters, formed by a large number of organizations, both public and private: health systems, public social agencies, patient associations, groups that provide services, service companies, geriatric, Universities and Technology Centers, structures the development and provide the services so that we can develop our lives and those of our loved ones in a comfortable way taking into account parameters of quality, efficiency and independence.
For all this, we have to be aware of our responsibility and, from this privileged vision, take advantage of new opportunities to carry out scientific research and humanized technological development with the sole aim of improving the quality of life of people. In CARTIF we believe that this is the meeting point and there we will be contributing our experience.
