The doctor in biomedicine and professor at Yale University, Marc Schneeberger Pané, winner of the Princess of Girona Foundation Award in the Scientific Research category, encouraged young people this Wednesday to seek answers outside of themselves in moments of stagnation and insecurity. “The world is the most powerful mentor that exists if you have an open mind,” said the young man, who acted as spokesman for the five winners of this edition. The scientist, who investigates how the brain controls something as basic as eating, also pointed out that “failures are a great school”, which at the same time “help to advance” and insisted on the importance of “knowing how to manage them”. The winners made themselves available to the young people to act as “guides and mentors”.
In this edition, the Canadian entrepreneur Sabrina Habib (International Award), founder of Kidogo, the largest child care network in Kenya; the young violinist from Granada María Dueñas (Arts and Letters Award), who at the age of 21 has already established herself internationally and who this Wednesday delighted the public with her virtuosity and the art therapist Sílvia Fernández Cadevall (Social Award) whose Arte Paliativo foundation helps to reduce the emotional pain of people with advanced illnesses through artistic expression workshops.
In the Company section, the award went to the aeronautical engineer Rafel Jordà Siquier, founder of the Open Cosmos company, dedicated to the design, manufacture and operation of satellites that collect data from the Earth that should contribute to finding solutions to great challenges such as change climate change, energy efficiency or deforestation.
