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A 'rule of 3' to revive Greek science, research and innovation

Nature Immunology volume 16, pages 1206–1208 (2015)Cite this article

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If research and technology are to become the driving force for turning Greece into a productive society, evidence-based governance, strategic restructuring of infrastructure and a substantial inflow of fresh human capital is urgently needed.

In 1998, Antonio Tabbuchi, in his Plato's gastritis essay1, stated upfront opposition to Umberto Eco's thesis that at times of acute crises, intellectuals are useless to society2. Eco claimed that the only meaningful thing an intellectual can do when his house is burning is to call the fire brigade2. Tabbuchi posited that intellectuals should do better than that, be less passive and use more of their investigative skills to create even more turbulence and thus contribute to the exposure and resolution of the problem. Greece's house is now definitely burning, and intellectual forces in sciences (ourselves included), who have indeed remained passive or, at best, have for years monotonously 'called for the fire brigade', should actively transform this crisis into radical and reforming judgments and decisions—which, by the way, reflects the true meaning of the Greek word 'crisis' (κρισιζ, or krísis).

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Figure 1: Research and development budgets in 2011, by country.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. the Department of Physiology, George Kollias is at the Academy of Athens, School of Medicine, University of Athens, Athens, Greece, and the Biomedical Sciences Research Center 'Alexander Fleming', Athens, Greece.,

    George Kollias

  2. John D. Lambris is in the Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.,

    John D Lambris

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  1. George Kollias
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  2. John D Lambris
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Correspondence to George Kollias or John D Lambris.

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Kollias, G., Lambris, J. A 'rule of 3' to revive Greek science, research and innovation. Nat Immunol 16, 1206–1208 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/ni.3322

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