“The Real Wealth of Nations”
The 2012 Nobel Prize in Physics Serge Haroche calls for countries to contribute more funding to basic research, because, he warns, “there is no economic progress without science” and many of today’s challenges can find their solution in science.
He also stresses that not all countries in Europe have riches such as gas, oil or minerals and argues: “The only wealth we cherete is the minds of our people,” so funding education and science must be understood as a “future investment” that needs to be thought of in the long term.