"Together we can do great things". This is one of the messages brought home by the debate «Talent attracts talent. Generations on stage: Experience and courage», which was this morning's opening event for the second day of the commemoration of the 10th Anniversary of the Princess of Girona Foundation, targeting young people and held at the Palau de Congressos de Catalunya in Barcelona. The debate, framed within an event conducted by the illusionist Jorge Luengo, was attended by Their Majesties the King and Queen of Spain and Their Royal Highnesses the Princess of Asturias and of Girona and Infanta Sofía.
The journalist Julia Otero moderated this debate between 15 professionals working in different fields and who represent three generations of talent: five of the Foundation's trustees, five award winners from different years and categories, and five outstanding young people from the Foundation’s professional development programme. "Three generations of talent who will light up our future," as Otero said.
The five Foundation trustees who took part in the debate were Josep Oliu from Banc Sabadell, Ángel Simón from Agbar Group, Ana Vallés from the Sorigué Foundation, Concha Yoldi from the Persán Foundation, and Juan Pedro Moreno from Accenture; the five award winners were Borja Ibáñez (2010 FPdGi Scientific Research Award), Javier Agüera (2012 Business), Samuel Sánchez (2015 Scientific Research), Héctor Colunga (2015 Social) and Elena Medel (2016 Arts and Literature), while the five young people were Ming-ya Wang, Alejandra Acosta, Juan A. González, Lucía González and Alejandro Briceño.
Moderated by Julia Otero, the 15 participants discussed forward-looking ideas concerning some of the pressing issues facing today's society: education for young people, employment, climate change, sustainability, social engagement, culture... Each participant has contributed recipes for triggering future change, most of them targeting young people: university education should be more focused on the job market for young people; it is enriching for talent to travel outside of Spain, but we must also be capable of importing foreign talent; each individual is a product that must be developed to its highest potential; empathy, creativity and imagination are essential for success; talent matures with time and effort; we all share a responsibility to give the best of ourselves so that we can live in a better world; critical thinking is the best culture and we are not going to move forward without cooperation, not just between young people but with everyone. As Alejandra Acosta concluded: "Commitment to real, strategic change must be intergenerational, by everyone, not just young people".
As a metaphor for a declaration of intent, Julia Otero closed the event by reading a quote from the Nobel Peace Laureate Mother Teresa of Calcutta: "I can do things you cannot, you can do things I cannot; together we can do great things", which was printed on one of the cards used by the conjurer Jorge Luengo to entertain the audience.
