During the ceremony, María Josefa Yzuel, president of the Spanish Committee for the celebration of the International Year of Light, stressed the role of light and light-based technologies "for facing global challenges such as healthcare, wellbeing, energy, sustainable development and communication".
Besides, the president of the Spanish Committee evaluated the initiative as an "excellent way to spread scientific culture to society and to promote scientific vocations" and emphasized that these activities reached more than one million people.
The President of the Spanish National Research Council, Emilio Lora-Tamayo, highlighted the impact that light science has in technological developments and the importance to raise awareness in our societies about the scientific knowledge.
During all 2015 about 300 initiatives were developed around the Spanish geography to increase the visibility of light-based science and technologies. Carmen Vela, The State Secretary for Research, Development and Innovation, expressed her satisfaction and wished to continue doing similar initiatives.
From left to right: María Josefa Yzuel, John Dudley, Emilio Lora-Tamayo and Carmen Vela.
The President of the International Committee, John Dudley, also showed his gratitude for the implication of Spain and said that "Spain was one of the first countries supporting International Year of Light initiatives". In addition, in his talk entitled “1000 years of optics, 50 years of solitons” solitons were present, an area where Dudley has got a great international recognition.
The attendees of the ceremony also could enjoy an activity called “Capturing your shadow”, a light system lead by the Professional Association of Lighting Designers (PALD).
A year devoted to light
The International Year of Light activities' held in 2015 have included different areas and typologies: conferences, congresses and seminars, industrial meetings, teaching activities, art materials, contests and awards. Besides, interviews, articles and programmes have appeared in mass media.
