Open Brains neuroscience wins the Impulsa Cultura Award

BarcelonaConnecting culture and neuroscience through immersive experiences, audiovisual narratives, and participatory proposals. This is the mission of Open Brains, the business project that received the Impulsa Cultura Award this Monday at the Phenomena cinema, granted by the Catalunya Cultura Foundation and endowed with 30,000 euros, a figure that doubles last year's amount. Daniel Marsol, president of the jury and trustee of the Catalunya Foundation, highlighted Open Brains' work in "bringing neuroscience from the laboratory to the street".

Daniel Duque, founder of the project together with David Bestué, has claimed that "science is also culture" and that Open Brains wants to "help people make better decisions, and this involves understanding that the brain is not a perfect machine". Neuroscience is the tool they use as a vehicle to "foster critical thinking" through shows and workshops that reach 6,000 students every year and through the design of games, apps, or audiovisual fictions that "help improve habits". An example of this is the web series The Thousand Worries of Carles Biaixat, which Open Brains wants to bring "from social media to Catalan public television".

The Impulsa Cultura Award ceremony was presented by Bibiana Ballbè and was attended by the Minister of Culture, Sònia Hernández Almodóvar; the Minister of Business and Labour, Miquel Sàmper, and the Minister of the Presidency, Albert Dalmau, who defended "an optimistic look at the world" because, "despite the darkness, there is room for hope", as "Catalonia has everything for things to go well for it" thanks to "the strength of its people".

Public award in Girona East

The public present at the event awarded the popular vote prize, endowed with 5,000 euros, to the Fundació Girona Est, a project created in 2019 by 25 companies—now 70—to empower children and young people from the neighborhoods of Girona Est through culture and sports. Extracurricular activities are the cornerstone of an initiative that reaches 200 children and young people every week. "We want them to feel proud of their neighborhood," summarized cultural manager Laura Casadevall.

The Fundació Catalunya Cultura also presented the Culture Company Award in the large company category to the law firm Cuatrecasas "for making culture a part of its identity with a broad commitment that encompasses art, music, literature, heritage, and popular traditions." The Company Award for small and medium-sized enterprises went to the Vesta group for "putting its business potential at the service of music, the arts, and heritage through the Vesta foundation." The event also served to pay tribute to the honorary president of the Fundació Catalunya Cultura, Enric Crous, who recalled his motto: "Wealthy countries are not those with the most raw materials, but rather the cultured countries.".