GIGA - Annual report 2013 - page 5

In terms of research management and organization, as well as knowledge transmission and transfer,
GIGAwas the ultimate challenge. Conceived some ten years agoby JosephMartial, it was the synthetic
combinationof all theexpertisesmany laboratoriesof theULghadacquiredover twenty yearsandmore
insomecases. Theoriginalitywas togatherover20 labs inonesinglebuilding (muchoutgrownnow)and
wewere fortunate, at the time, tobenefit froma facility that hadnot beencompleted inpreviousyears, in
the immediatevicinityof theUniversityHospital. Thearchitecture itselfwasnew: open labswherepeople
could communicate easily and have opportunities for an ‘early stage’ «coworking area», surrounding a
central concentration of scientific and technical equipment shared in common and surrounded by open
offices. All of thisonfive floors, notmentioning theundergroundanimal facilitiesand includinganentire
floor devoted tocompany incubation. From thenon, theexperiment becameagrowingsuccess, reaching
its current sizeand its complexorganisation. Research ishighly facilitated in suchan environment. Dis-
seminationof the research results isamplifiedandnotoriousness ismagnified.
However, such a structure, in its physical and virtual aspects, as well as its governance and actual day-to-day functioning, is fragile. It
dependsonpeoplemostly. Not only thosewhoprovide thesubventions, butmostly thosewhoare running thecenter, thosewhoaregiving
it time and energy to the benefit of all and thosewho aremaking sure the system remains perennial. Above all, such a giant (close to 600
people) isconstantly threatened fromoutsidebut also from inside. Indeed, anyonenot abidingby the ruleswouldcontribute toameltdown.
Vigilance is indispensable. Onemajor threat for such amultifaculty center is a fading out if the academic staff is progressively lost of by
replacement in the faculties rather than in thecenter itself.
For these reasons, special careshouldbegivenby theUniversity topauthorities, as I havedone itmyself all along thenine years I spent as
rector of theULg. I trust that itwill be thecase. Sustainable institutional supportmust beprovided.Mywish for the future is that this legacy
will bepreservedsinceGIGA isanexemplaryachievementboostingmolecularbiology in theentireuniversityand for thebenefitof thesocio-
economicdevelopment of our communityandabroad.
BernardRentier,
Rector, Universityof Liège
1,2,3,4 6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,...92
Powered by FlippingBook