Burton Award Talk - Title TBA: Challenges to foster science in developing countries. Learning from lost opportunities

In my presentation, I aim to draw a stark contrast between the limited successes that have graciously earned me the Joseph A. Burton Award and several initiatives in which I have been involved in different contexts, that, unfortunately, did not attain the same level of success, despite their potential significance for scientific advancement, regional integration, economic development or peace. Quoting a poetry of Guido Gozzano, a 19th-century Italian poet the title of this reflection on both the challenges and opportunities encountered in my endeavors might have been I love only the roses I did not pick. that could have been and were not been. Actually, my primary intention is to shed light on the formidable obstacles one faces when advocating for science in developing countries or navigating complex political situations, and optimistically to propose an agenda for future work aimed to rescue those initiatives, learning from the reasons that made them lost opportunities