research centres in catalonia

Research centresin Catalonia

Temes de Recerca i Innovació. Núm. 4www.gencat.cat/recerca/temesri

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Research centres in Catalonia

Research centres in Catalonia...............................................................................................................3

Advancing at the frontiers of knowledgeJosep Huguet i Biosca, minister for Innovation, Universities and Enterprise.................................5

Research centres in Catalonia: Advancing towards the knowledge societyBlanca Palmada Félez, commissioner for Universities and ResearchRamon Moreno Amich, director general of Research.........................................................................7

Research centres in Catalonia.............................................................................................................10

Sciences

Centre for Mathematics Research (CRM).......................................................................................13

Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO).............................................................................................15

Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ)...................................................................17

Catalan Institute of Nanotechnology (ICN)....................................................................................19

Institute for Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC)..........................................................................21

Institute of High-Energy Physics (IFAE)..........................................................................................23

Institute of Geomatics (IG)..................................................................................................................25

Engineering

International Centre for Numerical Methods in Engineering (CIMNE)................................29

Telecommunications Technological Centre of Catalonia (CTTC)...........................................31

Computer Vision Centre (CVC)..........................................................................................................33

International Centre for Coastal Resources Research (CIIRC)..............................................35

Bioengineering Institute of Catalonia (IBEC)................................................................................37

Health and Life Sciences

Centre for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications (CREAF)...................................39

Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG)............................................................................................41

Forest Technology Centre of Catalonia (CTFC)............................................................................43

Catalan Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences (ICCC)................................................................45

Institute for Biomedical Investigation August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS)..................................47

Institute for Food and Agricultural Research and Technology (IRTA)..................................49

Centre for Research in Animal Health (CReSA)..........................................................................51

Centre of Agrigenomic Research (CRAG)......................................................................................52

Centre of Regenerative Medicine of Barcelona (CMRB)..........................................................53

Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology (CREAL)..............................................54

Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona)............................................................55

Social and Humanities Sciences

Centre for Demographic Studies (CED).........................................................................................57

Centre for Research in International Economy (CREI)..............................................................59

Catalan Institute of Classical Archaeology (ICAC)......................................................................61

Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution (IPHES)..........................63

Most recent actions............................................................................................................................66

.......................................................................................................................................................................67

Presentation

Introduction

Article

Summary table

Centres

Acronymes


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3O ver the last few years, the Government of Catalonia has deployed a policy aimed at the creationand development of research centres of excellence in priority scientific and technological areas. The emergence of these independent organisations engaged exclusively in research

is undoubtedly one of the most outstanding changes in our science and technology system, not onlybecause of the volume of resources assigned, but also because of the novelty and attention they areattracting towards our country.

The Government of Catalonia is firmly committed to making these institutions a European referen-ce point for the competitiveness of Catalan R&D abroad. This statement is particularly significant nowa-days, when the future of our economy depends on successfully becoming a knowledge-based society.

This special edition of the Temes de Recerca i Innovació (Research and Innovation Topics)collection includes all the research centres in which the Government of Catalonia either has an inte-rest or supports, and which fulfil certain structural, financial and management criteria, namely havingtheir own legal status, having the Government of Catalonia as a majority member on their governingboard, and particularly having entered into a contract programme with the department in charge ofscientific research.

Here you will find all the centres created until 2005, grouped together in very broad areas ofknowledge. Along with many centres with a longstanding scientific record, appear others createdonly about a year ago. In line with the same policy, five new research centres have been created in2006, which are, as of today, still finding their feet and are included in an ad hoc section.

The texts and data of this special edition were drawn up and compiled mainly by the directorsof the centres, as well as by the management directors and the heads of communication. We wouldlike to thank all of them for their support and their patience. •


Temes de Recerca i Innovació. Núm. 4April 2007

EditorGeneralitat de CatalunyaGovernment of CataloniaMinistry of Innovation, Universities and EnterpriseCommission for Universities and ResearchGeneral Directorate of Research

Editorial BoardRamon Moreno Amich, Olga Alay, Àngela Bàguena, Iolanda Font de Rubinat,Emilià Pola, Jordi Sort

Coordination of this issueNeus Aguadé, Iolanda Font de Rubinat, Emilià Pola

ProductionJoan Reixach, Montse Giró

TranslationPharmalexic

DesignAlbert i Jordi Romero

PhotographyLuis Montesdeoca, except photography on page35 reproduced with permission from the authors

PrintedAmpans

Legal deposit: B-35129-2007

Contents of all articles are sole responsibility of the authors. Temes de Recerca i Innovaciódoes not necessarily agree with it.All parts of this publication may be reproducedquoting the origin and the author

Temes de Recerca i Innovació is distributed free of charge. Issues can be obtained [email protected]

Direcció General de RecercaVia Laietana, 33, 6è08003 BarcelonaTel. +34 935 526 700Fax +34 935 526 922e-mail: [email protected]

Other links and pdf® version available at:

www.gencat.cat/recerca/temesri


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5T he constant and sustained growth of research in our country over the last decade, togetherwith the growing concern about the knowledge challenges of the next century, have confi-gured an extraordinarily rich and diverse scientific and academic scenario, quite different

from that of only a quarter of a century ago.Together with the urge to develop the skills and structures that will help in the discovery of new

knowledge, we have also witnessed the shifting of priorities and the hatching of a culture of innovationwhich, while still in its early stages, leads to the appearance of a broad stretch of common interests bet-ween industry and academia. Two worlds that existed in relative isolation during the last century arequickly coming closer.

The capacity of our society to generate knowledge and create wealth is rapidly coming of age.With this recently-acquired skill, we may be confident that the future will be at least in part, decidedand controlled by ourselves.

One of the most emblematic movements of these last years is the appearance of a plethora ofcentres specifically dedicated to research, something that was already present in our society butwhich has become a focal point over the last few years and has consequently grown and developedextraordinarily.

Alongside the growth in resources, number of researchers, and all the known indicators, therehas also been an awakening of the realisation that research is by no means a random activity sub-ject to risks and chance, but a systematic activity with its own methodologies, strategies and chan-nels to success.

The Government of Catalonia shares this vision and is thoroughly committed to keep increasingthe resources in this sector. These efforts will help us to transform the foundations of our economyand bring us closer to the leading countries competing in a global world.

As the new Minister for Innovation, Universities and Enterprise, it remains only for me to ackno-wledge the effort, tenacity and passion of all the people involved in the progress of our society throughscience and knowledge. •

Advancing at the frontiers of knowledgeJosep Huguet BioscaMinister for Innovation, Universities and EnterpriseGovernment of Catalonia

Carles SolàConseller d’Universitats, Recerca i Societat de la Informació


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7T he Catalan research landscape is both rich and varied. The convergence of initiatives andinterests among universities, state funded research institutions, hospital consortia, science parks, private centres and institutes driven by the Government of Catalonia have configured

a scenario offering great potential.The goal of structuring and coordinating efforts into a coherent strategy was part of the Research

and Innovation Plan 2005-2008, a sign for the political commitment of the Government of Cataloniato move towards a knowledge-based society. It sets a number of transversal actions geared towardsreinforcing the knowledge and technology value chain in all sectors of the economy.

Until then, and within the framework of the 3rd Research Plan 2001-2004, the Government ofCatalonia had driven the creation of Research Centres and scientific and technological infrastructu-res by leveraging collaboration possibilities with the universities, the CSIC and the Spanish Ministryof Education and Science. It became apparent that the creation of consortia, and –very especially–of research foundations was the best way of guaranteeing, in the short term, a network of structuresthat would be decisive in driving the country's economic and social future.

Thus, at the turn of the 21st century, there was an impressive deployment of new centres andinstitutes, promoted by an array of different public institutions but most prominently by the Govern-ment of Catalonia itself.

Throughout this period, the General Directorate of Research has played a leading role in thecreation of research foundations. Most of these foundations include in their Boards a number ofCatalan universities and other departments of the Government of Catalonia, particularly the Ministryof Health. But the General Directorate of Research has also spearheaded, in parallel, the creation ofjoined projects and investing major scientific infrastructures with the CSIC, the CIEMAT, the SpanishMinistry of Education and Science, the CNRS, the INSERM and even private companies.

Inside the General Directorate, the Research Structures Service has taken on the huge task ofcoordinating these initiatives. At the same time, it has also paved the road for signing programmecontracts between the Department and the centres. This new instrument links funding for the cen-tres to the achievement of specific goals and defines mutual obligations and rights. By means of thiscontract, the Government of Catalonia assesses research activities to guarantee the implementationof its public policies and the fulfilment of its objectives. The programme contracts are endorsed withmultiannual funding.

All this activity has brought about, over the last six years, into a 700% increase in the economic con-tributions made by the General Directorate of Research for the operating expenses of centres. This figu-re rocketed from 4.7 million euros in 2001 to 33.8 million euros in 2006, distributed mainly amongthe areas of biomedicine, sciences and engineering, but also with a decided impulse given to researchin the areas of humanities and social sciences. These figures are topped up by a total of 115 millioneuros, over the same period, for the construction of buildings that host the headquarters of the cen-tres and their scientific and technical facilities. (Diagram 1, following page)

The funding for ordinary operations received by the centres from the Government of Cataloniaoverall, and not just through the General Directorate of Research, totals some 53 million euros. Withthis contribution, the centres have attracted to Catalonia a total of 76 million euros in additional resour-ces from competitive funds of the central and European government and from private companies.

This impressive leverage of the government's expenditure is unprecedented in the history ofresearch in our country, and clearly exemplifies the growth of the knowledge economy in Catalonia.The data confirm that, besides generating knowledge and applications, the centres act as a pole ofattraction for competitive funds. It should be said that these resources are invested on a totally localbasis, with the subsequent creation of very highly-skilled jobs, associated turnover and welfare.

The number of centres has grown from 12 to 29 since the year 2000, and is expected to riseto 50 in the coming years. A strategy has been implemented that targets disciplines where interna-tional recognition can be obtained in a reasonably short timeframe (between five and ten years). Thisniche strategy works well with the other factors that define the Catalan science and technology

Research centres in Catalonia:Advancing towards the knowledge societyBlanca Palmada FélezCommissioner for Universities and Research

Ramon Moreno AmichDirector general of Research

How is the network of research centres funded?


system. The indicators seem to confirm that it is having the desired effect, although it is still early tobe certain of this, and the evolution of the system and the European setting need to be followed upclosely.

At the moment, there are more than 3,000 people linked to the research centres. They aremainly researchers, ranging from trainees (pre-doctoral) to group leaders, many of them of interna-tional prestige who believe in the project and have brought their research over here. But there is alsoa great many support personnel: financial and business directors, specialists in technology transfer,scientific dissemination and administrators, whose work is indispensable for the day-to-day mana-gement of the centres and to bring research closer to the citizens in the form of spin-off companies,new products and a better scientific awareness.

Euros

40.000.000,00

35.000.000,00

30.000.000,00

25.000.000,00

20.000.000,00

15.000.000,00

10.000.000,00

5.000.000,00

0,002001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

Area of Biomedicine and Health SciencesArea of Sciences and EngineeringArea of Humanities and Social Sciences

Total per years

Diagram1. Evolution of the economic contributions of the General Directorate of Research for theoperation of the research centres, 2001-2006.

Diagram 2. Sources of the ordinary economic resources of research centres.

140.000.000,00

120.000.000,00

100.000.000,00

80.000.000,00

60.000.000,00

40.000.000,00

20.000.000,00

0,002 0 0 6

Contributions by the Government of Catalonia Competitive resources

Total: 128.718.348,00

52.752.657,54

75.965.690,46

Euros

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In order to complement the effort made by the Research Structures Service, the General Directorate ofResearch realised the need to improve the quality and the competitiveness of research in Catalonia byestablishing an integrated management of the new research centres and their proper articulation with theother science and technology systems in order to guarantee their convergence in the EuropeanResearch Area (ERA).

Thus, and jointly with AGAUR, it has spearheaded the Research Centres Programme (CERCA),with a view to planning and optimising the networks of these new research organisations.

CERCA is the first major research action exclusively targeting the identification and solution ofmanagement challenges addressed by a growing and increasingly more influential group of independentresearch centres created by the Government of Catalonia. The objectives of the programme are very dif-ferent to those of the actual centres, and are geared towards identifying and promoting the best practi-ces in research management around the world, and their local implementation.

Besides this concern, CERCA also participates in the definition of the research system model weseek, an ongoing debate in which our society is immersed and whose results will largely determine ourscientific and technological capability in the immediate future.

The main functions of the CERCA are related to the management and exchange of good practicesin research management. In addition, it constitutes an optimal platform to project a common image andto offer centres a reference element and the chance to be visible all around the world through a unifiedcorporate image. These are the future challenges for a small initiative that has only just started out.

Of the main management elements that CERCA has pushed forward recently, mention must bemade of the publication of the programme manual, now into its fourth edition, a powerful and highly-ratedtool for the start-up and management of research centres, with an eminently practical approach and awealth of detail.

This tool, in constant evolution, is the backbone of the programme and is useful for experiencedcentres and new-starts alike. The manual provides examples of contracts and guidance for the creationof technology-based companies founded upon the research carried out, ranging through standard agree-ments with institutions, ideas on centre organisational charts, examples of contracts of employment andeven a wage table for guidance on the remuneration of the scientific and administrative staff of the mem-ber centres.

Alongside the manual, CERCA has driven the creation, for the first time ever, of an annual accountsmodel which is the same for all centres. Although in its pilot phase, it is already providing economic andaccounting information on quality, prepared with a common criteria. In the short term, CERCA hopes toobtain, for the first time ever, consolidated economic information on all the CERCA members. This step, un-doubtedly small but necessary, will make it possible to quickly gauge the specific weight of the program-me in economic terms, and to implement common funding policies based on comparable data over time.

The General Directorate of Research wishes to continue to pursue its policy of creation and con-solidation of centres with the model used so far. This is why it aims to study and create new researchcentres in priority areas.

As for the consolidation of the centres, work is required in the implementation of a commonanalytical accounting system; promotion of a framework agreement between the CERCA centresand the hosting universities to define the general framework of obligations and duties of the partiesto lead to a greater impact of the centres' activity in the visibility of universities; the debate over theadoption of common human resource policies, and collaboration between the Research StructuresService and the CERCA programme for the design and implementation of a new model of contractprogramme.

In any event, the research centres are the true leaders of this new stage. These institutions,based on diversity and grouped under a common umbrella, are contributing to make our country aworthy competitor in the European research area and provide a singular example of cooperation,dynamism and enthusiasm for knowledge.

This work is a tribute to their everyday effort and long-term vision. •

Research Centres Programme

Towards the future


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Sciences

Centre for Mathematics Research (CRM)Apartat 50. E-08193 Bellaterra. Tel. +34 93 581 10 81. www.crm.catDirector: Dr. Joaquim Bruna

Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO)Parc Mediterrani de la Tecnologia. Av. Canal Olímpic, s/n. E-08860 Castelldefels. Tel. +34 93 553 40 01. www.icfo.esDirector: Dr. Lluís Torner

Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ)Av. Països Catalans, 16. E-43007 Tarragona. Tel. +34 977 920 200. www.iciq.esDirector: Dr. Miguel Àngel Pericàs

Catalan Institute of Nanotechnology (ICN)Campus de la UAB. Edifici CM7. E-08193 Bellaterra. Tel. +34 93 581 44 08. www.nanocat.orgDirector: Dr. Jordi Pascual

Institute for Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC)Edifici Nexus. Gran Capità, 2-4. E-08034 Barcelona. Tel. +34 93 280 20 88. www.ieec.frc.esDirector: Dr. Jordi Isern

Institute of High-Energy Physics (IFAE)Facultat de Ciències de la UAB. Edifici Cn. E-08193 Bellaterra. Tel. +34 93 581 19 84. www.ifae.esDirector: Dr. Enrique Fernández

Institute of Geomatics (IG)Parc Mediterrani de la Tecnologia. Av. Canal Olímpic, s/n. E-08860 Castelldefels. Tel. +34 93 556 92 80. www.ideg.esDirector: Dr. Ismael Colomina

Engineering

International Centre for Numerical Methods in Engineering (CIMNE)Campus Nord UPC. Gran Capità, s/n. Edifici C1. E-08034 Barcelona. Tel. +34 93 205 70 16. www.cimne.comDirector: Dr. Eugenio Oñate

Telecommunications Technological Centre of Catalonia (CTTC)Parc Mediterrani de la Tecnologia. Av. Canal Olímpic, s/n. E-08860 Castelldefels. Tel. +34 93 645 29 00. www.cttc.esDirector: Dr. Miguel Àngel Lagunas

Computer Vision Centre (CVC)Campus de la UAB. Edifici O. E-08193 Bellaterra. Tel. +34 93 581 18 28. www.cvc.uab.esDirector: Dr. Juan José Villanueva

International Centre for Coastal Resources Research (CIIRC)Jordi Girona, 1-3. Edif. D-1. E-08034 Barcelona. Tel. +34 93 280 64 00. www.upc.edu/ciircPresident: Sr. Oriol Nel·lo

Bioengineering Institute of Catalonia (IBEC)Parc Científic de Barcelona. Josep Samitier, 1-5. E-08028 Barcelona. Tel. +34 93 403 97 06. www.ibecbarcelona.euDirector: Prof. Josep Anton Planell

Health and Life Sciences

Centre for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications (CREAF)Campus de la UAB. Edifici C. E-08193 Bellaterra. Tel. +34 93 581 13 12. www.creaf.uab.esDirector: Dr. Javier Retana

Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG)Parc de Recerca Biomèdica de Barcelona (PRBB). Dr. Aiguader, 88. E-08003 Barcelona. Tel. +34 93 306 01 00. www.crg.esDirector: Dr. Miguel Beato del Rosal


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Forest Technology Centre of Catalonia (CTFC)Pujada del Seminari, s/n. E-25280 Solsona. Tel. +34 973 481 752. www.ctfc.catDirector: Dr. José Antonio Bonet

Catalan Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences (ICCC)Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau. St. Antoni Maria Claret, 167. E-08025 Barcelona. Tel. +34 93 556 59 00. www.iccc.catDirector: Dr. Lina Badimon

Institute for Biomedical Investigation August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS)Campus Casanova. Villarroel, 170. E-08036 Barcelona. www.idibaps.ub.eduDirector: Dr. Joan Rodés

Institute for Food and Agricultural Research and Technology (IRTA)Main Services: Passeig de Gràcia, 44, 3ª pl. E-08007 Barcelona. Tel. +34 93 467 40 40. www.irta.esDirector: Dr. Josep Tarragó

Centre for Research in Animal Health (CReSA)Campus de la UAB. 08193 Bellaterra. Tel. +34 93 581 32 84. www.cresa.esDirector: Dr. Mariano Domingo

Centre of Agrigenomic Research (CRAG)Carrer Jordi Girona, 18-26. 08034 Barcelona. Telèfon +34 93 400 61 29Director: Dr. Pere Puigdomènec

Centre of Regenerative Medicine of Barcelona (CMRB)Parc de Recerca Biomèdica de Barcelona (PRBB). Doctor Aiguader, 88. E-08003 Barcelona. Tel. +34 93 316 03 00. www.cmrb.euDirector: Dr. Juan Carlos Izpisúa

Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemiology (CREAL)Edifici PRBB. Doctor Aiguader, 88. E-08003 Barcelona. Tel. +34 93 316 05 80. www.creal.catDirector: Dr. Josep M. Antó

Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona)Parc Científic de Barcelona. Josep Samitier, 1-5. E-08028 Barcelona. Tel. +34 93 403 71 11. www.irbbarcelona.orgDirector: Dr. Joan Guinovart

Social and Humanities Sciences

Centre for Demographic Studies (CED)Campus de la UAB. Edifici E2. E-08193 Bellaterra. Tel. +34 93 581 30 60. www.ced.uab.esDirector: Dra. Anna Cabré

Centre for Research in International Economy (CREI)Universitat Pompeu Fabra. Ramon Trias Fargas, 25-27. E-08005 Barcelona. Tel. +34 93 542 24 98. www.crei.catDirector: Dr. Jordi Galí

Catalan Institute of Classical Archaeology (ICAC)Pl. Rovellat, s/n. E-43003 Tarragona. Tel. +34 977 249 133. www.icac.netDirector: Dr. Isabel Rodà de Llanza

Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution (IPHES)Escorxador, s/n. E-43003 Tarragona. Tel. +34 977 558 703. www.urv.cat/iphesDirector: Dr. Eudald Carbonell


SCIENCES


D Since it was created in 1984 by theInstitut d’Estudis Catalans (IEC), theCentre for Mathematics Research (CRM)

has worked in order to increase, in both numberand quality, mathematical research in Catalonia.

The centre has undertaken many initiativeswith this main goal: it carries out annual rese-arch programmes, disseminating the results viaits own publications, it invites eminent scientistsfrom all over the world for research stays, it faci-litates contact between these scientists andyoung Catalan researchers, it awards and ma-nages post-doctoral scholarships and organisescongresses, seminars, theme-based trimesters,advanced courses and other scientific meetings.

More than 1,100 researchers from morethan 60 countries have worked there and morethan 4,000, including PhD students, have partici-pated in its activities throughout the twenty-threeyears of existence of this Centre, the only onededicated to mathematical research in Spain andwhich has become the centre which polarisesmost activity in the whole Mediterranean area. In2000 it received the Narcís Monturiol Award forscientific and technological excellence from theGovernment of Catalonia.

Structure and organisation

The CRM is a university institute attached to theUAB since 1997. In 2002 it became a consor-tium with its own legal status, comprising theIEC and the Government of Catalonia.

At the wish of the Catalan mathematicscommunity, the CRM does not have in-houseresearch personnel. It is structured as a centrefor visiting professors and post-doctoral scho-larship holders and at the same time enjoys thecollaboration of the most eminent research per-sonnel in mathematics from Catalan universities,particularly the UAB, the UPC and the UB, inorder of amount of collaborations, and also fromthe rest of Spain, such as the University JaumeI of Castelló, the University of Almería, the Auto-nomous and Technical Universities of Madrid orthe University of Cantabria.

The Bellaterra campus of the UAB is theheadquarters of the CRM, which are located inrooms in the Faculty of Science transferred forsixty years by means of an agreement. The Centrehas a surface area of almost 1,300 sqm, whichcan hold up to twenty-eight researchers, as wellas the spaces used for management, the secre-tariat, seminars and the computer room. The com-puting equipment is suitable for the researchcarried out, with almost fifty PCs with dedicatedhardware and software. Moreover, the researchpersonnel use the mathematics library of theUAB and also collaborate with it.

Programmes and scholarships

The Centre receives a stable annual subsidyfrom the Government of Catalonia, whichaccounted for 30% of the total budget in 2005and reached 40% in 2006. The rest of the budg-et comes from competitive programmes of the Go-vernment of Catalonia, the Spanish Governmentand the European Union.

As for the Government of Catalonia's pro-grammes, the Centre participates in researchscholarships for lecturers and visiting resear-chers to Catalonia (PIV) and grants for the orga-

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Centre for Mathematics Research CRM

23 years at the forefrontof mathematics Vaux


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nisation of mobilising actions (ARCS). In thesphere of the Spanish State, the Centre promo-tes research personnel mobility, both sabbaticaland post-doctoral, and participates at congres-ses, advanced courses and in actions related toscientific policy. With regard to the EuropeanUnion programmes, besides congresses andadvanced courses, it takes part in the MarieCurie postdoctoral scholarships, the ResearchTraining Network, the NEST (New and Emer-ging Science and Technology) and the MarieCurie Training Centres. At this point, it shouldbe mentioned that the CRM obtained the firstrecognition as a Marie Curie Training Centre inSpain, in collaboration with the Algebraic Topo-logy Group of Barcelona.

Very different lines of research

The CRM's lines of research are flexible anddiverse according to the annual programmesand the thematic trimesters. In recent years, theresearch personnel have worked on a wide rangeof different lines, including: «Theory of Sets»,«Geometric theory of groups», «ContemporaryCryptology», «Control, geometry and engineering»,«Arakelov Geometry and Shimura Varieties», «TheHilbert 16th problem» and «Fourier Analysis andthe geometric theory of measurement». Duringthe next academic year it will work on «Enume-rative Combinatorics and random processes»,«Discreet and continuous methods in ring theo-ry» and «Complex non-regular systems».

It also organises the «Mathematics for finan-cial instruments» Master which, with the spon-sorship of the Stock Exchange of Barcelona, hasbeen offered since 1998 and has become a pointof reference in this field. Another outstandingproject is called Shaping New Directions in Ma-thematics for Science and Society (MATHFSS),which, in the framework of the NEST program-me, explores new lines of research in importantareas of the relationship between science andsociety, such as Systems Biology, Risk Asses-sment, the Neurosciences and the Security ofDigital Contents. Developed in collaboration withthe INÉS of Paris, the EURANDOM Foundationof Eindhoven and the Emmy Noether Institute ofIsrael, this is the first NEST project coordinatedby a Spanish centre.

European Vocation

The development of all these initiatives is possi-ble thanks to support from the most importantresearch groups from universities in Cataloniaand the rest of Spain, as well as from Europeanresearch personnel.

The CRM boasts the participation of two ofthe most prestigious European researchers in thisarea: the living mathematician who has receivedmost awards ever, Jean-Pierre Serre, from France,the first Abel Prize in 2003, the Mathematics equi-valent to the Nobel Prize, awarded by theNorwegian Academy in recognition of his work inTopology, Algebraic Geometry and NumberTheory; and the German Gerhard Frey, whoseresearch, with the support of the team of Catalanresearchers in Number Theory, was decisive indemonstrating Fermat's Theorem.

Since 2003, the CRM has been an institu-tional member of the European MathematicalSociety (EMS), created in 1990. It is also part

of ERCOM (European Research Centres onMathematics), a committee of the EMS compri-sing the directors of European MathematicalResearch Centres, which was chaired by thedirector of the CRM between 2002 and 2005.And since the year 2000, the CRM has alsobeen part of the EPDI (European Post-DoctoralInstitute for the Mathematical Sciences), a se-lective group of Research Centres that annuallyawards very competitive post-doctoral scholars-hips. Three leading European institutes of ma-thematics are part of this group: the IsaacNewton Institute of Cambridge, the Institute desHautes Études Scientifiques of Paris and theMax-Plank-Institut für Mathematik of Bonn.

Apart from this, the Centre also plays anactive part in the organisation of major eventsthat have afforded Barcelona exposure as aninternational reference city in research into ma-thematics. Such is the case of the BarcelonaConference on Algebraic Topology congresscycle held between 1982 and 2002; theSymposium on the Current State and Prospectsin Mathematics, held in the Catalonian capital in1991, which united seven mathematiciansawarded the Fields Medal, the ultimate distinc-tion in mathematical research until 2002; andthe Third European Mathematics Congress heldin Barcelona in 2000.

In this regard, mention must also be madeof the Centre's support to a series of internatio-nal mathematical publications bearing the nameof the city of Barcelona: Advanced Courses inMathematics CRM Barcelona, by the Swisspublisher Birkhäuser Verlag. Published and dis-tributed successfully in Basel and Boston,these publications contain extended versions ofthe material imparted by the research personnelin the CRM's advanced courses.

Future challenges

Although it is already consolidated as one of theworld's most highly respected mathematicalresearch institutes, the main aim of the Centre isto continue to work for the Catalan mathemati-cal community. Moreover, in the coming years itwill focus its activity on the training of a smallgroup of superior-level permanent researchers,either by examination processes open to thewhole community or by means of the ICREA

programme. It also seeks to promote the open-ing up of lines of action in Catalonia or in therest of Spain with the participation of statewideresearch groups within the framework of theConsolider programme.

All of this without losing sight of the mostimmediate challenges, such as the strengthe-ning of emerging research lines in Catalonia inthe field of Mathematical Neuroscience, via acongress held in Andorra in September 2006,and in the field of data security, with anothercongress scheduled for May 2007. •

Centre for Mathematics Research (CRM)Apartat 50E-08193 BellaterraTel. +34 93 581 10 81www.crm.cat

Dr. Joaquim BrunaDirector

Dr. Manuel CastelletDirector (1984-March 2007)

Date of constitution1984

StructureConsortium as of July 2002

Governing Board• Ministry of Innovation, Universities

and Enterprise• Institute of Catalan Studies

Total personnel engagged in the centre25

Operating Budget 20061.100.000,00 €40% is provided by the Government ofCatalonia


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F rom supermarkets to hospitals, instru-ments based on photonic technologies are becoming increasingly more pre-

sent in our daily activities. They are often devi-ces that we do not perceive directly, but whichare indispensable for many things to work.

A large part of the technological breakth-roughs in different areas are due to photonics,the science that studies the generation, trans-mission, detection, control and manipulation oflight. This is why research into photonic scien-ces and technologies, based particularly onlaser light, is now a priority in all advanced andemerging countries.

And it was precisely the need to havea centre for this type of research in Cataloniathat led to the creation of the Institute of Photo-nic Sciences (ICFO) in 2002 by the UPC andthe Government of Catalonia.

The ICFO was conceived to become a com-petitive centre in the world, with a suitable struc-ture and instruments to become, with a guaranteeof success, one of the best institutes in the worldin its domain. On the basis of this objective theCentre plotted its three main strategic lines: thedevelopment of cutting-edge research, the trai-ning of specialised human resources and kno-wledge transfer to companies.

Frontier research

The ICFO model is founded upon research drivenby creativity, able to further the borders of know-ledge in the field of the science of light and,consequently, generate significant conceptualand technological innovation.

At the moment, the Institute is developingsome fifty projects in its different areas of re-search, namely Bio-Optics, Nano-Optics, Quan-tum Optics and Non-linear Optics. The researchpersonnel work to accomplish scientific resultsfor a broad variety of applications.

The success achieved must help to makeICFO a reference institute in the field of the pho-tonic sciences, to which end professional con-nections must be established with centres from allover the world engaged in related disciplines. Inthis regard, the ICFO has signed collaborationagreements with all kinds of leading national andinternational institutions. In the same line, theICFO is part of different international research net-works. For example, the groups engaged inNanophotonics are part of the Phoremost networkof excellence, a consortium that has united thirty-five universities and research centres promotedby the European Commission. Another collabora-tion network is QUDEDIS, promoted by theEuropean Science Foundation, an association ofleading institutions and research groups in quan-tic information. The ICFO also participates in dif-ferent integrated projects and NEST programmesfunded by the European Union, in Consolider pro-jects by the Spanish Ministry of Education andScience, as well as industrial projects.

The human resources

The ICFO is based on the experience, dedicationand motivation of its own research team, whosemembers hail from all over the world. Some ofthem are Spanish working abroad and who, withthe advent of the Centre, decided to come back totheir country to continue to work in high level pro-

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jects, and others come from countries from all overthe world who wish to further their career here. Thecollaboration with research personnel from the uni-versities and research centres in Catalonia, Spainand Europe, as well as with private companies andinstitutions, is a priority for the ICFO. The aim is tojoin forces and resources to increase the country'sscientific and technological capacity in the field ofphotonics.

At the moment, the Centre employs about ahundred professionals in different specialities, fif-teen of whom are group leaders with permanentcontracts of employment or who intend to remain.The rest are postdoctoral researchers and PhDstudents, most of them funded by competitive pro-jects and by external research support agencies.The groups are small, autonomous but cooperati-ve, and most of them are led by research person-nel from the ICREA programme or the UPC.

The research is funded by means of compe-titive projects by national and international publicand private organisations. Thus, the ICREArecruitment programme and the AGAUR scho-larships programme, both of them by the Govern-ment of Catalonia, have been pivotal in fundingthe Institute. Crucial support has also been put upby the Ramon y Cajal, Juan de la Cierva andTorres Quevedo programmes, as well as the Re-search Personnel Training (FPI) and UniversityLecturer Training (FPU) scholarships of theSpanish Ministry of Education and Science, aswell as other similar programmes established bythe European Union, such as the Marie Curie pro-gramme. The ICFO leads one of the projects ofthe Spanish Ministry of Education and Sciencein the Consolider programme. This initiative pro-vides strategic funding for five years to high-level teams of researchers, in order to developfrontier research projects.

All these programmes have permitted therecruitment of a sufficient number of resear-chers with the highest possible scientific qualifi-cations. At the moment, the ICFO is playinghost to nine ICREA group managers, thirty re-searchers with Ramon y Cajal and Juan de laCierva contracts, and some forty PhD scholars-hip holders funded by national and internationalagencies and competitive projects.

The post-doctoral researchers and PhDstudents are regarded as the ICFO's most valua-ble assets. These are young graduates from uni-versities from Europe, Asia and America who,having teamed up with researchers and stu-dents from Catalonia and the rest of Spain, arecompleting their training thanks to frontier re-search. Here they are doing their PhD in physicsor engineering, particularly at the UPC but alsoat other Catalan universities, on programmesthat include different aspects of photonics andinnovation. With the support of the ICFO throughcourses, seminars, access to competitive researchinfrastructure and participation in high-level pro-grammes, the aim is for the students to becomemature scientists, with leadership and entrepre-neurial skills. Once they have become doctors,they will leave the Institute to continue their pro-fessional career in another centre. Some of thesedoctors will join companies, where they will leve-rage the experience acquired in the ICFO.

Knowledge transfer

Knowledge transfer to the industrial sector isone of the Institute's objectives. For this reason,

the ICFO collaborates with companies to trans-fer research results directly, and also promotesthe creation of technology-based companies. Inthe summer of 2005 Radiantis S.L. was set up,the first company created on the basis of knowl-edge imparted by the ICFO. Radiantis is mar-keting multicolour laser light sources for envi-ronmental applications, remote detection in hos-tile environments and different areas of medicine.At the moment, new business ideas are beingstudied, some of which should come to fruitionin the form of a new company in the comingmonths.

The ICFO participates in the different inter-national organisations that promote industrialinnovation based on photonic devices, includingthe EPIC, the European Photonics Industry Con-sortium, and the IPCA, the International PhotonicsCommercialization Alliance. Similarly, the ICFOcollaborates actively in the Photonics21 EuropeanPlatform and in its Spanish counterpart.

Photonics: A transversal tool

Photonics applications straddle a large varietyof sectors, including, among others, media stud-ies, life sciences and health, the environment,biotechnology, the agrofood industry, automotive,aeronautics, entertainment, nanotechnology, se-curity systems and industrial laser systems.

As far as media studies are concerned,photonics permits high speed data transmissionthrough high-performance fibre optic cable.More precisely, this technology has permittedthe development of the Internet all over the pla-net and therefore the birth and the expansion ofthe present and future information society.

In the sector of life sciences, photonicswas decisive in the breakthrough in genomicsvia DNA reading and decoding systems. At themoment, technologies for the visualisation andcontrol of chemical reactions at molecular scaleare being developed, and it will soon be possi-ble to view and manipulate biochemical cell pro-cesses in real time without any type of invasion.

As for health, photonics forms the basis ofnon-invasive diagnostic techniques and of pho-todynamic treatments of different diseases,including some types of cancer. It also permitsthe use of laser as a precise surgery instrument,and which nowadays is available to most of the

world's hospitals and health centres. One of thelines of research in this field addresses nano-surgery, which acts directly on cells.

The capacity to develop information non-destructively is the cornerstone of another appli-cation, teledetection, which makes it possible tobuild a wide range of sensor-based optical ra-dars that respond to temperature, pressure,moisture and many other chemical and physicalparameters. This opens up new doors for envi-ronmental management, agriculture and thefood sector, to name but some.

Finally, photonics also provides high-preci-sion tools for sectors as different as physics, che-mistry, stomatology, neurology or archaeology.

Future challenges

The ICFO is a very young centre, in the growthand consolidation phase, and recently relocatedto its definitive site in the Mediterranean Techno-logy Park in Castelldefels. Nevertheless, it aims toreap results meriting international attention andthus take its place among the world's best pho-tonic science centres.

Its creative research, scientific training andexternal collaboration strategies target this goal,albeit always with the ultimate aim of making aneffective contribution to group work to furtherthe frontiers of knowledge and generate, at thesame time, wealth and welfare for society. •

Institute of Photonic Sciences(ICFO)

Parc Mediterrani de la TecnologiaAv. Canal Olímpic, s/nE-08860 CastelldefelsTel. +34 93 553 40 01www.icfo.es

Dr. Lluís TornerDirector

Date of constitutionMarch, 2002

StructureFundation

Board of Trustees• Ministry of Innovation, Universitries

and Erterprise• Technical University of Catalonia

Advisory Scientific CommitteeComprised of ten internationalyrenowned scientists

Total personnel engaged in the centre153

Operating budget 20065.250.000,00 €59,05% is provided by the Government of Catalonia


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T he Government of Catalonia, sensitive tothe reality of research in chemistry in Cata-lonia and to the needs of the Catalan

chemical industry, decided to set up the Ins-titute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ),a non-profit private foundation in 2000.

The ICIQ, comprised of the URV and theGovernment of Catalonia, was created with aview to becoming a reference point for researchin chemistry in the European Research Space.To achieve this it has a twofold mission. On theone hand, it promotes results-oriented qualityresearch, placing the emphasis on the protec-tion of the results of the research via patents soas not to lose future commercial use opportuni-ties, and thus overcome one of the main limita-tions in the European science and technologysystem. On the other hand, the ICIQ seeks tohelp to increase the competitiveness of the sur-rounding chemical and pharmaceutical industryby means of an active transfer policy.

The headquarters of the ICIQ is a buildingof some 7,700 sqm, opened in 2003, which willsoon be extended with a second phase of 4,800square metres, now under construction, whichwill permit the growth of spaces dedicated toresearch, as well as the implementation of a tech-nology-based company centre.

Advisory bodies and work areas

The ICIQ foundation has two advisory bodies: aScientific Committee comprised of renownedinternational scientists that selects and assessesthe researchers in charge of the teams of theInstitute; and a Business Council, comprised ofcompanies from the chemical and pharmaceuti-cal sector (Repsol-YPF, Bayer, and Laboratorisdel Dr. Esteve) which support the Board ofTrustees in technology transfer to the industrialsectors and pick up on the needs of the eco-nomic setting in the management of the ICIQ.

The Institute, which employs 175 people,almost half of them with PhD, is structured intwo major areas: the Research Area, comprisedof fourteen groups which guarantee a multidis-ciplinary approach to research problems; andthe Research Support Area, which comprises aStrategic Area and a Technology Transfer De-partment and is conceived to manage the nonpurely scientific aspects and thus facilitate crea-tivity in research. The Support Area provides theresearch team with the most recent break-throughs in the different instrumental fields. It iscomprised of the following units: X-Ray Diffrac-tion, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Mass Spec-trometry, Heterogeneous Catalysis, ParallelSynthesis, Process Chemistry, Photophysics andGeneral Instrumentation.

The Centre’s strategy

The general goals of the ICIQ are the pursuit ofresearch characterised by its innovative value,its multidisciplinarity and the transcendence ofthe scientific problems addressed, and, relatedto this, the contribution to making the chemicalindustry a driving force of sustainable develop-ment in Catalonia.

The strategic lines of the Centre affordsfundamental importance to its excellent researchteam which, after passing rigorous selectionand assessment criteria, are provided, from the

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outset, with sufficient material and human re-sources to develop its research programme.The ICIQ is particularly proud of its Tenure TrackProgramme, which started in 2005, givingexcellent young researchers the chance tobegin an independent career. It is a unique ini-tiative in Catalonia and in Spain, a platform forthe promotion of these researchers in theiryears of maximum scientific creativity, and alsoguarantees the renewal of the Institute’s re-search lines.

Moreover, the Institute has been struc-tured in a very simple fashion, geared towardsefficiency, enabling researchers to dedicatetheir efforts to scientific research, reassertingrapid response capacity in the face of newresearch opportunities or external demands.

Research in relevant chemical problems

The ICIQ’s research targets relevant chemicalproblems from the scientific and industrialstandpoint, without losing sight of the socialand environmental implications of chemistry andits industry. Thus, the problems of sustainability,the rational use of natural resources and theproduction of CO2-free energy are the back-bone of the research carried out in the Institute.

One of the main platforms on which theInstitute’s research focuses is the catalysis ofchemical processes and their contribution to theestablishment of sustainable chemistry. In this re-gard, it is important to remember that more than80% of the processes of the chemical industry(including the pharmaceutical industry), with anapproximate annual production value of 1,500 bi-llion euros, depend on catalytic technologies. TheICIQ takes into account both homogeneous andheterogeneous catalysis and is based on therational design of catalysts.

The second main area of research is su-pramolecular chemistry as a way into the field ofmolecular nanotechnology. This is a very prom-ising area based on the design of complex sys-tems of molecules that interact with each otherspecifically and which give rise to new collectiveproperties. This type of system may generatedifferent functions which range from their use assensors to the design and construction of mo-lecular motors and nanocircuits.

In the course of 2006, the ICIQ has dedi-cated special care to the implementation of re-search groups that work on the problem of ener-gy, both from the standpoint of the leverage ofsolar energy by means of photovoltaic devicesand from that of the acquisition of hydrogen bymeans of the photodecomposition of water.

From the methodological standpoint, thecombined use of experimental and theoreticalmethods, together with a multidisciplinary ap-proach, is a key contributory factor to the project’ssuccess. This aspect is complemented by the sys-tematic use of parallel and combinatory methodsthat help the research to progress faster.

Towards the profitability of research outcomes

The initial sum earmarked for funding the cons-truction of the building and the scientific facilitywas donated by the Government of Cataloniaand by the ERDF. For operating purposes, thecentre receives the economic support of the

Government of Catalonia. Nevertheless, the ICIQseeks to guarantee a high degree of self-fundingby means of competing for the allocation of fundsfor research and personnel, for signing researchagreements with companies and organisationsand, more in the long term, exploiting the intellec-tual property rights generated in the institutes. Theaim is to consolidate resources thanks to the pro-fitability of the research outcome, and importanceis therefore attached to the industrial protection ofresults and their transfer. Moreover, in the contextof the Scientific and Technological Park of Tarra-gona, the ICIQ will spearhead the creation oftechnology-based companies as an important toolin this policy.

Singular success

The ICIQ has successfully attracted very re-nowned scientists in the field of national and inter-national chemistry from academic institutions andindustry alike. This guarantees high scientific pro-ductivity, as well as a good capacity for solvingresearch-related industrial problems.

One major and recent success is the awardof the inaugural project «Design of Catalysts forSustainable Chemistry. An Integrated Approachto Catalysis». Funded by the Consolider Ingenio2010 programme, this project is led by the ICIQand features the participation of ten of the Ins-titute’s research groups. Additionally, the Centreparticipates in the Genius-Pharma project fundedby the CENIT programme and led by a consor-tium of Catalan pharmaceutical companies.

In order to strengthen its positioning in thesector and, vis-à-vis industry, the ICIQ has alsostarted up an R&D Unit in Polymorphism. Whilstthis unit covers a hitherto unattended need ofthe pharmaceutical industry, it offers a compre-hensive scientific support service in the field ofpolymorphism and selection of salts of activeingredients or intermediates, which adapts tothe needs of the industrial partners with which itcollaborates in all stages of development. Thedifferential service offered by the ICIQ in thesphere of polymorphism has aroused a rareinterest in the industrial sector, and eleven poly-morphism projects have already been imple-mented in less than one year of operation.

Other outstanding successes achievedthroughout the ICIQ’s history are its recognitionas a Centre of Information Technology (CIT), a Re-search Results Transfer Office (OTRI) and a cen-tre of the IT Network of the CIDEM.

Collaboration work

The ICIQ is committed to cooperative R&D, notonly between the different groups of the Institute,but also with other research institutions, the pri-vate sector and business associations at homeand abroad. The participation of the ICIQ’s re-searchers in European Projects and Networks ofExcellence is regarded as a priority.

Technology transfer

Although it is a young institution, the ICIQ hasinitiated more than thirty research contracts withthe private sector, including the eleven in poly-morphism, and has submitted its first fifteenpatent applications. The rapid growth of the num-

ber of industry contracts and the good resultsobtained indicate that a climate of confidencehas been established and that both the ICIQand the business world wish to work together.

The different transfer channels providedfor by the ICIQ include contract research, thelicensing of its own patents, the Polymorphismresearch service and scientific and technicalcounselling. The construction of the secondphase of the building opens up new routes ofcollaboration, such as the creation of mixedunits with industry or the creation of technology-based companies.

The centre’s futureThe ICIQ is committedto the promotion of quality research and hasestablished very positive relationships withother agents of Catalonia’s science and tech-nology system. A stable workforce will be estab-lished in the coming years, albeit necessarilysubject to a dynamic renovation process.

If the ICIQ works as it was designed for, theresearch personnel will work in some of the mostimportant chemical challenges of our century andtheir work will stimulate the strengthening of thetechnology base of the Catalan business sector.

In this regard, the layout of the plannedspaces in the framework of the Scientific andTechnological Park of Tarragona must contribute tothe creation of a cluster of quality training andresearch activities that contribute towards esta-blishing an increasingly more innovative industry. •

Institute of Chemical Researchof Catalonia (ICIQ)Av. Països Catalans, 16E-43007 TarragonaTel. +34 977 920 200www.iciq.es

Dr. Miguel Àngel PericàsDirector

Date of constitutionDesember, 2000

StructureFoundation

Board of Trustees• Ministry of Innovation, Universities

and Enterprise• Rovira i Virgili University • Bayer Polímero, S.L.• Repsol YPF, S.A.• Basf Española, S.A.• Laboratorios del Dr. Esteve, S.A.

Scientific CommitteeComprised of ten internationallyrenowned scientists

Business Commitee comprised ofRepsol YPF, Bayer, Basf, Lab. Esteve

Total personnel engagedin the centre175

Operating Budged 20067.115.287,00 €74,58% is provided by the Governmentof Catalonia


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I n recent years, the Government of Catalo-nia has made a firm commitment to create Institutes and Research Centres in strate-

gic scientific, technological and social areas. Inthis context, the Catalan Institute of Nanotech-nology (ICN) was set up in 2003 determined tobecome an international reference in the field ofnanoscience and nanotechnology. As a youngresearch centre it enjoyed rapid and sustainedgrowth.

Nanoscience is not a conceptual revolutionin the way that relativity and quantum mechanicswere at the beginning of the 20th Century.However, in terms of phenomena, since it stu-dies the manipulation of matter at atomic andmolecular scale, it lays the foundations for thedevelopment of a revolutionary new technology.Nanotechnology promises all kinds of benefits,including medical, environmental or computingapplications.

The physicochemical aspect of nanoscience

Nanoscience can address a wide range of sec-tors. Thus, the ICN, comfortable in the environ-ment of the UAB campus, where there is a strongimplementation of Research Centres engaged inthe development of basically inorganic systemsand devices, has decided to push the frontiers ofresearch in nanobiology and nanobiomedicine.

The more physicochemical aspect of na-noscience polarises the Institute’s priorities,namely synthesis and manufacturing, functional-isation and the study of the properties andapplications of matter at a nanometric scale.The ICN takes advantage from its universityenvironment through the promotion of collabo-ration among scientists from different speciali-ties (physics, chemistry, biology, engineering),the dedication of resources to the training ofdoctors and industrial entrepreneurs, the parti-cipation on masters and PhD courses, and alsothe dissemination of knowledge to society.

The constitution of the CIN2

The ICN is a private foundation governed by aBoard of Trustees of which the UAB and theGovernment of Catalonia are part. One of thefirst actions of the Board of Trustees was toapprove the construction of a dedicated buil-ding for the ICN in Bellaterra and to allocate iteconomic resources for the purchase of scien-tific equipment.

Later, in 2005, a protocol of intentions wassigned between the Government of Catalonia, theCSIC, the UAB and the ICN, with a view to crea-ting a Mixed Research Centre in Nanoscienceand Nanotechnology (CIN2), jointly owned by theICN and the CSIC. The agreement was signed atthe end of 2006 and, among other points, it wasagreed that the CSIC would build the facility. TheGovernment of Catalonia will purchase the scien-tific equipment and will assign a budget of nineand a half million euros which includes aid fromthe European Union by means of the ERDF.Moreover, the UAB has approved the transfer forthe use of a plot on the campus with a surfacearea of 2,160 sqm. It is estimated that when it isup and running the CIN2 will employ some twohundred researchers in a facility with a total sur-face area of about 6,700 sqm.

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Until the work ends at the end of 2008, theresearch teams had to be distributed in severalcentres of the Bellaterra campus, and be accom-modated in modules and rooms in the EscolaTècnica Superior d’Enginyeria near the defini-tive site of the centre. These temporary sites housea large part of the research personnel and theresearch laboratories.

One outstanding aspect of the Institute is itsinfrastructure and more particularly the nanomanu-facturing white room, which it will share with theInstitut de Microelectrònica de Barcelona-CentreNacional de Microelectrònica (IMB-CNM).

The organisation of research

The ICN, and by extension the CIN2, are struc-tured in departments, which unites researchgroups with like interests. The basic researchunit is the research group, formed by a group ofbetween approximately seven and ten people.A typical group of seven people is tree-struc-tured, with a group head, who is responsible forall the research, two post-doctoral or higherresearchers and four pre-doctoral scholarshipholders, plus support technicians, if the groupneeds one. The centre estimates that besidesthe head of the group, one of the two second-level researcher posts may become permanentin the long term, so that there will always be avacancy at this level that will permit researcherrotation, which will help to maintain cutting-edge and novel research expectations that areneeded in any advanced research group.

The research activity is divided into twomajor blocks: one on nanoscience and another onnanotechnology. The former, to which approxi-mately 70% to 75% of resources are allocated,includes three departments: «Characterisationof electronic, magnetic, vibrational and structur-al properties of nanostructures and molecularmaterials at nanometric scale. Theory and simu-lation», uniting three research lines; «Synthesisof inorganic, organic and hybrid nanostructuredmaterials», also with three research lines; and«Physical properties of nanostructures», with fourresearch lines, involving the basic study and appli-cations of nanostructures with specific magnetic,electronic, optical and ionic properties. Theresearch lines have been defined by consensuswith the CSIC, in accordance with a formalisedagreement between the two institutions.

Between 25% and 30% of the centre’sresearch efforts are dedicated to nanotechnology.This block deals with research questions directlyimpacting the scientific and social environment.Except for one of the research subjects, «Nanobio-sensors», structured just like the previous ones as adepartment with two, or later perhaps three re-search lines, the other subjects are conceived asoutputs derived from a horizontal conception of theother departments. Particularly outstanding areasare «Production and storage of energy», collabora-tion in matters of biomedicine, such as the study ofneurodegenerative diseases, and, in a more pros-pective phase, the development of «Nanometrolo-gy», «Toxicology» and collaboration between the ICNand the ALBA in a light line of the Vallès Synchrotron.

Equipment

The scientific equipment needed to carry out theresearch has been obtained hitherto with the

support of the Government of Catalonia. On theone hand, the centre’s policy provides for thepurchase of common-use equipment, located inthe actual centre or the shared nano/mi-cro-manufacturing white room, and on the otherhand the purchase of specific equipment forevery research line, so that the research groupswill have the right tools to develop its work fromthe outset.

At the moment, funding resources are ob-tained mainly from competitive calls for tendersfor European projects. The Quantum probesbased on carbon nanotubes project merits spe-cial mention, funded with 1.2 million euros, andawarded by the European Science Foundationto doctor Adrian Bachtold, a CSIC researcherlinked to the ICN. The project is linked to theEURYI prize that was awarded in 2005.

External links

Collaboration with other centres is one of theInstitute’s most important assets, as the resear-chers work with many universities and researchinstitutes. It must be emphasised that there is aclose relationship with different areas of the Uni-versity of California, together with the generalprotocol signed by the Government of Aragonand the Government of Catalonia for the pro-motion and coordination of joint research anddevelopment actions in nanoscience. In thisprogramme, the ICN directs the activity from theCatalan side, which is open to all the researchpersonnel from this field.

Regarding links with the private sector, theICN expects to develop collaboration work withthe world of industry and business once itspotential has been realised. In fact, it has alrea-dy carried out some actions in hospital medicineand is aiding in the creation of emerging com-panies in the field of the synthesis and function-alisation of nanoparticles.

The future

The centre’s future envisages a series of goals.With regard to nanoscience, the ICN seeks toconsolidate the sustained growth of its researchlines, increase the critical mass and define the

topics that will make it a reference centre allround the world.

In nanotechnology, it expects to manufac-ture devices, mainly lab-on-a-chip type sensors,directly applicable to certain needs of society,particularly in the field of biomedicine. Moreover,one of the most important challenges that willbe addressed in the near future will be how toprovide easy solutions to the integration ofprocesses between the macroscopic andnanoscopic world. In this regard, the centre wel-comes the initiative to form a Nanocluster on theUAB campus to bring together complementarycentres.

Finally, the creation of bridges to privatecompanies and particularly the creation of ownderived companies is a necessary challenge andguaranteed implementation. It must be remem-bered that this emerging and diverse field affordsincreasingly greater possibilities of impactingupon the economic and social sector. •

Catalan Institute of Nanotechnology (ICN)Campus de la UABEdifici CM7E-08193 BellaterraTel. +34 93 581 44 08www.nanocat.org

Dr. Jordi PascualDirector

Date of constitutionMay, 2003

StructureFoundation


and Enterprise• Autonomous University of Barcelona

President of the Scientific CommiteeDr. Miquel SalmeronLawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (EUA)


Operating Budget 20061.596.438,00 €60% is provided by the Governmentof Catalonia


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T he study of the Earth from space or thedetection of planets outside our solarsystem are some of the Institute for

Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC) activities. Itwas created in 1996 and since then has partici-pated in the development, promotion and disse-mination of all kinds of projects related to spacetechnology and scientific research into space.

From basic research to space missions

The IEEC’s activities are structured around twomodels of action: on the one hand, the develop-ment of basic research, and on the other, par-ticipation in major applied research and devel-opment projects that require the mobilisation ofsubstantial resources from different disciplines.In this regard, during its trajectory, the IEEC haspromoted international space collaborationwork, particularly in missions by the EuropeanSpace Agency (ESA), such as INTEGRAL,PLANK, GAIA, LISA, WSO, MAX and GRI,METOP and SMOS.

The Institute’s main characteristic is thataddresses all activities from a global standpoint,i.e. from basic and applied research and fromthe standpoint of the development of new instru-ments and techniques. Ultimately, this strategyhas made it possible to create a group of morethan fifty renowned scientists.

Extrasolar planets, dark energy, the structure of the atmosphere...

In the field of astrophysics and observationalcosmology, the Centre studies the origin of theuniverse, the formation of stars and the detec-tion of extrasolar planets. The research activityincludes observation, designing instruments,collecting and analysing data, as well as verifyingthese data with numerical simulations and theo-retical models. The researchers work in differentareas: cosmological models, large-scale structureof the universe, cosmic radiation of micro-waves,gravitational waves, astronomic instrumentation,stellar explosions and nucleosynthesis, interstellarmedium and extrasolar planets.

With regard to theoretical physics and fun-damental cosmology, the IEEC studies theore-tical models to describe the dark energy thatdominates the universe and quantum gravity.This field comprises the development of theo-retical models compatible with the observationand study of the applications of mathematicaltechniques in cosmology. The scientists workon quantum gravitation and fundamental theo-ries, structure of quantum vacuum, dark energymodels and zeta functions and their applications.

The research personnel also study our plan-et from space. Thanks to the new constellations ofnavigation satellites (GPS, Galileo, etc.), they canobserve the earth, oceans and the atmosphere.Thus, they design experiments by means of the useof new technologies and the collection and reduc-tion of data. The areas of this line of researchinclude: spatial geodesy, teledetection of the seasurface and the structure of the atmosphere.

Telescopes in Montsec and the Antarctic

Furthermore, it is clear that the IEEC also hasimportant terrestrial infrastructures to carry out

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its projects. One of them is the AstronomicObservatory of Montsec, which, as its name indi-cates, is located in one of the best areas of Ca-talonia for astronomical observation: the MountainRange of Montsec. The site enjoys good meteo-rological conditions with atmospheric transparency,as well as very low levels of light contamination.Moreover, it is part of an ensemble of areas withmaximum protection against light contamination,according to the environmental planning regula-tions for lighting for the protection of the nightenvironment approved by the Government of Ca-talonia, which guarantees the quality of the night-time sky during the coming years.

The observatory has instruments for high-level astronomical observation, as well as a con-trol technology that permits robotized operation.The telescope, called Joan Oró in honour of theCatalan scientist, has a diameter of eighty cen-timetres and its features are unique in Catalonia.It is a very useful tool for the scientific commu-nity for collecting data for studies in the field ofastrophysics, including particularly the observa-

tion of objects of the solar system, the searchfor extrasolar planets, the observation of diffe-rent types of stars in different stages of theirevolution and the detection of the conse-quences of momentary energy phenomena. Thefinishing touches are being made to the tele-scope, which will be ready in a few months, andobservation will commence with in situ controlby the observers. In the course of 2007, robo-tized observation is due to commence. Then itwill be the computing system, aided by an en-semble of peripheral elements, which will manageobservation, with a process comprising the selec-tion of objects, their observation and the finaltreatment of the images collected, while maintain-ing ongoing control of meteorological conditions.

The observatory’s site also features a meteo-rological station that is part of the Agrometeorolo-gical Network, which reports to the Government ofCatalonia, and a station for the measurement of thecharacterisation of the presence of particles in sus-pension in the atmosphere, which belongs to theInstitut de Ciències de la Terra Jaume Almera(CSIC). In the near future, a broad-field camerawill be installed, which will be part of the Net-work for Research on Meteorites. These instru-ments make it possible to extend the studiesperformed in the field of astrophysics and com-

plement them with other atmospheric-typeones. These projects are developed with theparticipation of the IEEC, the UB, the UPC, theCSIC, the Consortium of Montsec and the JoanOró Foundation.

In addition, the IEEC also participates in aproject to install a telescope in the ConcordiaBase in the Antarctic, an exceptional place forastronomical observation. As several recentatmospheric studies have shown, it could be thebest place on the planet for astronomical obser-vation in the optical and infrared range. The lowtemperatures, the high atmospherical stability,the low content in water vapour and the longduration of the polar night are its main virtues.The Concordia Base, built by Italy and France,has permitted, for the first time ever, the conti-nuous presence of people and measuring instru-ments during the last arctic winter between Apriland September. During these months, in whichthe sun remains below the horizon and astronom-ic observations can be carried out, environmentalconditions are extreme, with minimum tempera-ture values of 80ºC below zero. This is one of thereasons why the installation of astronomical ob-servatories in this place is a major technologicalchallenge, with an inevitable use of robotics sys-tems to control the instruments.

The interest of scientists from different coun-tries in the installation of astronomical observatoriesin the Concordia Base gave rise to the creation ofan international network to coordinate collaborationin development work for major instruments for thebase. The network, called the Antarctic Research,a European Network for Astrophysics (ARENA),embarked upon its activities in January, 2006. Asa member, the IEEC participates in work pack-ages dedicated to the identification of the fields ofastrophysics that can be carried out from thispoint in the Antarctic and to the definition of therequirements needed to develop large instruments.Moreover, the IEEC has a representative on theARENA technical committee, whose mission is toidentify the technical aspects and the studies thatwould need to be investigated in the framework ofthe network, and also participates in the buildingof two telescopes that will be installed in the Con-cordia Base: the International Robotic AntarcticInfrared Telescope (IRAIT), a project led by theUniversity of Perugia, and the International Con-cordia Explorer Telescope (ICE-T), led by the As-trophysics Institute of Potsdam.

Training and innovation

Besides the above, the IEEC organises andimparts professional specialisation and retrain-ing studies in the study of space. Among these,special mention must be made of the Master inTeledetection and Geographic InformationSystems and training in GPS applications.

Another of its activities is the transfer ofthe results of the research for individuals andpublic or private organisations. The technolo-gies transferred include software for meteoro-logical radars, microscale meteorological pre-dictions and computer-assisted tomography ofatmospheric water vapour.

An own satellite?

The main future challenge of the IEEC is to pro-mote the relevant participation of the groups of

scientists and technologists in national and inter-national programmes, promoting the creation ofcohesive groups.

But who knows, since in recent years theInstitute has greatly increased its technologicaldevelopment activities, this leads its researcherstothink that the IEEC may even send a satelliteinto space in the not too distant future. •

Institute for Space Studiesof Catalonia (IEEC)Edifici NexusGran Capità, 2-4E-08034 BarcelonaTel. +34 93 280 20 88www.ieec.frc.es

Dr. Jordi IsernDirector

Date of constitutionApril, 1996

StructureFoundation


and Enterprise• University of Barcelona• Autonomous University of Barcelona• Technical University of Catalonia• Spanish Council of Scientific

Research (CSIC)


Operating Budget 20062.330.175,00 €22,82% is provided by the Governmentof Catalonia


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T he origins of the Institute of High EnergyPhysics (IFAE) consortium lie in the De-partment of Theoretical Physics and in

the Laboratory of High-energy Physics of theUAB. The theoretical group was set up the yearthe university was created, in 1971, and theLaboratory in 1984, with a view to undertakingresearch into experimental high-energy physicsin Catalonia. More particularly, the aim was tocollaborate with the Spanish Government in aneffort to promote this discipline following theSpanish state’s return to the European Centreof Particle Physics (CERN) in Geneva.

Experiments with particles require highlysophisticated instrumentation which must bedesigned and built expressly by the actual re-searchers, for which purpose the cooperation ofmultidisciplinary experts, mainly physicians, en-gineering and computing experts, is indispensa-ble. The response to this need gave rise to thecreation of the IFAE in 1991, with the convergenceof the efforts of the UAB and the Government ofCatalonia. Since then, the centre’s strategy hasconsisted of participating in cutting-edge inter-national experiments with significant scientificand technological contributions, as well as theo-retical research in a first-line international context.

The IFAE integrates its own personnel withresearchers in Theoretical Physics and HighEnergy Physics from the Department of Physicsof the UAB. The institute is structured in twodivisions: experimental and theoretical.

The experimental scientific programme

The experimental division maintains a very ambi-tious work programme that consists of the fo-llowing projects.

The first, ATLAS, is an experiment prepa-ring for the future Large Hadron Collider (LHC)accelerator of the CERN. Particle physics rea-ched, in the last quarter of the 20th Century,a synthesis known as a standard model. Butdespite its success, the standard model is anincomplete theory, since it leaves different ques-tions unanswered. Consensus, which hasincreased in recent years, is that the best way ofgoing beyond the standard model is by studyingthe collisions between basic components ofmatter at very high energies. This is the mainobjective of the LHC, the accelerator under con-struction where protons will be made to collideat a total energy of fourteen TeV, the highest everachieved in a laboratory. The IFAE plays a rele-vant role in the ATLAS project, one of the twoexperiments with general objectives that will becarried out in the LHC. In fact, the Centre ofBellaterra built a large part of the ATLAS detector,which is called a hadronic calorimeter, consistingof sixty-four modules, each one with a weight oftwelve tons, now installed in the accelerator inGeneva.

The second project corresponds to the CDF,an experiment of antiproton-proton collisions con-ducted in the accelerator of the Fermi NationalAccelerator Laboratory, in Chicago, United Sta-tes. In many aspects, the CDF experiment is aprecursor of ATLAS. In the Tevatron, beams ofprotons and antiprotons collide head-on at anenergy of one TeV per beam, producing colli-sions with a total energy of two TeV. The objectivesare very similar to those of the LHC, althoughbecause of the lower energy of the beams itmay not be possible to reach the scale at which

Institute of HighEnergy Physics IFAE

First-line international research in physics Vaux


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new phenomena appear, beyond the standardmodel.

K2K is the next initiative of the IFAE’sexperimental division. It is a neutrino interactionexperiment taking place in Japan. In this experi-ment, a beam of neutrinos produced in theJapanese KEK laboratory is sent to the Kamiokalaboratory, 250 kilometres away from the former.Neutrinos travel inside the earth with insignifi-cant attenuation. This experiment made it possi-ble to ascertain, for the first time in a controlledfashion, that neutrinos have a non-null mass,which has major implications in the theories ofthe structure of matter and which in fact was notenvisaged in the standard model.

Another project is called MAGIC, an astro-physics particles experiment which is now col-lecting data at the Observatory of Roque de losMuchachos, on the Canary island of La Palma.MAGIC, the acronym of Major AtmosphericGamma-Ray Imaging Telescope, is studying high-energy gamma rays that reach the earth from arelatively small number of sources. This studyprovides information on the mechanisms thatproduce this radiation, which figure among themost violent phenomena known in the cosmos.Moreover, the propagation of radiation in cos-mological distances is sensitive to geometryand to the content in matter of the cosmos initself. The IFAE built the camera of the telescopeand a member of the Centre, Manel Martínez,was the scientific director throughout the two-year collaboration.

Observational cosmology is another recentline of research. A group from the IFAE joinedthe Dark Energy Survey (DES) project with aview to cataloguing and measure the spectrumin four bands of about 300 million galaxies andcumuli of galaxies in a region of 5000 squaredegrees of sky in the South Galactic Cap. Themeasurements will serve different studies ofcosmological interest. The IFAE, along with twogroups, the Centre of Energy, Environmentaland Technological Investigations (CIEMAT) ofMadrid and the IEEC of Barcelona, will supplyan important part of the electronics of the DEScamera, which will be located in the main focusof a four-metre telescope.

The application of the research

Making a significant contribution to high energyphysics projects requires a team of people thatcan contribute to all the phases of an experiment:design of the detector, construction, data col-lection and analysis. Of these phases, only thelast one is made entirely by physicists, whilehighly-specialised engineers and techniciansalso participate in the other parts. It is difficult toorganise a team like this in a university environ-ment, although it can later conduct research invery different areas. Moreover, particle detectors,based generally on the detection of radiation andlight with an extreme sensitivity, need sophisticat-ed electronics, which nowadays includes integrat-ed data processing at some level.

At the end of the nineties, the IFAE tried todevelop a line of applied research that mightleverage the centre’s technical capacities. Afterseveral attempts, the effort crystallised in a pro-ject to develop an x-ray system to obtain imagesof comparable or even better quality than con-ventional ones, but with minimum exposure to

radiation. The project, approved with the acro-nym DEAR-MAMA: (Detection of EARly MArkersin MAmmography), finished at the end of 2006.Now there are two x-ray machines operatingwith the new device, which detects every x-rayphoton that passes through the exposed sample.This maximises the amount of information theo-retically possible for radiography and minimisesthe amount of radiation needed to form the image.Detection is carried out by means of the use ofa suitable material for the detection of the pho-tons, a dense semiconductor, as well as suitableelectronics for reading the signal, a chip develo-ped in the CERN in collaboration with the IFAEand other institutes. Following completion of theproject a company was created with a view totransforming the prototype into a device that canbe manufactured industrially and competitively.

Another line of applied research whichemerged from the IFAE is the management ofmassive quantities of data. This line was con-ducted by means of the Port d’Informació Cien-tífica (PIC), an initiative created by an agreementwith the CIEMAT, the UAB and the Governmentof Catalonia. The PIC, which administratively iswithin the IFAE, is motivated by the experimentsof the LHC. It has been known for some timethat each one of the four experiments consid-ered in the LHC will produce amounts of data ofseveral Petabytes (a million Gigabytes) per year.The correct management of these data is crucialto the success of the experiments. This consti-tutes a formidable challenge, since the datamust be accessible from institutes all over theworld, not just as static information, but alsosusceptible to be transformed constantly throughcomplex computations. The ideas and the toolsdeveloped for this purpose will undoubtedlyhave applications in other areas.

The search for responses

The activity of the theoretical division of the IFAEis classified in three main research lines: thephysics of fundamental interactions, astrophy-sics of particles and quantum information.

In the line of fundamental interaction phy-sics, the researchers promote the search for atheory that goes beyond the standard model. Ashas already been mentioned, the standard modelleaves many unanswered questions, such asthose pertaining to the origin of mass, the exis-tence of families of elemental particles, the incon-sistency between quantum theory and generalrelativity. Thus, the different sources that existfor addressing these problems at the vanguardof research in physics are examined.

As for particle astrophysics, work is ongoingon the study of particles and their interactions inan astrophysics and cosmological environmentin conditions that do not always occur in the la-boratory. This line also includes cosmology, i.e.the study of the cosmos in its totality.

Finally, the line of quantum information isan emerging line in research, which deals withthe application of quantum physics to fields suchas mathematical physics, cryptography, comput-er science or nanotechnology. Generally spea-king, this is a field that extends the classic theoryof information to the quantum domain.

It should be said that all the IFAE’s researchlines are funded publicly, by the European Unionand the National Research and Development Plan.

Solid and constant growth

The Institute’s research has grown constantly inquantity and quality, which has made the Centrean important point of reference in its field. Somesignificant examples: the first two, and hithertoonly, Spanish experimental physicists to securepermanent posts in major reference centres,namely the CERN of Geneva and the Fermi Na-tional Accelerator Laboratory of Chicago, Fre-deric Teubert and Aurelio Juste, respectively, didtheir PhD theses at the IFAE. Ramon Miquel,now working on the ICREA at the IFAE, had apermanent post at the Lawrence Berkeley La-boratory of California and did his PhD thesis atthe IFAE. Another PhD student from the IFAE,Pere Mató, was the first Spanish applied physi-cist to achieve a permanent position at the CERN.And Manuel Delfino, director of the PIC, wasdirector of the Information Technology Division ofthe CERN for four years. Moreover, the top scien-tific decision-making body of the CERN inclu-des two people from the IFAE, the only two fromSpain: Enrique Fernández, director of the Cen-tre, and Matteo Cavalli-Sforza, senior researcher.

Neither should it be forgotten that anotherone of the Institute’s successes was its partici-pation in the ALEPH, where many precise mea-surements have been made and which prove,one after the other, how the whole conceptualbody of the standard model describes the naturein a more precise way than had ever been donebefore. The ALEPH enjoyed great scientific suc-cess and was also the last experiment led by theNobel Prize Jack Steinberger, one of the great-est names in this field, who was named DoctorHonoris Causa in 1998 by the UAB. •

Institute of High EnergyPhysics (IFAE)Facultat de Ciències de la UABEdifici CnE-08193 BellaterraTel. +34 93 581 19 84www.ifae.es

Dr. Enrique Fernández Director

Date of constitution July, 1991

Structure Consortium



President of the Scientific CommitteeProf. Stavros Katsanevas, Institut Nationalde Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules (CNRS, France)

Total personnel engagedin the centre

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Pressupost d’explotació 20064.060.388,00 €24% is provided by the Governmentof Catalonia


G eomatics is the science and technolo-gy that studies geographically referen-ced information, i.e. that which deals

with the acquisition, organisation, analysis andmanagement of spatial data. It includes classicdisciplines such as cartography, topography, pho-togrammetry, geodesics and navigation, andothers which appeared in the last three decadesof the 20th Century such as teledetection, geo-graphic information systems and satellite navi-gation.

Nowadays, technology and market trendshave made geomatics an expanding sector. Onthe one hand, a very advanced technology com-plex has emerged and is generating new andprecise geomatic tools: for example, the earthcan now be observed with high resolution sen-sors from satellites. On the other hand, there isa major social and economic demand for geo-matic services for applications for territorial,environmental and transport administration.

This context of growth gave rise to the agree-ment between the UPC and the Government ofCatalonia for the development of the Institute ofGeomatics (IG), created in 1997, and which star-ted to operate in 1999.

Mission and organisation

The Institute’s mission is to promote geomatics viaapplied research, teaching and dissemination tothe benefit of society, as well as to satisfy socialand industrial needs at home and abroad. The IGseeks to contribute decisively to the creation of aCatalan technological and services industrial geo-matic core and aspires to becoming a worldwidereference centre in its domain.

To this end it has two operating units: In-tegrated Geodesics and Navigation (GIN) andActive Teledetection (TA), which deal with thecentre’s research and part of its teaching. Theseunits are aided by two support units: Finance,Organisation, Human Resources, Marketingand Administration (FORMA), and InformationTechnologies (TI).

The IG currently has about twenty resear-chers. The employee profile is that of man orwoman (gender distribution is 50%), European,aged about thirty-two, speaking at least three lan-guages. The research personnel’s training is var-ied: there are telecommunication engineers, math-ematicians, cartographers, geodesicists, topogra-phers, IT experts, civil engineers and geographers.

The Centre’s headquarters are in the ParcMediterrani de la Tecnologia, in Castelldefels,where it occupies the ground floor of a 3,500-sqm building. It has a laboratory, two teachingrooms and a meeting room for ninety people.Sixty-six per cent (66%) of the institute’s activi-ties are funded by own resources and competi-tive subsidies and 34% by the contributions ofthe Government of Catalonia.

Integrated Geodesics and Navigation (GIN)

As has already been mentioned, the IG’s researchis based on two areas: Integrated Geodesics andNavigation (GIN) and Active Teledetection (AT).

As for the former, it should be said thatgeodesics is the science that deal with measur-ing the magnitude and form of the earth or largeparts of the planet. Therefore, it is a fundamen-

Institute of Geomatics IG

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tal discipline in geomatics and has a majorimpact in cartography and topography. Theinstitute’s GIN unit works in the areas of geo-desics of dynamic positioning (determination oftrajectories with inertia sensors and GPS),physical geodesics (airborne gravimetry) andthe modelling of systems of Earth observationsensors (for the calibration and orientation ofmultisensor systems).

The most important technologies usedby this unit include the global navigation bysatellite system (GNSS: GPS and Galileo),inertial navigation (INS) and the developmentof advanced software using object-orientedprogramming techniques. More particularly, inthe applied research of inertial navigationtechnology, the research group, currently com-prised of nine people, has become an impor-tant worldwide reference through projects atautonomous community, national and interna-tional level.

Thanks to the obtainment of thematicallyparallel research projects, the unit has also man-aged to develop the TAG system (Trajectory,Altitude and Gravity) with a view to having anown system for the capture of INS/GNSS datato be able to make developments with an opensystem. The TAG platform is purely scientificand experimental and is in the ongoing develop-ment phase. The Institute has four inertial meas-urement units (IMU) with different types of per-formance and characteristics, which permit a veryaccurate adaptation to the different require-ments and conditions according to the areas ofstudy and the applications to be obtained. TheIG believes in the usefulness of the applicationof inertial systems in many areas and in manymarkets, and wishes to transfer this technologyfor the benefit of citizens.

An application of the GIN unit. The TERRA project

On September 21, 2004, an aircraft belongingto the Bolivian army took off from La Paz head-ed for Rurenabaque, a small city in Amazonia.This plane, with two IG researchers on board,was to carry out a geodesic experiment: meas-ure gravity throughout the flight, over the Andesand Amazonia. This was possible thanks to theTAG system.

The mission of this flight, and two similarones in other areas, was to obtain the data forthe experimental part of the TERRA project. Ifconfirmed by the experiment and the study, TAGtechnology could be applied throughout Boliviaand, with the gravity measurements obtained,an altitude reference framework for the wholeterritory could be determined. In turn, this refe-rence framework and the use of the GPS sys-tem would permit the georeferencing of objectsthroughout Bolivia.

The TERRA project shows that advancedresearch in geomatics may be applied to helpsociety, more specifically in a country with struc-tural deficits that begin with cartography, whichis the infrastructure of infrastructures. It alsoshows that with initiatives like this one the IGacts as an external consultant that can super-vise similar projects by providing its experiencein the implementation of flights, in the know-ledge of inertial sensors and in the geodesicinterpretation that leads to the determination ofthe geoid.

Active Teledetection (TA)

The Institute’s second area of research is dedi-cated to teledetection. This discipline includes aset of techniques for acquiring, analysing andinterpreting data from the earth’s surfaceobtained from remote sensors, which may beairborne or mounted on satellites. One commoncharacteristic of these techniques is the remoteacquisition of data on the Earth, without theneed to perform in situ measurements. In thelast few decades, many different teledetectionsystems that work with data from differentregions of the electromagnetic spectrum, suchas ultraviolet, visible, infrared and microwave,have been developed. The importance of tele-detection in geomatics is due to different advan-tages in the work of observing and monitoringthe Earth, such as viewing many phenomena thathave a global scale, the acquisition of data fromremote areas of the planet, the periodic and sys-tematic observation of very large areas and theabsence of interferences in the environment.

The activities of the Institute’s TA unit focuson two sectors of teledetection. The first oneincludes the making and analysis of radar databy means of SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar)techniques, interferometric and differential(DInSAR). Most of the activities are based onSAR-type data captured from satellites. In thissector, the unit’s most important, new calculationand analysis tools are developed for the estima-tion of deformations and the generation of digitalterrain models. The second sector of the TA unit isdigital photogrammetry for themed applications,such as quality control of sea water, forestry appli-cations and precision agriculture.

One application of the TA unit. The ARGOS project

ARGOS (Aplicacions Innovadores de Telede-tecció per a la Gestió dels Recursos Naturals)is one example that illustrates an application ofteledetection techniques developed for theInstitute. It is a cooperation project in techno-logical research and development within theframework of the Pyrenees Work Community,funded by the Government of Catalonia in the2003-2004 period.

ARGOS is based on the use of advancedinterferometric and differential SAR techniquesfor the management of risks related to terraindeformations and collapse. The area of studychosen was the Bages region, where there aredifferent areas affected by subsidence phenom-ena. More particularly, the area of Sallent wasanalysed, where these phenomena, controlledregularly with geodesic measurements, have amajor impact on the lives of the inhabitants. Thisstudy sought to provide another tool for control-ling deformations, assessing the operatingcapacities of interferometric techniques pro-posed to monitor the quality of the aforemen-tioned phenomena.

An expanding future

The IG’s initial years of activity have demons-trated the great potential of the centre and thediscipline it studies. However, if it is to maintainthe level achieved and also advance, the Insti-tute faces two major challenges in the comingyears: reinforce research and, in collaborationwith the UPC, include geomatics in the post-graduate studies of the European Higher Edu-cation Space. •

Institut of Geomatics (IG)Parc Mediterrani de la TecnologiaAv. Canal Olímpic, s/nE-08860 CastelldefelsTel. +34 93 556 92 80www.ideg.es

Dr. Ismael ColominaDirector

Date of constitutionSeptember, 1997

StructureConsortium

Board of Trustees• Ministry of Town and Country Plannig

and Public Works• Ministry of Innovation, Universities

and Enterprise• Technical University of Catalonia


Operating Budget 20061.311.016,00 € (audit pending)34% is provided by the Governmentof Catalonia


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T he International Centre for NumericalMethods in Engineering (CIMNE) is aconsortium with its own legal personality

created by the UPC, the Government of Cata-lonia and the Unesco. In 1987, these institutionsformalised the constitution of the CIMNE as aconsortium between the UPC and the Govern-ment of Catalonia. In 2007, the CIMNE is there-fore twenty years «old».

The creation of the CIMNE arose from theneed for industry to have new tools for the com-puterised simulation of design and the manu-facture of products and processes. This need iscommon to practically all the areas of enginee-ring (civil, mechanical, aeronautics, food, tele-communications, etc.), and also to many fieldsof applied science in which numerical methodsare used every day. These fields include com-putational physics, biology and chemistry, andmany other multidisciplinary areas such as bio-medical engineering.

The solution to engineering and applied science problems

The CIMNE’s fundamental mission is to promotedevelopment, applications and the disseminationof numerical methods for the solution of problemsin engineering and applied sciences, in accor-dance with the needs of society. These actionsare developed by means of the promotion of newresearch lines applied to the demands of theindustrial sector, and fundamentally of Catalancompanies in collaboration with other researchand development centres and groups. The re-search outcomes are then transferred to theindustrial sector.

This process also requires ongoing trainingand the dissemination of scientific and technicalinformation in numerical methods in engineeringand applied sciences, which will also contribute tothe international projection of all the centre’s acti-vities and thus to association with prestigiousinstitutions and organisations, preferably in thesphere of knowledge of the UPC.

New numerical methods for different areas

The CIMNE currently employs about one hundredand fifty scientists and engineers from differentfields of expertise and more than fifteen differentnationalities. The headquarters of the CIMNE arelocated in one of the buildings of the North cam-pus of the UPC, in the heart of the group of build-ings of the Escola Tècnica Superior d’Enginyeriade Camins, Canals i Ports (Civil EngineeringSchool) of Barcelona, although the centre alsohas another headquarters in the city of Terrassa.At the same time, new facilities are due to be builtin the Campus of Castelldefels of the UPC.

The research groups develop mainly newnumerical methods with regard to the followingresearch areas: Computational mechanics ofsolids and structures: analysis of solids andstructures with new compound materials andgeomaterials, study of the security and reliabili-ty of constructions, optimal design of forms andstructural materials, and biological materials;Fluid mechanics: analysis of compressible andincompressible fluids, fluids with free surface,acoustics and pollution, and fluid-structure inter-action; Electromagnetism: problems of electro-

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magnetism at high and low frequency, aerials,and optimisation of forms and assemblies; Pre-and post-graphic process: computational geo-metry, grid generation and graphical viewing ofresults, geophysical information systems, treat-ment of medical images, and interfacing withsimulation programs; Manufacturing processes:simulation, among others, of printing, smelting,powder compacting, welding and machiningprocesses; Information and communicationtechnologies: numerical methods on the Internet,interface between intelligent wireless sensors andsimulation methods, artificial neuron networks,multi-agents and other artificial intelligence tech-niques, decision-making support systems andcomputer-assisted teaching systems.

Participation in research projects

Most of these research lines are developed in col-laboration with research groups of the UPC andwith companies, within national and internationalresearch and development programme frame-works. In recent years, the CIMNE has participa-ted in more than five hundred research projectswith the economic support of the EuropeanCommission and the Spanish and Catalan go-vernments, among other organisations, as well asalso with the cooperation of more than two hun-dred and sixty Spanish and European companies.

Parallel to the public funding for research,the CIMNE also obtains a part of its incomefrom direct collaboration with companies viacollaboration agreements.

Training and dissemination activities

The CIMNE periodically organises courses andseminars on the different areas of numericalmethods and their applications. Firstly, it shouldbe mentioned that the CIMNE is the secretariatof the Master on numerical methods for calcula-tion and design in engineering that has beengiven at the UPC since 1989.

The CIMNE Rooms are also important,spaces created with collaborating universities,research centres and companies from all over theworld, with a view to promoting training, research,development and knowledge transfer in thesphere of numerical methods and their practicalapplications. At the moment there are seventeenactive CIMNE Rooms, fifteen of which are loca-ted in different Latin American countries.

Moreover, attention must be drawn to thefact that the Centre also has a congress depart-ment, which has organised more than fifty inter-national congresses in its area.

Finally, the CIMNE is also the standing se-cretariat of the main scientific associations in thefield of numerical methods at Spanish level (Socie-dad Española de Métodos Numéricos en Ingenie-ría, SEMNI), European (European Community onComputational Methods in Applied Sciences,ECCOMAS) and worldwide (International Asso-ciation for Computational Mechanics, IACM).

The link between the university and industry

Since its beginnings, the CIMNE has been abridge between the university world and theindustrial fabric, so that progress in the centre

can go from prototypes to commercial products. Many research results are codes for pro-

blem-solving in engineering. The most relevantones are GiD (pre-post processor for the genera-tion of data and viewing of computerised simula-tion results), STAMPACK (analysis of stampingprocesses), VULCAN (simulation of smelting pro-cesses), RAM-SERIES (analysis of solids andstructures with new materials), TDYN (analysisof fluidodynamic problems), COMET (thermo-mechanical analysis of solids and structures),PFLOW (analysis of fluid-structure interaction),CODE-BRIGHT (analysis of geomechanicalproblems), and ED-TRIDIM, ED-ELAS 2.0 andED-POISS (computer-assisted teaching codesin the area of numerical methods).

Moreover, and with a view to promotingthe use of the research results and marketingmany of the codes, the CIMNE has promotedthe creation of different spin-off companies.Some of the companies in which it has a share-holding are listed below: COMPASS Ingenieríay Sistemas, SA, dedicated to the developmentand marketing of software and the analysis ofproblems in civil and marine engineering;STRUCTURALIA, SA, that offers Internet train-ing and management services for the construc-tion and architecture sector; and INGENIAIngeniería Aeronáutica, AIE, comprised ofSMEs and by CIMNE, focused on engineeringservices for the aeronautical sector.

The cycle of ideas

The CIMNE seeks to play an active role in thedevelopment of ideas conceived in more basicresearch environments and their transfer to theindustrial sector for subsequent industrialisationand marketing.

The ideas used by the CIMNE are con-ceived in a university environment, such as thatof the UPC. These ideas, elaborated in the formof basic research results (PhD theses, researchsoftware, scientific publications, etc.) they arecompiled by the CIMNE to develop them withthe aim of transforming them into prototypessusceptible to being transferred to the industri-al sector. This task, usually intrinsic to the CIMNE,requires the coordinated work of multidiscipli-nary research groups that provide complemen-tary knowledge to obtain practical results andinnovative prototypes, both from the standpointof their scientific excellence and from their origi-nality and potential practical application.

The cycle of ideas continues with thetransformation of the prototype into a productwith a chance of being successful on the mar-ket. This transformation work is carried out inpartner companies of the prototype made in theCIMNE, which invest time and effort in obtainingthe required products.

The final stage of the cycle is the marketingof the resulting products. The aim is the commer-cial success of this use in the hope that it will leadto new investments and resources that drive thebasic research activities of the university setting,so that the cycle of ideas may be sustainable.

In order to reinforce each one of the stagesin this cycle, the CIMNE has implemented inter-faces and networks for cooperation and interac-tion with the different intervening agents. This isthe case of the CIMNE Rooms. In the industrialarea, mention should also be made of the cen-tre’s active policy in the creation of spin-off

companies to industrialise and market the prod-ucts. CIMNE’s shareholding in some of thesecompanies and the signing of specific agree-ments in others guarantees the return of theprofits generated in the commercial stage,besides being the source of creation of manyopportunities for new joint developments withthe industrial sector.

Leading the sector

With the experience accumulated in the firsttwenty years of its history, the CIMNE seeks tobecome an international reference centre inresearch and application of numerical methodsfor solving a broad range of problems in engi-neering and applied sciences. Moreover, theinstitution seeks to be a leader in the offer oftransversal services to research, such as thedissemination, training and management ofresearch activities through its own departmentsof administration, publications, congresses andproject promotion and management.

Finally, mention must also be made of theCIMNE’s desire to promote the transfer of tech-nology developed in the industrial sector in col-laboration with other research centres andorganisations. In the coming years, the centrewill pay particular attention to the creation ofnew spin-off companies and to seek new waysof collaborating with companies through theCIMNE Rooms and other mechanisms. •

International Centre for NumericalMethods in Engineering (CIMNE)Campus Nord UPCGran Capità, s/nEdifici C1E-08034 BarcelonaTel. +34 93 205 70 16www.cimne.com

Dr. Eugenio OñateDirector

Date of constitutionMarch, 1987

StructureConsortium

Governing Board• Ministry of Town and Country

Plannig and Public Works• Ministry of Innovation, Universities

and Enterprise• Technical University of Catalonia• UNESCO

Scientific CommiteeComprised of 19 internationalrenowned scientists




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T he Telecommunications TechnologicalCentre of Catalonia (CTTC) was concei-ved in 2001 with the core objective of

becoming an advanced research centre in com-munication technologies. It is a private founda-tion funded by the Government of Catalonia andby its own R+D activities.

Located in the Parc Mediterrani de Tecno-logia de Castelldefels, the CTTC’s core activi-ties consist of developing long-term basic andapplied research projects related to the lowerlevels of communication systems. At the moment,around seventy people work there, developingmore than fifteen research projects, many ofwhich are conducted in collaboration with otherEuropean institutes and companies.

Three challenges to overcome

The CTTC has three challenges. The first, inorder of priorities, is to acquire an internationalreputation for its scientific and technical activity.This reputation, shaped in terms of scientificoutput, must be based on the conception, designand realisation of research projects as a coreactivity.

Secondly, the CTTC wishes to contributeto the consolidation and economic growth ofthe Catalan industrial context in the telecommu-nications sector. This is why it is a solid collabo-rator in technological research and developmentand also as a supplier of knowledge and researchpersonnel.

Finally, the third challenge refers to theestablishment of a predoctoral and postdoctor-al research training environment, complementa-ry to the latter, which is eminently experimentalin telecommunications research activities. In thisregard, the CTTC realises the need to fill thegap between third-cycle training and companiesin this area, so that the number of researchersand investigators in the private sector will in-crease progressively.

Research lines 2005-2007

The activity of the Research Unit of the CTTC isdivided into five knowledge areas: access tech-nologies (wireless, cable and satellite), IP techno-logies (Internet protocols), communications sub-systems (radiofrequency and optical devices),radio communications (network radio, in door andcell systems) and optical networks.

Distributed in these five areas, there are noweleven research lines, as provided for by theCentre’s 2005-2007 Functional Plan, beingdeveloped by the Research Unit. They are: ad-vanced signal processing techniques for architec-tures with diversity, iterative decoding for adaptivemulti-user schemes, advanced medium accessprotocols for centralised and ad-hoc networks,advanced satellite access technologies, advanceddistributed GMPLS schemes for next-generationoptical networks, new strategies for the integra-tion of management in intelligent optical networks,HTS and ferroelectrical technologies for advancedfront-ends, dedicated technologies for front-endsultra-broad band, adaptable mobile communica-tions for next-generation networks, self-organisedwireless networks and new techniques for thestudy of network operations.

Since many of these initiatives are technol-ogy intensive, CTTC has a dedicated enginee-

TelecommunicationsTechnological Centreof Catalonia CTTC

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ring unit, which builds the testbeds and premar-ket prototypes necessary to validate the tech-nologies. These prototypes are also instrumen-tal in knowledge and technology transfer activi-ties carried out by CTTC.

In the end, all this joint work must lead to theobtainment of new communications components,techniques or technologies to be included in exist-ing products or services, or even the creation ofnew products and services that contribute tosocial, cultural or economic improvement.

The success of precompetitive demonstrators

Undoubtedly, one of the CTTC’s major suc-cesses is the development of the precompeti-tive demonstrators which on the one hand areused as testbeds for the research conducted inthe Centre and on the other as a nexus of unionwith industry. Examples of the repercussion ofthese experimental activities are the demonstra-tions made at two international events held inBarcelona, the MEDEA+ Forum 2005, and theTRIDENTCOM 2006 research infrastructurecongress. Particular mention must also be madeof the Excellence in Innovation 2005 awarddelivered by the Col·legi Oficial d’EnginyersTècnics de Telecomunicació of Catalonia.

Public and private initiatives

The basic funding of the CTTC is mixed. Publicinitiative and contributions by companies guar-antee the economic flows derived from thebeginning and development of activities, where-as contracts and programmes derived fromcompetitive research, be they public, autono-mous, state or European, contribute to fundingmost of the Centre’s regular operations.

The collaboration system with companiesis based on the particular characteristics of thesector in order to provide a return on the busi-ness contributions made to the Centre. Thus,general and specific multiannual contributionsare included, all or part of the company’s ownresearch is subcontracted, and specific projectsor programmes of interest for a company or anindustry are channelled.

In terms of accumulated investments bet-ween 2001 and 2005, more than 4.3 millioneuros have been allocated to construction andcivil work, and 2.5 million euros to equipment,mainly research and development.

High-level university and business col-laboration work

The CTTC has collaboration agreements withabout twenty research institutions and techno-logical companies. These include the main Ca-talan universities with scientific and technicaltraining (the UPC, the URL, the UPF and theUAB) and different international universities (theNew Jersey Institute of Technology, Universityof South Florida, and Villanova UniversityPennsylvania in North America and theRheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschu-le in Germany). As well as research institutesfrom Spain (the CSIC and the Instituto Na-cional de Técnica Aerospacial) and differentcompanies (Amena, ADTelecom, GTD, Innova).

Industrial clients seek to develop advancedtechnological products, although sometimes theylack the necessary skills and resources. Thismakes the CTTC’s engineering capacity idealfor these companies. Indeed, since 2002, theCentre has conducted ten technology transferprojects in the sectors of aeronautics, mobileand wireless communications and short-rangeradio communications.

The commitment for optical technologyin the data transport network

For the CTTC, communications systems will be,in the long term, «an extension of the humansensorial system, capable of integrating com-plex, heterogeneous and dynamic informationmanagement infrastructures». This is why theresearch personnel work towards an increasing-ly closer integration of technology in its environ-ment, being the users in the centre of this system.This approach presupposes the need for a net-work with great bandwidth, and therefore theCTTC will continue to commit to optical tech-nology in the data transport network, alwaysaccompanied by intelligent management to offergranular bandwidth with point-to-point servicequality to the switching of optical packages.

The centre will also work to optimise mi-crowave subsystems for the radio communica-tions of the future. At the same time, it will inves-tigate the possibilities of short and long-rangeradio communications, as well as of the morepromising technologies for access to broadband. And it will continue to be committed to IPtechnologies because they will continue to bethe networks of the future.

All in all, to achieve trunked networks withgreater capacity and better interaction of theuser with communications systems, particularlyvia wireless technologies, that permit increa-singly greater speed and the proliferation of net-work-connected devices, not only traditionalones, like the computer or the mobile telephone,but of all types, such as fridges, washing machi-nes or cameras.

Looking towards the future

As examples of future challenges in this sphereof research, one of the main objectives of theCTTC is to consolidate their activities in thefields of all-optical networks and communicationsubsystems, particularly radiofrequency andmicrowave. They are young or fundamental fieldsof research, but in any case are indispensablefor the communications of the future. The all-optical network field still requires special andscant research fields, which is why the centremust continue training researchers. The secondfield, communications subsystems, requires amajor flow of information between the differentspheres of knowledge of the centre, since mi-crowave technologies have a major impact onthe ensemble of communications systems.

Another challenge is consolidating engi-neering activities, which are a distinguishingfactor of the centre, and technology transfer toindustry. The combination of theoretical and ex-perimental research by means of the constructionof test scenarios will make it possible to validateall the mechanisms and subsystems of commu-nications that are designed and this brings themcloser to the industrial environment.

All this without forgetting the CTTC’s aspi-ration to be a worldwide reference centre. Thegrowing competitive nature of research in thecommunications sector, both inside and outsidethe European Union, renders it necessary toenter the international mobility circuit and attractresearchers from all over the world to jobs witha good medium- and long-term professional out-look. The centre’s current research teams shouldalso be consolidated, always promoting specia-lisation and fostering excellence at the highestlevel. •

TelecommunicationsTechnological Centreof Catalonia(CTTC)Parc Mediterrani de la TecnologiaAv. Canal Olímpic, s/nE-08860 CastelldefelsTel. +34 93 645 29 00www.cttc.es

Dr. Miguel Àngel LagunasDirector

Date of constitutionJune, 2001

StructureFoundation


and Enterprise• Technical University of Catalonia• University Ramon Llull

President of the ScientificAdvisry CommitteeProf. Ángel CardamaTechnical University of Catalonia

President of the BusinessCommitteelJaume SodupeIberdrola Group


Operating Budget 20062.768.889,00 € (audit pending)75,84% is provided by the Governmentof Catalonia


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V ision is an easy and natural process forhumans: one third of our brain deals withlooking at the world, without this ac-

tivity being difficult for us. On the other hand,computer vision is a complex process, aimed atreproducing the capabilities of biological visionto afford machines with a sense of sight. Humanvision capabilities are so well-developed andintegrated that we do not realise how complexour daily tasks may be for machines.

Thus, computer vision is a challenge forscience and technology, which, to address thechallenge, need a collaboration between differentresearch areas, such as the science of vision,optics, computing, mathematics or electronics.However, despite the difficulties, increasinglymore research groups from all over the worldare working in the creation of global artificialvision systems.

Besides helping to understand how biolo-gical sight works, research in computer visionaims to have an important impact on people’severyday life. Applications of this technologymay be found, for example, in medicine, aid forthe disabled, improving traffic safety, the deve-lopment of production processes for industries,the creation of intelligent environments and hu-manoid robots and a long etcetera.

Computer vision is one of the most activeR&D fields. It is easy to see the permanent in-crease of the number of congresses held inthis area, and the proliferation of journals andarticles. It is a growing field of research in Ca-talonia, thanks to the activity of the ComputerVision Centre (CVC) which, from the campusof the UAB, works to make the development ofcomputer vision a key factor in the scientific,technological and industrial activities of ourcountry.

Two decades of history

The CVC was created in 1994 as a public con-sortium, but it dates back to the 80s, when asmall group of professors of the IT Departmentof the UAB decided to go for research in thearea of the processing of digital images, not onlygenerating them through computer graphics,but also analysing them, i.e., extracting informa-tion from these images via image processingand analysis.

In view of the new emerging needs, thegroup proposed to the university governmentteam the creation of an internal service that sup-ported all the research groups that neededthese techniques, a service that is still workingnow under the name Image Treatment Service(STI). The increase in the number of teachers inthe service, as well as the requests of some ofthe companies in the sector, showed that therewas a high demand for solutions in this sphere,which were not covered by private initiative. Thiswas when the creation of a research and deve-lopment Centre for Computer Vision was pro-posed to the Government of Catalonia.

The strategic objective of the CVC was,and continues to be, research in the sphere ofcomputer vision, contribution to innovation andindustrial competitiveness based on qualityresearch and development in computer vision.Their main functions consist of offering techno-logical support to this field and prepare doctorsand technicians by means of a master in com-puter vision organised jointly with the UAB.

Computer Vision Centre CVC

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More than one hundred workers

The CVC has a building of 2,000 sqm in thecampus of the UAB in Bellaterra, which includeslaboratories equipped with lighting systems,cameras and optical systems, imaging hardwareand software, work stations and other elements.More than eighty people are engaged inresearch and development, as well as twentypeople from the spin-off companies located inthe same centre.

The research personnel are divided intoeight groups for the different research lines, whichare Machine Vision, Advanced Driver AssistanceSystems, Colour and Texture, Document Analysis,Medical Imaging, Motion Analysis and Recog-nition, Object Recognition and Robot Vision.

Most of the researchers are teaching staffattached to the UAB, particularly from the De-partment of Computational Sciences. The rema-ining doctoral staff is comprised of people withcontracts of the Juan de la Cierva, Ramón y Ca-jal and ICREA programmes. There are now somethirty people doing their PhD thesis with sometype of contract or scholarship obtained fromdifferent sources. As for the technical person-nel, the Centre has different doctors and engi-neers engaged on development projects, andalso has six workers for administrative support.

Competitive projects, projects for companies and subsidies

Each one of the research groups has its ownscientific and technological objectives, as wellas their own funding sources. These come fromthree channels. Firstly, from competitive projectsat autonomous, state or European Union level,accounting for 40% of funding sources. Second-ly, projects conducted for companies, amountingto a further 40%. And finally, direct subsidiesfrom members of the consortium, i.e. the UABand the Government of Catalonia, accountingfor the remaining 20%.

It should be said that the CVC has the sup-port of a commercial office that helps it to obtainprojects thanks to contact with possible clientsat trade fairs, meetings or seminars.

The interaction between research and development

For the CVC, the distinguishing characteristic ofthe centre as opposed to other similar ones isits model based on the collaboration betweenresearch and development; a model that hasbeen of interest for different universities andorganisations from countries such as Japan,Holland or Italy. The interaction between researchand technology transfer has resulted in collabo-ration with engineering and software companies,as well as the creation of five direct spin-offsfrom the centre and a further two indirect spin-offs, i.e. created outside the CVC by peopletrained in this centre.

The five direct spin-offs are ICAR, VisualCentury, Inspecta, VyRA and Davantis, and theindirect ones are Digitalpointer and Data-pixel.Thanks to their work, computer vision has takenanother major step in its development in Catalonia.

And there is no doubt that technologytransfer is one of the CVC’s priorities. It shouldbe mentioned that the centre has made more

than two hundred diagnostics and feasibilitystudies, and more than one hundred and fiftyprojects for companies, many of them German,French, North American or Israeli multinationals,which provide the centre with new high addedvalue projects year after year. They are compa-nies such as Volkswagen, Berguer, Lear, BostonScientific, Traiber, Givenimaging, Braun, Seat,Alcatel, Fico-Mirrors or HP.

In this regard, the CVC’s effort to createloyalty in its clients thanks to high-quality tech-nology services cannot be forgotten. To achieveit, the centre works as an efficient company thatstrives to satisfy purchasers’ needs.

One revealing episode the centre feelsproud of is having been able to avoid the relo-cation of a multinational company of the medicaldevices sector, which brought the challenge ofsolving complex inspection problems to the CVC.If a satisfactory response is not received, the com-pany intended to take its products to South-eastAsia, which would provoke the loss of threehundred jobs. However, the CVC finally offeredcompany a solution and it did not relocate. Forthe CVC, this shows that our society does notonly have the need to create new knowledge,but rather to convert it into wealth.

Finally, another success by the centre wasits projection in Europe. The publications by itsresearch personnel in the best journals in thesector are proof of this recognition. The CVChas also participated in different European proj-ects, including the current Hermes project,coordinated by a group of the centre, featuringthe participation of some of the best researchgroups on the continent.

Forthcoming applications in many fields

Twelve years after its creation, the centre is nowin a period of maturity. Two strategies are plannedfor the future. The first refers to maintenanceand stability. And the second to the develop-ment of a policy to make a qualitative leap which,in the sphere of research, may permit the posi-tioning of the CVC among the most importantresearch groups in Europe. Moreover, it is alsoworking to promote, in the sphere of develop-ment, an increase in the creation of more spin-off companies and establish an alliance with

major companies to incorporate an importantcompany in this area, like the ones that exist inthe United States, Japan, Germany or Israel. Inany event, breakthroughs in research and deve-lopment in computer vision guarantee a futurefull of applications of this technology in all sec-tors, both social and productive. •

Computer Vision Centre (CVC)Campus de la UABEdifici OE-08193 BellaterraTel. +34 93 581 18 28www.cvc.uab.es

Dr. Juan José VillanuevaDirector

Date of constitutionJuly, 1994

StructureConsortium






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T he International Centre for Coastal Re-sources Research (CIIRC) is an interna-tional research centre created in 1993

and which started to operate in 1994. Establi-shed by the Government of Catalonia and theUPC, it also enjoys the support of the UnitedNations Environment Programme (UNEP). It isthe heir to a previous centre located in Maas-tricht (Holland) and its site at the UPC seeks toachieve a symbiosis with the Maritime Enginee-ring Laboratory (LIM/UPC) of the same univer-sity, with which it has been collaborating closelysince the outset.

The main objective of the CIIRC is researchinto coastal resources, with the emphasis on thedifferent scales of time and space that arise insolving conflicts and making predictions on thecoastal area in the broadest sense.

The Centre is located in the North Campusof the UPC, in the same building as the LIM/UPC,with which it shares human and material re-sources, as provided for by the UPC-CIIRCframework agreement. The team is comprisedof research personnel with a high level of quali-fications and motivation in the different fieldsthat study coastal resources (engineers, parti-cularly civil engineers, physicists, geologists, ma-thematicians and, naturally, graduates in marinesciences).

In this multidisciplinary approach, theCIIRC collaborates with other institutions en-gaged in research into coastal resources. InCatalonia, different centres of the UB andother Catalan universities may be mentioned,as well as the CEAB, CMIMA and CID cen-tres of the CSIC. In Spain and Europe, it col-laborates with many universities and researchinstitutions which are active in this field.Finally, it also maintains scientific relationshipswith coastal groups of the United States,Canada, Japan and Australia, among othercountries.

The CIIRC’s present

More than 80% of the CIIRC’s research activi-ty is funded through competitive research pro-jects. The rest comes from agreements withpublic and private organisations, particularlyfrom the administration and companies. Thisresearch activity, planned to seek long-termsustainability, may be structured in five mainresearch lines: dynamics and quality of coastaland estuary waters; coastal engineering anddynamics (including sedimentary transport);sea climate and port and coastal structures;oceanography and engineering of the continen-tal platform (including offshore engineering);and integrated research of the coastal areasand their resources.

Within this research activity, mention mustbe made of the competitive projects of the Eu-ropean Union, from the second Framework Pro-gramme until the seventh. The centre has alsoparticipated in different projects of the NationalR&D Plan in sea and coastal topics, on trans-port and energy. All this activity is based onthree tools traditionally used in the Centre:numerical models, field campaigns and labora-tory tests.

The main milestones achieved by the cen-tre in recent years refer to these three tools. Inthe field of numerical modelling, mention maybe made of the operating prediction of waves,

International Centrefor Coastal ResourcesResearch CIIRC

Addressing maritime research challengesla docència en bioenginyeria

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36currents and overflows undertaken for differentadministrations. More particularly, and togetherwith the Meteorological Service of Catalonia, itperforms the operating prediction of waves forthe whole Catalan seaboard. This operating pre-diction has also spread to different ports, suchas for example, the port of Tarragona, where itpredicts the meteo-oceanographic operatingstatus of the different tidal basins by means of«traffic lights».

In the field campaigns, the centre has par-ticipated with measurements of different meteo-oceanographic parameters from the Antarctic tothe North Sea. By way of example, the Oceano-graphic and Meteorological Instrument Network(XIOM) of the Government of Catalonia, whichprovides on-line information of the state of thesea all along the Catalan coast, is managed bythe CIIRC and the LIM/UPC.

As for laboratory testing, it should be men-tioned that the Canal d’Investigació i Experi-mentació Marítima (CIEM), managed jointly bythe CIIRC and the LIM/UPC, has been a majorEuropean research facility since 1997. This haspermitted the development of advanced investi-gations by the leading groups of the EuropeanUnion. More recently, since 2006, this wave chan-nel is a Singular Scientific and TechnologicalFacility (ICTS/MEC) in Spain.

As a result of all this activity, the CIIRC isa reference centre at national and internationallevel. It has participated and coordinated diffe-rent European and international projects since1994. One of the most recent is the dynamicsand quality of coastal waters and their implica-tions for aquiculture. This project has also ope-ned up collaboration with research centres anduniversities of Mexico and Brazil.

The Centre’s international dimension hasnot only reached the European Union and Ame-rica, but is also being extended to other coun-tries and continents. In 2009, the CIIRC willcollaborate with universities and research cen-tres from Japan and the United States in theorganisation of the Coastal Dynamics 2009 in-ternational conference. In addition, and with thebacking of the CoMEM ERASMUS Mundus

Master, also undertaken by the LIM/UPC to-gether with other European universities, thecentre has managed to open a new front withSouth-East Asian countries.

Finally, the CIIRC’s relationship with com-panies and the administration has been de-signed seeking new fields, such as renewableenergies or the safety of the coastal area. Byway of illustration, at the moment tests and dif-ferent analyses of wave energy extractor devicesare being developed for companies in Cataloniaand the Basque Country.

The future of the CIIRC

Research into the coastal area and its resour-ces has made major progress in recent years.The main challenges are related to: the opera-tional prediction of waves, currents and over-flows with an extended time frame and with asufficiently small enough spatial resolution topermit the taking of «beach»-scale decisions; theefficient combination of physicochemical-eco-logical models and measures; and the functionaland sustainable design of coastal structures,including the sustainable project of coastal usesand resources.

The CIIRC’s approach for the comingdecade is based on these three developmentaxes, seeking a suitable positioning on the basisof the three types of tools mentioned. In the fieldof numerical modelling, work is being conduc-ted on new numerical solution techniques thatcombine models based on physics with modelsbased on advanced statistical techniques, suchas neural networks and diffuse logic. In the fieldof measurements, work is ongoing with differentinstitutions to apply, both in the field and in thelaboratory, new remote perception technolo-gies. More particularly, in the field of laboratoryhydraulic experimentation, work is ongoing withthe main hydraulic centres in Europe and in theHYDRALAB network of excellence to define thecombined use of advanced numerical andhydraulic models for the line that is now calledhybrid modelling. •

International Centre for CoastalResources Research(CIIRC)Jordi Girona, 1-3Edif. D-1E-08034 BarcelonaTel. +34 93 280 64 00www.upc.edu/ciirc

Mr. Oriol Nel·loPresident

Dr. Agustín Sánchez-ArcillaVice President

Date of constitutionSetember, 1993

StructureConsortium

Governing Board• Ministry of Town and Country Planning


and Enterprise• Ministry of the Environment and Housing• Ministry of Agriculture, Food and

Rural Action• Technical University of Catalonia


Operating Budget 2006524.705,66 €26,32% is provided by the Governmentof Catalonia


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37T he Bioengineering Institute of Catalonia(IBEC), a private foundation, was consti-tuted at the end of 2005 by an agreement

of the Government of Catalonia. The Centre’sorigin dates back to two years before that, in2003, when the Government of Catalonia crea-ted the Reference Centre in Bioengineering ofCatalonia (CREBEC), of which the IBEC wasthe spin-off.

The CREBEC’s objective was to coordi-nate activities linked to the multidisciplinaryresearch in biomedical engineering carried outin Catalonia. In view of its evolution, there arosean evident need to create, within the frameworkof the current PRI, a new research centre thatcould become a first-line international referencein the development of research and teaching inbioengineering. And this is how the IBEC emer-ged, promoted jointly by the UB and the UPC,as well as the Government of Catalonia.

The setting of specific goals

The IBEC has the following main purposes: theacquisition of a level of coordination and a criti-cal mass of researchers that make it possible totackle the current challenges in bioengineeringresearch; the capture of resources, guaranteeingthe good management to obtain a maximumleverage and be competitive at worldwide levelin the sphere of the major European Projects;support to existing research lines in the founda-tion’s research groups and the promotion of newlaboratories where specific research programmeswill be developed in the environment of nano-technologies applied to biomedicine; and theincrease in the range of technology transfer ser-vices that may be subcontracted by companiesand the healthcare system.

The definition of the research programmes

At the moment, the IBEC is immersed in theprocess of selecting research groups and theirhead researchers. Moreover, in its sphere ofactions, the Institute has defined that its rese-arch will be carried out in six programmes:Cellular biotechnology; Biomaterials, implants

and tissue engineering; biomechanics and cellu-lar biophysics; Nanobioengineering; Roboticsand biomedical imaging; and finally, Medical sig-nals and instrumentation. Each programme willhave different research lines defined accordingto the needs and the possibilities of coveringthem with the scientists that join the Institute.Each research line will correspond to a researchgroup led by a senior researcher.

The institute model addressed is vertical,since it seeks to cover from the most basic re-search in areas currently associated with nano-technologies applied to medicine to the moretechnological applications, which target diagno-sis or robotised and minimally invasive surgery.This approach seems to be the most suitableone for forming international and local collabo-rations, since one of the IBEC’s priorities will bethe development of technology transfer work,both in the industrial and healthcare sectors, inthe same way that the groups of the CREBECare doing. Moreover, the centre’s researchersare also expected to participate in the OfficialMaster in Biomedical Engineering which aregiven jointly by the UB and the UPC followingthe Bologna requirements.

The CREBEC’s legacy:researchers and location

One of the initial actions undertaken by theIBEC was the signature of a collaboration agre-ement with all the research groups of the UBand the UPC that constituted the CREBEC.This agreement makes it possible to maintainthe synergy between all the groups that promotedthe centre, thanks to the movement of resear-chers, optimisation of resources and infrastruc-tures, participation in major projects and the con-solidation of a critical mass.

Moreover, the Institute is based in the ParcCientífic de Barcelona, which is where theCREBEC initially created a Nanobioenginee-ring Laboratory to be able to carry out its acti-vity. This location afforded the CREBEC accessto the powerful infrastructures of the Park, suchas the Nanotechnological Platform and all thescientific and technical services installed (cellcultures, for example). For these reason, it is alsoextremely convenient for the IBEC to grow in

the scientific park as new research personnel isrecruited.

The IBEC is funded by the Government ofCatalonia and by income from research andtechnology transfer projects. In this sense, par-ticipation in projects funded by the EuropeanCommission, as well as by the Catalan andSpanish systems, is strategic. The recent crea-tion of the Centre has not been an impedimentin the negotiation of two European projects anda Consolider project of the Ingenio 2010 pro-gramme. •

Bioengineering Institute of Catalonia (IBEC)Parc Científic de BarcelonaJosep Samitier, 1-5E-08028 BarcelonaTel. +34 93 403 97 06www.ibecbarcelona.eu

Prof. Josep Anton PlanellDirector

Date of constitutionDesember, 2005

StructureFoundation


and Enterprise• Ministry of Health• University of Barcelona• Technical University of Catalonia


Operating Budged 20061.117.517,00 €99,7% is provided by the Governmentof Catalonia

BioengineeringInstitute of CataloniaIBEC

The pursuit of excellence in research and teaching in bioengineering


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T he prevention of fire risks in forests, thesustainable use of the environment orthe maintenance of biodiversity in the era

of global change are but some of the mostimportant challenges facing the Centre For Eco-logical Research And Forestry Applications(CREAF). The centre generates new concep-tual and methodological tools in the sphere ofterrestrial ecology, particularly in forestry, toimprove the planning and management of theenvironment, rural and urban.

The promotion of research in terrestrialecology requires different strategies, and theCREAF has designed three: the development ofbasic research pursuing excellence and cutting-edge innovation, to be regarded as a nationaland international point of reference; the applica-tion of research results, particularly in forestry,that will contribute to the sustainable managementand conservation of resources and ecosystems;and the dissemination of all this scientific andtechnological knowledge by means of training,advisory and dissemination activities.

Almost twenty years of experience

The CREAF is a consortium created in 1987between the UAB, the IEC and the Governmentof Catalonia, which were later joined by the UB.It is a centre attached to the UAB as a universi-ty institute, and moreover is associated with theIRTA. At the same time, the Ecophysiology Unitof the CREAF is associated with the CSICthrough the Centre for Advanced Studies ofBlanes (CEAB).

From its headquarters in the campus of theUAB in Bellaterra, the CREAF has its own legalpersonality to conduct its activities in all geo-graphical areas, from local to international. Itsmaximum governing body is the Board of Trust-ees, on which the UAB, the UB, the IEC, theIRTA and four departments of the Governmentof Catalonia are currently represented.

Researchers and spheres of research

The CREAF is comprised of a stable core ofaround one hundred people. This includes resear-chers and support staff from the same centre, uni-versity lecturers from the UAB and UB engaged intheir research attached to the centre, CSIC re-searchers, higher degree technicians contractedfor the development of specific projects and pre-and post-doctoral scholarship holders. The re-searchers’ background is diverse and comprises,particularly, the fields of biology, geography, envi-ronmental science and forestry engineering.

The spheres of research in which the re-searchers work include, first of all, research intothe operation, diversity and response to the per-turbations of the natural systems. Furthermore,the study of the environmental problems thatmay severely affect the operating of ecosys-tems, such as changes in soil uses, atmosphericand climatic changes. And finally, the developmentof conceptual and methodological instrumentsthat make it possible to drive decision-makingand facilitate sustainable management.

These three areas are structured in fifteenresearch lines: the functional ecology of terres-trial ecosystems, forestry dynamics, vegetal po-pulations and communities, animal populationsand communities, biodiversity, landscape ecolo-

Centre for ecologicalresearch and forestryapplicationsCREAF

Research applied to terrestrial ecology


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40gy and territorial planning, global changes, fires,soil protection and restoration, air pollution,urban ecology, remote sensing, large databaseson forests, the MiraMon Geographic InformationSystem and environmental information systemsand Information and Communication Technologies.

Various contributions

By means of its research, development, trainingand transfer activities, the Centre has contri-buted, ever since it was created, to improvingthe knowledge and the possibilities of sustain-able management in forestry and environmentalquestions. Some of the most outstanding con-tributions by the CREAF include: developmentand innovation of numerous methodological tools,both in the sphere of science and technology;the training of more than sixty new doctors,national and foreign, that strengthen and renewthe research system; the conception and makingof the Ecological and Forestry Inventory of Ca-talonia (IEFC), a groundbreaking inventory in theworld due to the inclusion of ecological parame-ters; the development of the MiraMon GeographicInformation System which is present in more thanthirty countries all over the world; the realisation ofthe Land Cover Map of Catalonia (MCSC), ahigh-resolution digital map for planning, environ-mental assessment and territorial management;the development of MiraBosc, comprehensivesoftware for querying complex forestry databases; the development of GOTILWA+, a modelfor the simulation of the forestry ecosystemsapplicable to the estimation of carbon balancesand the response by forests to climactic change;and the organisation of congresses, postgraduatecourses and technical working days, at homeand abroad.

The centre’s projection at international levelis an outstanding aspect to be taken into account.The CREAF is thus a member of the EuropeanForest Institute (EFI) and engages in exchangesand collaboration with numerous centres fromEurope, United States and Canada, often materia-lised in the form of joint projects and publications.Moreover, it has ongoing research projects orpostgraduate courses in Nicaragua, El Salvador,Columbia, Peru and Chile. At the same time, inCatalonia it maintains regular collaboration withthe IRTA in matters of ecophysiology and restora-tion, and with the CTFC in forestry questions.

Future challenges

The CREAF has a very good future outlook, basedon the high scientific and technical quality of theactivities developed and the magnificent settingcreated by the different members of the centre.

It aims to consolidate its position on the na-tional and international scientific map. To accom-plish this goal, in the coming years relationshipswith centres from outside Catalonia will be in-creased and stays by foreign and national visi-tors will also be promoted, including consolidatedand trainee researchers.

The CREAF also seeks to increase thecapacity to transfer the results and methodolo-gies it generates, be it to other research centresor to the technical personnel of the administra-tion and representatives of the forestry sector.The objective is that the information produced inthe CREAF reaches everyone in the least pos-sible time and in the most intelligible way. A dis-semination of the information which, at the sametime, should be extended to other groups inte-rested in the environment and finally to societyoverall. •

Centre for Ecological Researchand Forestry Applications (CREAF)Campus de la UAB. Edifici CE-08193 BellaterraTel. +34 93 581 13 12www.creaf.uab.es

Dr. Javier Retana Director

Date of constitutionAugust, 1987

StructureConsortium

Governing Board• Ministry of Town and Country Planning


and Enterprise• Ministry of the Environment and Housing• Ministry of Agriculture, Food and

Rural Action• IRTA• Autonomous University of Barcelona• University of Barcelona• Institute of Catalan Studies




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«T he CRG occupies a privileged po-sition on the new world biologicalresearch stage. It is becoming increa-

singly clear that the most important parts of thegenome, in terms of the functioning of genesand proteins, and with regard to their relations-hip with health and disease, are not to be foundin the genes themselves, but rather in the genomicstructures that regulate them. The CRG, locatedin a magnificent scientific and medical setting,can lead the way in the most significant areas ofgenomic research and, at the same time, facili-tate the transfer of knowledge to the clinical andpharmaceutical worlds». These words by doctorXavier Estivill, coordinator of the Genes andDisease programme of the Centre for GenomicRegulation (CRG), reveal the centre’s main objec-tive: to go deeper into the knowledge of thehuman genome to improve people’s quality of life.

The CRG is the only centre in Spain thatdevelops basic research in biomedicine, with spe-cial emphasis on genomics and proteomics. It wascreated in the year 2000, as a non-profit foun-dation constituted by the UPF and the Governmentof Catalonia, and since then has contributed deci-sively to the consolidation of biomedical researchin Catalonia and its projection to Europe.

Collaboration with the EMBL

Proof of this is the signing of an agreementbetween the CRG, the Spanish Ministry ofEducation and Science and the EMBL, which isthe largest European biomedical research labo-ratory and one of the most prestigious in theworld. This agreement, signed in May 2006,lays the foundations for the creation and imple-mentation of an EMBL-CRG research unit inSystems Biology, which, in turn, will lead theCRG to be regarded as a research institutionassociated with the EMBL for a term of nineyears, which may be extended.

The new unit will be constituted by fourgroups recognised by the EMBL and will beintegrated in the Systems Biology program spe-cific to the CRG. They will be multidisciplinaryand international groups led by young scientistsand comprised of postdoctoral research per-sonnel, students and technicians. The sphere ofits research, Systems Biology, is one of the emer-ging disciplines in biomedicine, closely relatedto key aspects of human health. It engages intransferring biological processes to mathemati-cal models by means of the data collection, inte-gration and assessment to reach an idealisedreconstruction using computer modelling. Thismodelling will be used to design new experi-ments, test them and draw conclusions on com-plex biological processes.

Six research programmes and the support units

However, it must be remembered that the Sys-tems Biology programme is only one of theCRG’s six research programmes. It also main-tains the Bioinformatics and Genomics program-me, the Cell and Developmental Biology pro-gramme, the Differentiation and Cancer program-me, the Genes and Disease programme and theGene Regulation programme.

Each programme is led by a coordinator incharge of different research groups and at the

Centre for GenomicRegulation CRG

Biomedical research to improve our health


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same time each research group is led by a groupmanager. Overall, the Centre employs 83 resear-chers and investigators, 73 PhD students and48 technicians, figures which will increase whenthe CRG is definitively installed in the Barcelo-na Biomedical Research Park (PRBB).

Moreover, all the programmes include, orwill include, a specialised scientific and techni-cal unit to serve all the scientists of the CRG,the PRBB and the community engaged in bio-medicine. They are the following: for the Sys-tems Biology programme, the ProgrammingUnit; for the Bioinformatics and Genomics pro-gramme, the Microarrays Unit; for the Cell andDevelopmental Biology programme, the Advan-ced Optical Microscopy Unit; for the Differen-tiation and Cancer programme, the FACS Unit;for the Genes and Disease programme, theGenotyping Unit; and for the Gene Regulationprogramme, the Proteomics Unit.

The CRG’s main equipment includes a trans-genesis unit and a modern animal facility withcapacity for transgenic mice, zebrafish, xenopus,plus a conventional animal facility which it shareswith the other institutions of the PRBB.

All the centre’s programmes depend on theScientific Area, which together with the Adminis-trative Area, form the two major areas into whichthe CRG is divided. Above them, the maximumorgan of government is the Board of Trustees. TheCRG also has a Scientific Advisory Board whichassesses the Centre and evaluates its activitiesperiodically, and a Business Board, which pro-vides support to technology transfer and scienti-fic dissemination.

The research lines

The centre’s three main lines of research are: first,genomic regulation, epigenomics and proteomics,which groups three programmes (Cell and De-velopmental Biology, Differentiation and Cancerand Gene Regulation); in second place, compu-tational biology, which groups two programmes(Bioinformatics and Genomics and SystemsBiology); and finally, molecular mechanisms ofdisease, polarised in the Genes and Diseaseprogramme, are also represented in each one ofthe other five programmes.

All these lines of research are funded publi-cly by the Government of Catalonia and by fundsobtained by means of public research calls andcompetitive grants. This also includes internatio-nal funds (European projects, Genoma Canada,Encode project) and the National Networks.

Transfer to companies, yet another activity

Aware of the need to transform its scientific dis-coveries into goods and services for the socie-ty, the CRG has promoted, since 2005, technolo-gy transfer as another activity by the Centre. Thistransfer of research results lead to both thepractical application of scientific breakthroughsand the promotion of dealings between the Cen-tre and the business sector.

Just like in other European and Americancentres, the CRG’s transfer activity comprisesdifferent stages: the identification of new tech-nologies, which requires direct contact with theresearch teams and the attendance of meetingsand seminars; the protection of technology by

means of patents and copyright; contact withrelevant companies, national or foreign, who areoffered the technology with a view to commer-cialising it, either by sale or licence; and the crea-tion of up-starts based on the technology deve-loped, as is the case of the spin-off companies,which the CRG can promote and support eco-nomically.

In a broader context, the training of researchpersonnel is also part of the Centre’s technolo-gy transfer policy, so that they can subsequentlyjoin the up-starts. Furthermore, there is a policyof collaboration between the Centre’s researchersand the companies of the sector in research anddevelopment projects.

The collaboration of the CRG with the bu-siness sector has different channels. Besidesthe services offered by the Centre and the con-tacts made by the actual researchers, the CRGworks in proximity with the pharmaceutical com-panies of its Business Board by organising mee-tings between both parties’ research personneland through the definition of common interestprojects. At the same time, the Centre has alsocreated the OpenCRG, an event in which thedifferent research groups expound their pro-jects and technological capacity and services toany companies that wish to attend.

Finally, it should be said that the CRGalready has different patent applications, con-tacts with companies and a spin-off companyproject, and this trend is expected to increase.

Aspiration towards international competition

In the coming years, the Centre wishes to deve-lop its scientific and technical services to makethe most advanced biological and computingtechnologies available to its scientists and thescientific community in general. If this is accom-plished, the CRG may become one of the mostimportant biomedical research centres in Euro-pe, and thus compete at worldwide level both inthe generation of new knowledge and in thetraining of scientific groups prepared to applythem efficaciously to health.

Indeed, this path has already been under-taken, in which the CRG must continue to ad-vance, promoting excellence, transparency and

international competitiveness, both when recrui-ting its collaborators and in assessing its success.In particular, the development of the genomics,proteomics and bioinformatics platforms, as wellas everything related to microscopy and imagetreatment, will be essential in achieving leader-ship in Systems Biology with a view to modellingcomplex biological systems and their pathologi-cal perturbations. The implementation of otherResearch Centres of excellence will also be fun-damental, and with them the deployment of a den-se business network with an innovative vocation.All, ultimately, for the benefit of society. •

Centre for GenomicRegulation (CRG)Parc de Recerca Biomèdica de Barcelona (PRBB)Dr. Aiguader, 88E-08003 BarcelonaTel. +34 93 316 01 00www.crg.es

Dr. Miguel Beato del RosalDirector


StructureFoundation


and Enterprise• Ministry of Health• Pompeu Fabra University• Spanish Ministry of Education

and Science

President of the ScientificAdvisory CommitteeDr. Kai SimonsMax-Plank-Institut für molekulareZellbiologie und Genetik (Germany)

President of the Business CommitteeAntoni EsteveLaboratoris del Dr. Esteve, S.A.




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H ow can we increase the value of ourforests? Can the production of timber be compatible with the preservation and

social use of the environment? What are thebest timber and non-timber production models?The answer to these questions also affects morethan 60% of Catalan territory, because our countryhas a large surface area of forests. Almost twomillion hectares of Catalonia are classified asnatural vegetation, more than half of them fo-rests. Moreover, the evolution of forestry surfacein recent decades shows a constant increase inthe number of forestry hectares and an increasein the amount of wood available in the forests.

At the same time, there are ongoing chan-ges that alter the traditional uses of the forestand the way it is managed. We are referring tothe continual loss of profitability of the tradition-al products of the forest, particularly wood andfirewood, caused by increasing labour costs andthe fall in the real cost of wood, as well as the newsocial use demands of forestry land and the pro-motion of the environmental functions of forests.

This reality drove the creation of the ForestTechnology Centre of Catalonia (CTFC) in 1996to contribute to the modernisation and compet-itiveness of the forestry sector and sustainabledevelopment of the environment in the Medite-rranean area by means of research, training andtechnology transfer to society. All of this achie-ved by joining forces with other existing institu-tions, such as the CREAF and IRTA.

The CTFC was constituted as a consortiumcomprising the Government of Catalonia, theUdL, the FCRI, the Centre of Integrated RuralDevelopment of Catalonia (CEDRICAT), theCounty Council of El Solsonès and the CountyCouncil of Lleida. Its headquarters are locatedin what was the Seminari Menor de Solsona,built in 1897.

The work programmes

The Centre is currently an active institutionemploying about a hundred people, who carryout their activity through different projects struc-tured around four major programmes. These workprogrammes respond to the multiple functionrecognised in the environment (productive, envi-ronmental, social and heritage function) and areendorsed by the recent publication of the futurestrategy of European forestry research by theEuropean Forestry Institute.

The first is the forestry management pro-gramme, whose objective is to establish mana-gement models that integrate both timber andnon-timber products, i.e. aromatic and medicinalplants, mushrooms and truffles, pasture-land, etc.

This programme is complemented by thesecond, which seeks to develop technologies toleverage timber products and give value to serv-ices which at the moment do not have a marketprice and are included under the concept ofexternalities.

The protection of biodiversity and protectedspaces, the analysis of the effects of climacticchange, research into forestry diseases and pla-gues, the fight against fires and the study of thedynamics of water, soil and rivers are examples ofthe lines developed in the third programme, con-sisting of the protection of natural resources.

And the fourth, the forestry policy and ruraldevelopment programme, encompasses researchlines that deal with regional planning, socio-envi-

Forest Technology Centre of Catalonia CTFC

Innovation on sustainable woodland explotation


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44ronmental diagnosis, the establishment of go-vernance models and public participation.

Moreover, the CTFC also promotes andparticipates in other initiatives emerging in itssphere of action, including the following: theFoundation of the Catalan Wood and FurnitureInstitute (INCAFUST), in which the CTFC has astake, whose mission is the promotion and useof wood as a structural element; the CEDRICATFoundation; the European Economic InterestGroup FORESPIR; and the Regional Centre forthe Mediterranean of the European ForestryInstitute (MEDFOREX), which constitutes aneffective coordination of thirty-six forestry insti-tutions from sixty Mediterranean basin countries.

Towards the sustainability of the forestry sector

The mission of the CTFC may be illustrated as apyramid, in which the top vertex, its culmination,is the sustainable development of the forestrysector. In this point, the ultimate goal of all theCentre’s activity, three areas converge that givestability to the building, which are the threemedia the Centre provides for the final goal:research, training and technology transfer.

Research is structured through the afore-mentioned four work programmes. The trainingimparted by the CTFC is divided into base work-ers training, continual training and third-cycletraining. The training of base workers by meansof a workshop-school and a source of new em-ployment, contributes to the training of forestryworkers, whereas continual training and retrai-ning provides for a wide range of courses, up totwenty-five in 2005, targeting students and pro-fessionals of the natural environment. In third-cycle training, the collaboration with the UdL inPhD programmes and in the only European Fo-restry Master recognised by the European Unionby means of the ERASMUS Mundus distinctionmerit special mention. Another example of theinternational vocation of the postgraduate trainingthe CTFC seeks to promote is the beginning ofthe MEDFOREM programme, funded by theEuropean Tempus programme, which provides forforestry training in Tunisia, Lebanon and Syria.

Technology transfer is the logical path ofcontinuity of the research generated by the CTFC,

although the forestry sector has always beenknown as a conservative sector that has rejec-ted the introduction of innovative techniquesand tools. Thus, it is in this field where the Centreseeks to do its utmost to have this tradition re-channelled. A good example of this determina-tion are the fifty-seven agreements which, during2005, the CTFC has maintained with adminis-trations and private agents.

The Centre seeks to cater to the demandof its target with specific products and services,but also wishes to stay ahead of this demand byinnovating and generating wealth around it, ulti-mately fostering a structured and competitivecluster. In this sense, the CTFC has promoteddifferent initiatives such are the creation of theINCAFUST, the Catalan association of aromaticand medicinal plant producers, and the LIFEassociation of mushroom and truffle producers.

International dimension

The CTFC’s activity, funded mainly by the Go-vernment of Catalonia, is not limited to Catalonia.The Centre’s success is based on its capacity tocross frontiers and aim outwards. Thus, it is inte-resting to see that of the fifty competitive projectsin 2005, seventeen were international projects,including the participation of CTFC researchers infour integrated projects of the sixth ResearchFramework Programme of the European Union.

Mention must also be made of the organi-sation of technical working days, scientific andtechnical congresses and seminars which arethe Centre’s other operating cornerstones. In2005, the Centre organised twenty-four eventsattended by 876 people.

New headquarters

The immediate future of the CTFC includes theconstruction of a new building that will housethe Centre’s everyday activity. These headquar-ters, whose completion is scheduled for theyear 2008, will be better adapted to the needsof the Centre and will make it possible to tacklefuture challenges based on the strategic plan.

The first Strategic Plan of the CTFC(2003-2007) served to lay the foundations of

the bases of the Centre, consolidating a dynamicof growth undertaken in 1996. Future strategicplans will have to continue to pursue this line,reasserting the progression of a Centre that hasalways had the virtue of remaining close to reality.

The philosophy and basic axes of the se-venth Research Framework Programme of theEuropean Union lays the emphasis on the needfor a greater connection between research andthe manufacturing sector. We must therefore godeeper into this binomial, cementing even fur-ther the links between the people engaged inresearch and those that apply the results, seekingpoints of convergence to create a united front totackle the major challenges the future may hold.The CTFC aspires to continue being this pointof convergence of the environment. •

Forest Technology Centreof Catalonia (CTFC)Pujada del Seminari, s/nE-25280 SolsonaTel. +34 973 481 752www.ctfc.es

Dr. José Antonio BonetDirector

Date of Constitution1996

StructureConsortium

Governing Board• Ministry of Agriculture, Food and

Rural Action• Ministry of the Environment and Housing• Ministry of Innovation, Universities

and Enterprise• University of Lleida• Catalan Foundation for Research

and Innovation• County Council of El Solsonès• County Council of Lleida• Centre of Integrated Rural Development

of Catalonia, CEDRICAT




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C ardiovascular and cerebrovasculardiseases are the leading cause of mor-tality in Spain and in developed coun-

tries. Their impact on populations and high mor-bidity also entail high costs for the national healthsystem. Thus, studies related to the cardiovas-cular system and its dysfunctions are one of thefields of biomedical research that have grownmost in recent years around the world.

One example of this is the constitution ofthe Catalan Institute of Cardiovascular Scien-ces (ICCC) in 2000, promoted on the initiativeof the Government of Catalonia, whose activi-ties started in early 2004. The main mission ofthe ICCC is to become a solid research centre,fully prepared to further drive research and de-velopment activities in Catalonia and to be com-petitive at international level.

The Institute’s personnel engages in re-search on cardiovascular specialities, always witha view to transferring the scientific results obtai-ned to practice, so as to develop new therapeu-tic strategies, improve diagnosis and ultimatelyincrease the prevention of cardiovascular disea-ses. In this sense, the ICCC also regards ad-vanced researcher training in this sphere andthe dissemination of the knowledge of cardio-vascular sciences as priorities.

The creation of the CIC

The ICCC is structured as a consortium com-prised of the Health Management Foundation ofthe Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, the UABand the Government of Catalonia. To deploy theICCC, the Government of Catalonia and theCSIC signed, in 2002, a protocol to set up a mi-xed centre called the Cardiovascular ResearchCentre (CIC).

The CIC is located in the former conventbuilding of the Hospital de la Santa Creu i SantPau, in the same hospital premises, which weretransferred to the consortium in 2001 for refor-mation. It occupies a total of 3,889 sqm of usa-ble surface area, more than two thirds of whichare used for laboratories.

About a hundred people are expected towork in the laboratories of the CIC, and who, inthe sphere of basic research, will focus on pro-jects ranging from the identification of genesthat regulate the functionalism of vascular andcardiac cells, gene therapies, cell recognition andinteraction, genetic abnormalities in cardiovas-cular pathologies, cardiovascular genomics andproteomics. In applied research, they will focusmainly on new therapeutic targets, the design ofdrugs to provide cardiovascular protection, pre-clinical and clinical trials of drugs under deve-lopment on therapeutic targets and new indica-tions, as well as preclinical and clinical researchin disease prognosis and diagnostic markers.

Strategic areas and work areas

The strategic scientific areas of the ICCC areMolecular pathology, Cell remodelling, Functio-nal genomics, the Genetics of cardiovasculardiseases, and Pharmacogenetics. Areas of tech-nology related to the scientific areas are Confo-cal microscopy, Proteomics and Flow cytometry.In addition, in support to research services,mention must be made of the Experimental Sur-gery Unit due to its high degree of specialisation.

Catalan Institute ofCardiovascular Sciencies ICCC

Research into the preventionof vascular and heart diseases


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46More specifically, the researchers work in

the following priority areas: molecular pathologyof arteriosclerotic disease: identification ofreceptors in vascular wall cells involved in thedevelopment of lesions and characterisation ofthe role of NOR-1 and other transcription fac-tors in the regulation of genes involved in theatherosclerotic process; molecular pathology ofarterial thrombosis: identification of targetroutes to block thrombosis, platelet differentialproteomics and platelet secretome, and sig-nalling in activated platelets; diagnostic andprognostic markers of cardiovascular disease:differential proteomics of serum and differentialproteomics of vascular cells with emphasis onsecreted cell products; cell remodelling and cel-lular therapy: functional and phenotyping cha-racterisation of differentiated cells in cardiaccell and of myoblastic origin or stem cell, cellmo-nitoring by means of fluorescent probes ofthe modified cells, and angiogenesis; regulationof the expression of genes involved in vascularlesion and functional regulation and genomics;impact of neovascularisation in metastatic pro-cesses and tissue factor; the establishment andconsolidation of a study group on the geneticsof cardiovascular diseases; pharmacogeneticsand pharmaco-genomics of vascular diseases.

Grants and collaborations

The ICCC is funded by means of the publicadministration and research projects, contractswith the industries related to the sphere of acti-vity and service rendering. The Centre’s resear-chers have competitive funding from the NationalHealth Plan, FIS, CIBER, RETICS and Europeanand international programmes.

In 2002 the ICCC established an agree-ment with Merck, Sharp & Dohme (MSD) to col-laborate in activities to promote basic researchfor the prevention and treatment of ischemicheart disease and other atherothrombotic disea-ses. MSD contributes to the development of theresearch programme of the group of Dr. Badimonby means of funding amounting to 600,000euros per annum for a period of five years.

Moreover, in 2003 the BMS Foundation«Freedom to Discover Program» awarded ascholarship of 500,000 dollars to Dr. Badimon.This grant is earmarked for research into newtherapeutic targets and, more specifically, thestudy of genes that may code for unknown pro-teins involved in the growth of arterioscleroticlesions.

The ICCC has several studies in collabora-tion with pharmaceutical and biotechnology com-panies. One of the Centre’s goals for the comingyears is the creation of spin-off companies totranslate the results of its research to citizens. •

Catalan Institute ofCardiovascular Sciences (ICCC)Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant PauSt. Antoni Maria Claret, 167E-08025 BarcelonaTel. +34 93 556 59 00www.iccc.cat

Dr. Lina BadimonDirector


StructureConsortium


and Enterprise• Ministry of Health• Autonomous University of Barcelona• Fund. Hospital de la Santa Creu

i Sant Pau

President of the AdvisoryScientific CommitteeDr. Valentí FusterMount Sinai Hospital (NY, USA)


Operating Budget 20062.811.500,00 € (audit pending)61% is provided by the Governmentof Catalonia


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T he rapid transfer of new discoveries inbiomedicine to clinical practice. This isthe underpinning aim of the Institute for

Biomedical Investigation August Pi i Sunyer(IDIBAPS), since it was created in 1996. Basicand clinical researchers work together to rise,through transfer research, to the main challen-ges of modern biomedicine. Their effort has madethe Institute a reference point in the south ofEurope and has also consolidated an innovativemodel in our country. All with a view to improv-ing, on the basis of laboratory innovations, citi-zens’ most common health problems.

The IDIBAPS’s potential is endorsed by itsconstituent institutions: Hospital Clínic de Bar-celona, the School of Medicine of the UB andthe Biomedical Investigation Institute of Barce-lona of CSIC. Institutional, political and economicsupport is provided by the Government of Ca-talonia. Thus, the origin of the IDIBAPS is a com-plex mesh driven by a renowned and highly solventscientific and political community. Moreover, theweight of history in the centre is also relevant,since both the Hospital Clínic and the School ofMedicine celebrated their centennial in 2006.

Equipment and structure

The scientific core of the IDIBAPS is located inthe centre of Barcelona, in the heart of the city’sEixample district. Since 2003 the Institute hashad its own laboratories in the School of Medici-ne, so the research personnel that used to col-laborate from different institutions now has a com-mon physical space. Moreover, in 2006 a newphase of the work on the School of Medicine wasopened, which houses fourteen research teams.But the IDIBAPS’s growth does not stop here.At the end of 2005, it was announced that theEsther Koplowitz Foundation will fund, with fif-teen million euros, the construction of a newresearch building that will have a surface area of9,500 sqm and will stand in Rosselló street, nearthe Hospital Clínic. This future building seeks tobecome a representative icon of the city of Bar-celona and national research.

The IDIBAPS is managed by a governingboard, chaired by the Director General of Re-search. The scientific director has a large Scien-tific Committee, which comprises internationallyrenowned researchers such as Joan Massagué,who works in the Memorial Sloan KetteringCancer Center of New York, or Valentí Fuster, inthe Cardiovascular Institute of the Mount SinaiHospital, also in New York. The administrativemanagement of the research machinery of theIDIBAPS falls to the Clínic Foundation for Bio-medical Research. Its role is crucial in applica-tions for scholarships and grants for the projectsdeveloped by the scientists, whom they supportthroughout this process.

More than fifty biomedical research teams

The fifty-four research teams of the IDIBAPSare engaged in research straddling the mainareas of biomedical knowledge: biologicalaggression and response mechanisms; respira-tory, cardiovascular and renal pathobiology andbioengineering; liver, digestive system andmetabolism; clinical and experimental neuro-sciences; and oncology and haematology. In the

Institute for Biomedical Investigation August Pi i Sunyer IDIBAPS

One of the drivers of catalanbiomedical research


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different areas, each team manages its ownlines of research. The team managers coordi-nate the activity of the different members who,together with their scholarship holders, labora-tory technicians and other collaborators, are theprotagonists of the IDIBAPS’s research.

The scientific output of the Centre hasgrown year after year, and has done so equallyamong the five areas mentioned. This is becausethey all have very productive teams carrying outrelevant research in all fields of biomedical re-search. Some significant examples are Interna-tional Health, with the malaria vaccines beingtested by the IDIBAPS in the Health ResearchCentre of Manhiça, in Mozambique, or the thera-peutic vaccines of dendritic cells that has beendesigned and tested by the AIDS research team.

Although historically the area dedicated tothe liver, digestive system and metabolism isone of the institution’s main reference points, itis becoming increasingly more difficult to high-light one area of research over another. For exam-ple, the field of neurosciences is one of theIDIBAPS’s emerging values, which at the sametime also features internationally renowned spe-cialists in fields such as respiratory diseases,oncology or surgery. For this reason, the resear-chers play an outstanding role in initiatives suchas Cooperative Research Themed Networks,Biomedical Research Centres Network (CIBER),with Hepatology and Gastroenterology coordinat-ed by the IDIBAPS, sponsored by the Instituto deSalud Carlos III, and the international projectsdriven by the European Union.

The IDIBAPS has established stable col-laborations with different county hospitals, par-ticularly with the Hospital Sant Joan de Déu,where two IDIBAPS research teams are work-ing in the sphere of development in paediatricage and in adolescence. This centre is also oneof the drivers of the Catalan Bioregion.

The IDIBAPS considers that coordinatedwork between the different Catalan researchinstitutions and companies can make Cataloniaa European biomedical reference point. There-fore, and beyond Catalonia, the institution leadsinitiatives such as the IBD Project, a Europeanconsortium that works in the validation of a DNAchip for the diagnosis of intestinal inflammatorydiseases, particularly Crohn’s disease andulcerative colitis. This project features the par-ticipation of centres from all over Europe andtwo companies, one of them linked to the Asocia-ción de Investigación Cooperativa en Biocien-cias de Bizkaia (CIC BIOGUNE). With regardto cooperation with private industry, two goodexamples are the work with Bayer and the Scien-tific Park of Barcelona to develop an anti-obesi-ty drug based on sodium tungstate, or the agree-ment signed with Olympus to have one of themost advanced surgical installations in Europe.Collaborations like this allow the Centre to pio-neer the development of drugs and the imple-mentation of experimental surgical techniques.

International research in health

Participation in other international projects shouldbe underlined, such as the aforementionedInternational Health Centre of Manhiça, in Mo-zambique, or the Maternity Department of theHospital Español of Tetuan, in Morocco. Thesetwo centres, pioneers in international researchinto health, enjoy numerous sources of funding,

including the Spanish Agency of InternationalCooperation (AECI) of the Ministry of ForeignAffairs, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation,the BBVA Foundation, the “La Caixa” Founda-tion or the Government of Catalonia. Other ini-tiatives have led the IDIBAPS to take part in dif-ferent research projects promoted by the Euro-pean Union or the American National Institutesof Health.

All the projects require important fundingthat traditionally came from public and privatesources. This trend was curtailed in 2003, duemainly to the contributions allocated to the Coo-perative Research Themed Networks. Anotheroutstanding route of public funding are the pro-jects of the Healthcare Research Fund (FIS)which in 2005 managed to bring the total publicinvestment for research awarded to the IDIBAPSto above 23.4 million euros.

The public and private investments com-plete the circuit that is to be expected. On theone hand, it funds research that leads to patentimprovements for patients. The IDIBAPS is theideal framework to conduct crucial parts of thestage which are crucial in the process of deve-lopment of new medicinal products, or to startclinical trials that make it possible to comparedifferent treatments and assess new therapeu-tic strategies designed in the laboratory. On theother hand, the research outcomes also reachall the citizens through the media.

The importance of the dissemination of research

The Quiral Report places the Hospital Clínic asone of the scientific and healthcare referencepoints for the national press, after the WorldHealth Organisation. In many cases, theseimpacts in the press were generated by re-search carried out within the framework of theIDIBAPS and were the result of its desire tooffer society tools to assess and be more awareof scientific breakthroughs. Some topics, suchas vaccines for malaria being tested by resear-chers in Mozambique, have had a major interna-tional media impact.

In the sphere of the communication of scien-ce, the centre is making an extra effort to reachpublic opinion through innovative channels.

Institutional initiatives such as the website orAnnual Activities Report are complemented byspecific communication actions. Certain actionsare outstanding, such as the exhibitions thathave brought cancer, transplants or scientificvocations closer to the visitors to the HospitalClínic, participation in the five editions of theLive Research Fair organised by the ScientificPark of Barcelona, the exhibition When sciencejoins art, or a small photographic exhibition in thecorridors of the Hospital Clínic on the IDIBAPS’research activity.

Constant growth

At the moment, the Institute is in a growthprocess, as demonstrated by its extension tothe School of Medicine or the project for thenew research building. This will make it possibleto address even more important challenges.While the public administration works to im-prove the occupational situation of Catalan andSpanish research workers via the career ofresearcher and new employment options, theIDIBAPS works to offer them a suitable envi-ronment to develop their work.

Regarding the future, the Centre wishes torenew its commitment to citizens’ health, affordresearchers an environment of excellence anddevelop in-country basic and clinical researchproperly. •

Institute for Biomedical Investigation August Pi i Sunyer(IDIBAPS)Campus CasanovaVillarroel, 170E-08036 Barcelonawww.idibaps.ub.edu

Dr. Joan RodésDirector


StructureConsortium


and Enterprise• University of Barcelona• Hospital Clínic i Provincial de Barcelona• Spanish Council of Scientific

Research (CSIC)




T he IRTA is a public company of theGovernment of Catalonia whose activi-ty focuses on scientific research in agri-

culture, livestock, aquaculture and the food andagricultural industry. Its general objectives tar-get the promotion of research and technologicaldevelopment in its field of work, facilitate thetransfer of scientific progress and assess its owntechnological progress, pursuing the utmostdegree of coordination and cooperation withthe public and private sectors.

Since it was created in 1985, the IRTA haspromoted the establishment of permanent colla-boration agreements with other public institutionsengaged in the research and technological deve-lopment in Catalonia. This policy has resulted inthe existence of a network of consortium centrescomprised of the Institute itself, universities, coun-ty councils or the CSIC, among others. This net-work may be defined as a cooperative food andagricultural research system of Catalonia.

The research centres and experimental stations

The IRTA carries out its research activity thro-ugh research centres and experimental stations.These are the two basic elements of the Insti-tute’s functional organisation.

The research centres may be classified,from the institutional standpoint, as own cen-tres, that depend totally on the governing bodiesof the IRTA and are managed by the latter, andas consortium centres, the result of institutionalcollaboration agreements with other public orprivate organisations and which, by virtue of thedifferent agreements, have a variable composi-tion of their governing bodies, albeit sharing thecommon factor of the presence of the IRTA. Thereare six own centres: Mas de Bover, Cabrils, PigBreeding and Evaluation, Food Technology, TorreMarimon and Aquaculture; and there are eightconsortium centres: Centre UdL-IRTA, CreSA,CREAF, CRAG, Serveis de Millora i ExpansióRamadera i Genètica Aplicada (SEMEGA), Cen-tre Tecnològic de Gestió Integral de Residus Or-gànics (GIRO), Unitat d’Ecosistemes Aqüàtics(UEA) and Centre de Recerca en Desenvolu-pament Econòmic i Agroalimentari (CREDA,UPC-IRTA).

The experimental stations focus theiraction on a specific territory and their tasks arebasically experimentation and dissemination,plus support to the research centres’ activity.The IRTA has three of its own experimental sta-tions, the Experimental Station of Lleida, theExperimental Station of EBRE and the Experi-mental Station of El Prat, and a consortium sta-tion, the Experimental Station of Mas Badia. Thecooperative system was recently extended withthe constitution of the Centre of New FoodTechnologies (CENTA), a technological centrebased in Mo-nells and in the UdG.

Besides these work centres, mention mustalso be made of the operating units of RabbitBreeding and Ruminants installed in the facilityof Torre Marimon, whose management was trans-ferred to the IRTA.

Four hundred and eighty workers

Overall, the IRTA employs more than four hundredand eighty workers, conducting one hundred and

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Institute for Food andAgricultural Researchand Technology IRTA

Investigating the present to bring the future closer


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eighty research and development projects andalmost seven hundred contract activities com-missioned by companies from the food and agri-cultural sector.

The activities of the different operating unitsof the IRTA are framed within several action pro-grammes, each one of them with different linesof work: Horticulture (vegetal material, horticul-tural technology, production ecophysiology, andothers), Fruit growing (vegetal material, produc-tion and irrigation technology, and others), Ex-tensive farming (vegetal material, crop agronomyand others), Plant protection (integral pest con-trol, pathology and others), Plant biotechnology(in vitro culture, plant genomics, plant molecularbiology, and other), Post-harvest (technology ofpreservation, physiology and biochemistry, pre-servation pathology and others), Animal genetics(genetic screening and improvement, compu-ting applications for management, and others),Animal nutrition (nutritional assessment and dieteffects, additives and products, manufacturing

technology and others), Animal health, Animalproduction systems (bovine production systems,production systems in other ruminants and others),Aquaculture (control of the environment, marinecultivation, terrestrial aquaculture and others),Meat industries (carcass and meat quality, meatchemistry and microbiology, manufacturingengineering and technology and others activi-ties), Environmental engineering, Other foodareas (food safety and quality, preservation andpackaging technologies and others) and Otheractivities (forestry production, vines and others).

The research projects are funded mainlythrough the National Plan of Innovation andDevelopment or by international organisationssuch as the European Union Framework Pro-grammes. At the same time, part of the researchactivity is funded by the private sector throughcontract research.

Knowledge transfer

The IRTA engages in activities of technologydissemination and transfer in all its work lines. Italso promotes the establishment of collabora-tion agreements with agrarian organisations andassociations as a method for reaching the great-

est possible number of farmers and livestockbreeders all over the country. The IRTA’s experi-mental stations are the work centres that bestfulfil this objective, both thanks to their territori-al location and their conception of intermediateorganisations for the transfer of results to theagricultural and livestock breeding sector.

Moreover, the IRTA is present in the indus-trial and business sector through research anddevelopment contracts, consultancy and the useof licences. It is also present in decision-makingbodies and played an important role in the dy-namisation of the technological centres of thebioindustry ring (Monells and Girona, Lleida andReus).

The IRTA has even created two spin-offcompanies with the IRTApplus company: IRTA-pplus Anàlisis Genètiques, and the Servei Tècnicde Postcollita (STP), which contributes to tech-nological improvement in aspects related to thetreatment of the post-harvest and preservationof fruit.

Collaborations with other institutions

The Institute collaborates with the HortRe-search Research Centre from New Zealand, inthe development of a sweet fruit genetic enhan-cement programme. Similarly, the IRTA alsohas an antenna at the University of California, onthe Davis campus, where a researcher from theInstitute is engaged in tasks in the field of gene-tic engineering and in the improvement of in vitroreproduction of crops which are of commercialinterest. The IRTA also collaborates with theFrench Technical Swine Institute (IFIP) in thedevelopment of new animal production and wel-fare techniques applied to swine, and with theSpanish Agency of International Cooperation(AECI) in holding meat technology specialisa-tion courses. It has also established stable col-laboration agreements with the INIA of Uruguayand the INTA of Argentina to develop program-mes for improving quality in the meat and fruitproduction of these countries. Finally, it is anactive member of the SAFE Consortium, whichbrings together experts in food safety questionsfrom different European countries. It seeks to doall of this maintaining high requirements and qua-lity in its internal management, which in 2002merited the ISO 9001 certification, renewed fora further three years in 2005.

Improve quality

In the coming years, the IRTA seeks to maintainits position as the research reference institute inthe food and agricultural sector in Catalonia.The collaboration policies with the other Cata-lan organisations that also conduct researchand innovation in similar areas will make it pos-sible for food and agricultural research to spreadall over Catalonia.

The new future challenges posed by theInstitute are, on the one hand, to satisfy the de-mands of a society that attaches increasinglygreater importance to the sustainable use of itsresources. This is particularly important in agri-culture and will be reflected with the promotionof the lines of research and innovation, in the sus-tainable use of water in agriculture and in the de-velopment of techniques to minimise the impact ofphytosanitary products. And on the other hand,

the consumer will also be one of the forces thatwill drive the lines of research. In the domain offood and agriculture, this will translate into the needto innovate in the aspects of convenience andsafety of the food products that are marketed. •

Institute for Food andAgricultural Researchand Technology (IRTA)Main Services:Passeig de Gràcia, 44, 3ª plE-08007 BarcelonaTel. +34 93 467 40 40www.irta.es

Dr. Josep TarragóDirector

Date of constitutionNovember, 1985

StructurePublic Company of the Governmentof Catalonia

Governing Board• Director General of IRTA• Ministry of Agriculture, Food

and Rural Action• Ministry of Economy and Finance• Ministry of Innovation, Universities

and Enterprise• Ministry of Health• Ministry of Environment and Housing• Representation of the Catalan

County Councils• Representation of the staff

President of the Scientific CommitteeDr. Joan Albaigés (CSIC)


Operatin Budget 200628.800.000,00 €31% is provided by the Governmentof Catalonia


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51T he Centre for Research in Animal Health(CReSA) is a private foundation whichwas set up in 1999 on the initiative of the

IRTA and the UAB. Located on the campus of thisuniversity, next to the School of Veterinary Medi-cine, the CReSA promotes research, technologicaldevelopment and training in the sphere of animalhealth in Catalonia, supporting the public adminis-tration and companies from the food and agricul-tural sector.

The Centre amalgamates the human poten-tial of the two founding institutions and leveragestechnologically advanced facilities that make it po-ssible to conduct virology, immunology, molecularbiology and microbiology studies. The headquartersof the CReSA, opened in 2003, boast very spe-cialised equipment, with high biological safety labo-ratories with level 3 biocontention that include ananimal stable to house farm and laboratory animals:swine, poultry, cattle, sheep, goats and rabbits.

Level 3 biocontention

The CReSA’s research is structured around sixresearch units: Pathogenesis of bacterial infection;Pathogenesis of viral infections; Parasitology andentomology; Epidemiology and field studies;Immunology; and Spongiform disease diagnosislaboratory (PRIOCAT).

Since research into animal diseases requiresthe adoption of biosecurity systems, the CReSAhas a level 3 biocontention unit, where the researchteam can carry out research with serious pathoge-nic agents listed as diseases notifiable to the WorldOrganisation for Animal Health (OIE).

The researchers carry out research into innova-tive and effective vaccines, they study epidemiology,immune response and pathogenic mechanisms, as-sess risks for human health and develop standard-ised models of infection and diagnostic techniques.

The diseases investigated include the Africanswine fever, the porcine reproductive and respirato-ry syndrome virus, the porcine influenza virus, theporcine circovirus, the hepatitis E virus, avian influen-za, Gumboro’s disease, bovine neosporosis, blue-tongue disease, reovirus and Salmonella enterica.

Research of general interest

The CReSA also conducts actions for the Govern-ment of Catalonia. Commissioned by the Depart-ment of Agriculture, Food and Rural Action, the

Centre has established plans for the monitoring andcontrol of different diseases, such as avian influenza,Newcastle’s disease, the West Nile virus, tuberculo-sis in cattle and goats, epizootic diseases, blue-tongue and neosporosis. It also collaborates withthe Department of Health in the diagnosis of spongi-form diseases and in the training and assessment ofslaughter house vets, and with the Agency of PublicHealth of Barcelona in urban bird diseases.

Besides the question of scientific interest,the studies carried on at the CReSA have differentimplications for consumers, producers and regula-tory institutions. The Centre acts as a dynamiser ofresearch highly focused on the problems and chal-lenges of the productive sectors. The Centre’s Ad-visory Board is comprised of fourteen companiesfrom the agricultural and livestock sector.

Funding

The income from the CReSA’s activity comes fromprojects obtained by means of national and Euro-pean competitive calls and through contracts withcompanies. By way of example of funding organi-sations, the main competitive projects are support-ed by the National Plan and by the Strategic Actionof Genomics, both of them by the Spanish Ministryof Education and Science, the 6th Framework Pro-gramme of the EU, the INIA-CCAA Subprogram-mes, the Scientific Technological Infrastructure Pro-jects (ERDF), the Integrated Actions and the SGRGrants to Research Groups. As for private funding,the CReSA has signed research contracts withmore than 35 companies from the food and agricul-tural sector with which they collaborate in basicresearch, technology, clinical trials for medicinalproduct authorisations, marketing research support,drug surveillance and experimental models.

Leadership in animal health

The CReSA has managed to focalise animal healthwork in Catalonia and has created a critical massof specialists. It has also proven itself to be a com-petitive centre at home, participating with very goodresults in competitive calls for public projects. At thesame time, it has collaborated with companies on acontract research basis. In the centre’s short periodof existence, three patents have been deposited,and a further two are in preparation.

The CReSA’s leadership is also corroboratedby the fact that it coordinates, in the CONSOLID-

ER-INGENIO 2010 programme, the PORCIVIRmultidisciplinary project (Pathogenesis of porcineviral diseases), which features the participation ofthe five most advanced national research groups inthis area (CISA-INIA, UCM, CBM-CSIC, CNB-CSIC and CReSA).

At the same time, CReSA members partici-pate on national and international committees, suchas the CVMP of the European Medicine Agency(EMEA), the CODEMVET of the Spanish Medi-cines Agency (AEM) and the AHAW panel of theEuropean Food Safety Authority (EFSA).

Pursuing consolidation

The CReSA is in the throes of a growth process,as demonstrated by the increase in investments,projects and personnel in recent years. Withregard to the future, it seeks to consolidate its posi-tion as a reference centre in animal health in Ca-talonia and therefore promote investment in moreefforts and resources to give researchers an envi-ronment of excellence. •

Centre for Researchin Animal Health (CReSA)Campus de la UAB. 08193 BellaterraTel. +34 93 581 32 84www.cresa.es

Dr. Mariano Domingo Director

Date of constitution 1999

Structure Foundation

Board of Trustees• Autonomous University of Barcelona• IRTA



Centre for Researchin Animal Health CReSA

Research for the controlof animal diseases


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52 T here can be no doubt that plants areessential to the development of humanspecies. Not only do they form the basis

of our feeding, but throughout history they have alsoprovided other indispensable products: fibre, fuels,medicines, etc. In the past, knowledge of plants wasessential for the survival of the species and there isno doubt that it will continue to be so in the future.

Nowadays, this knowledge is provided by mo-lecular techniques and more particularly genomics,which offers new possibilities to face up to the pro-blems of making food and other industrial productsfor an increasingly more numerous and demandingpopulation. As the demand for higher quality andsafer foods increases, the basic research in thegenomics of vegetal and animal species and itsapplication to food and agriculture has become apriority in most of the developed countries.

The Centre of Agrigenomic Research (CRAG)uses the tools developed in the area of genomicsto study the structure and the function of thegenes of vegetal species, as well as animals, thatare of interest in terms of food and agriculture. Theobjective is to find applications, from the develop-ment of molecular markers to the genetic improve-ment of the species, in accordance with the needsof the agricultural and livestock sectors and in col-laboration with companies.

The convergence of different research groups

The Centre’s origins are to be found in the Mole-cular Vegetal Genetics Laboratory, created in 2003as a consortium between CSIC and IRTA andwhich, following the recent inclusion of the UAB,has taken on the name of CRAG. Thus, it incor-porates the people and resources from differentdepartments: the Molecular Genetics departmentof the Institute of Molecular Biology of Barcelonaof the CSIC, located in the Research and Deve-lopment Centre in Pedralbes; the Vegetal Geneticsdepartment of the IRTA, in Cabrils (Barcelona);the Animal Genetics department of the School ofVeterinary Sciences of the UAB in Bellaterra (Bar-celona); and the Plant Molecular Biology depart-ment of the same university.

This year, work will begin on the constructionof a new building that will house all the CRAG’sresearch groups. Located in Bellaterra, it is ex-pected to employ 150 people and will provideservices which, besides being internal, will also be

offered to other academic institutions or compa-nies. These services include greenhouses, in vitrocultures, microscopy and image analysis, geno-typing, genomics, DNA sequencing, proteomicsand the analysis of the presence of geneticallymodified organisms in food.

The connection with industry

The CRAG wishes to become a basic institutionin Catalonia for the promotion and transfer of thepossibilities of modern biotechnology to the pri-vate sector. The CRAG groups have been inten-sively active in contract research with companies.Attention may be drawn to the existence of a mixedresearch unit of Semillas Fitó, the first totally Spa-nish-owned seed company, in the centre in Cabrils;the participation of the CRAG researchers in thelaunch of two spin-offs: Oryzon genomics and ERA-Plantech; and the collaboration agreement withApplus-Gen.

Research contracted with companies is oneof the CRAG’s sources of funding, plus the con-tributions from the institutions of the consortiumand the Government of Catalonia, as well as par-ticipation in Catalan, Spanish and European com-petitive research programmes.

The centre’s success stories

The CRAG applied research groups work particu-larly on Cucurbitaceae and Prunus Genomics pro-grammes in the case of plants, and dog and swineGenomics in animals. Genotyping tools have beendeveloped to use molecular markers that are usedas quality control and permit the genetic improve-ment of different species.

In basic research, work is conducted withArabidopsis thaliana, tomato and cereals, for thestudy of different processes related to the develop-ment of plants and their relationship with the envi-ronment, with phenomena such as biotic stress(bacterial or viral attacks or fungi) and abioticstress (drought, salinity). Mention must also be ma-de of the study of gene regulation mechanisms inplants and the research into protein productionin vegetal species.

The CRAG’s researchers were the first toisolate genes in Catalonia and one of the pioneersin studying the structure and expression of vege-tal genes and to develop molecular markers in

Europe. They have also participated in internation-al projects to obtain genomes of different speciesof scientific and economic interest, such as themelon, the plum tree and strawberry plants.

Future

Conversations have taken place for the UB and theUdL to join the CRAG. The objective is to increasethe dimension of the Centre and promote collabora-tion with other academic groups and companies tomake the CRAG a reference institution in the southof Europe.

Before that, however, the work on the newheadquarters and the integration of the differentgroups must take place. Although the model of con-sortium between research institutions of the govern-ments of Catalonia and Spain is new in our country,this experience has been highly positive and all itspossibilities must be leveraged in the centre’s newstage. •

Centre of AgrigenomicResearch (CRAG)Carrer Jordi Girona, 18-2608034 BarcelonaTelèfon +34 93 400 61 29

Dr. Pere Puigdomènec, Director

Date of constitution April, 2004

Structure Consortium

Governing Board• IRTA• Spanish Council of Scientific

Research (CSIC)• Autonomous University of Barcelona

President of the Scientific CommitteeDr. Michel Delseny. CNRS (France)


Operating Budget 20062.282.000,00 €39,44% is provided by the Govermentof Catalonia

Centre of Agrigenomic Research CRAG

Research in genomics for the agriculturaland livestock sector


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53T he core mission of the Centre for Rege-nerative Medicine of Barcelona (CMRB)is to research with embryos and embryo-

nic stem cells of different species to ascertain thebasic mechanisms in initial development and or-ganogenesis, as well as the application of cell linesderived from stem cells in degenerative diseasesby means of research in regenerative medicine.

In November 2003, the new law on assis-ted reproduction was enacted, permitting inves-tigation with frozen human embryos and withthe stem cells derived from them. A few monthslater, in July 2004, a scientific collaboration agree-ment between the Government of Catalonia andthe Instituto de Salud Carlos II I of the SpanishMinistry of Health and Consumer Affairs gavethe green light to the creation of the CMRB.

Occupying a surface area of 2,500 sqm inthe PRBB building, the CMRB is comprised oftwo elements: the Research Centre and the CellLine Bank, receiving the support of technologi-cal platforms.

The Research Centre

Comprised of basic and applied research labora-tories, the Research Centre is the largest struc-tural unit of the CMRB. Its activity is based onresearch into regenerative medicine which, bymeans of cell and tissue therapy, seeks to replacedamaged or lost cells and tissues as a conse-quence of degenerative diseases. The results ofthis research may be applied to fields such as car-diovascular medicine, neurodegenerative disea-ses, osteoarticular degenerative conditions andcertain endocrine diseases such as diabetes.

At the same time, basic studies in devel-opmental biology target basic research in theearly development of embryos and cell differen-tiation, organogenesis mechanisms and cell, tis-sue and organ regeneration mechanisms.

The Research Centre also promotes thetraining of specialised research personnel incollaboration with other institutions.

The Stem Cell Bank

The Stem Cell Bank of Barcelona (BLCB) is afunctional unit of the CMRB dedicated to the

derivation, maintenance, characterisation andpreservation of embryo stem cells to developresearch activities in the area of regenerativemedicine. Its mission will be to generate andmaintain a record of stem cell lines both pro-duced in the Centre and deposited by otherbanks in order to improve research in the area ofembryo stem cells with its own research project.In terms for infrastructures, the Bank is com-prised of cell culture, characterisation and cryo-biology laboratories.

As a main midterm objective, the BLCBproject will reach the capacity to create xenobio-tic-free cell lines and in GMP conditions toobtain material that can be used in clinical re-search. The close collaboration between theBLCB and the CMRB research laboratory willmake it possible to optimise culture conditionswith the aim of carrying out research in the the-rapeutic fields.

Technological platforms

In order to be able to provide high-level techno-logical support to the research team, the Centrehas bioimaging, histology, flow cytometry,embryo micromanipulation, aquatic animals andcell culture platforms.

The CMRB platforms are designed as areasof cooperation between technical specialistsand researchers. For the development of thescientific objectives, each platform addresseshow to approach and establish the processes,using the most suitable techniques and the mostprecise equipment. To this end, highly sophisti-cated equipment and technology, as well asspecialists, have been incorporated onto eachplatform.

The model of constant and dynamic ex-change of information between different plat-forms renders it possible to complete and inter-relate the different studies and experiments beingcarried out.

Groundbreaking collaborations

Finally, it should also be said that the CMRBhas set up international links with centres en-gaged in cutting-edge research in regenerative

medicine, including the Salk Institute and the Uni-versity of Harvard, in the United States, the Univer-sity of Cambridge in the United Kingdom and theUniversities of Tokyo and Kobe in Japan. •

Centre of RegenerativeMedicine of Barcelona (CMRB)Parc de Recerca Biomèdica de Barcelona (PRBB)Doctor Aiguader, 88E-08003 BarcelonaTel. +34 93 316 03 00www.cmrb.eu

Dr. Juan Carlos IzpisúaDirector


StructureFoundation

Board of Trustees• Ministry of Health• Ministry of Innovation, Universities

and Enterprise• Spanish Ministry of Health

and Consumer Affairs• Spanish Council of Scientific

Research (CSIC)• University of Barcelona• Autonomous University of Barcelona• Pompeu Fabra University• City Council of Barcelona

Total presonnel engagedin the centre37


Centre of Regenerative Medicine of BarcelonaCMRB

Research in stem cells for therapeutic purposes


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54 H ow does the environment in which welive affect the risk of diseases? This is thequestion that drives the activities of the

Centre for Research in Environmental Epidemio-logy (CREAL), an institution created at the end of2005 with the mission of promoting and develo-ping advanced epidemiological research into theenvironmental factors that affect human health inorder to help prevent and control their harmfuleffects.

The CREAL’s research is mainly focused onthe study of environmental determinants of respi-ratory diseases, cancer and the early effects ofenvironmental pollutants during the first years oflife of children. This research has a very practicalfinality, geared towards the development of healthprotection policies that will lead to a decrease indiseases and social disabilities due to environ-mental exposure.

Proven experience

The CREAL is a joint initiative by the IMIM-IMAS,the UPF and the Government of Catalonia. How-ever, despite its recent constitution, the Centrehas inherited a legacy of environmental epidemi-ological research promoted initially by the Respi-ratory and Environmental Research Unit (URRA)of the IMIM.

Thus, the research personnel engaged havegreat experience in the research and assessment ofinformation systems, assessment of environmentalrisks and crisis situation management, as well astraining in methods of environmental epidemiologyand knowledge management. In the future, theCREAL is expected to have at least ten indepen-dent researchers and a workforce of eighty people,including post-doctoral and pre-doctoral resear-chers, technical assistants and administrative staff.

The CREAL was installed in the PRBB inthe course of 2006. In this new building, coexis-tence with other scientific centres will make it pos-sible to increase opportunities for knowledge andtechnology transfer and guarantee the streamlin-ing of resources and services.

Research in very frequent diseases

The lines of research are of great relevance to pu-blic health in our society.

The first is dedicated to the prevention ofrespiratory diseases. National and international stu-dies examine the environmental determinants ofdiseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonarydisease and asthma, in children and adults. Re-search into occupational risk factors is also a prio-rity, including the study of the respiratory effects ofexposure to cleaning products and the interactionof environmental exposures with genetic factors.

Research in cancer is the CREAL’s secondline of action. Its main initiative is the aetiology ofbladder cancer, paying special attention to occu-pational and environmental factors, such as drin-king water pollutants and their relationship withgenetic sensibility factors. In addition, the rese-arch group participates in other studies in Spainand Europe that analyse cancer due to occupa-tional reasons, the environmental and genetic cau-ses of pancreatic cancer, the carcinogenicity ofdioxins and the clinical and molecular aspects ofthe aetiology and prognosis of bladder cancer.

Finally, the assessment of the environmentalpollutant effects on the children’s health is regar-ded as a priority area of international research.Therefore, the CREAL has focused on the asses-sment of the intrauterine and postnatal growth,including the maturing of the neurobehaviouralsystem in children and the assessment of otherreproductive effects. The main exposures on whichresearch is carried out are air pollution, water pollu-tion with chlorination by-products, exposure toorganochlorinated agents and heavy metals, expo-sure to very low-frequency electromagnetic fields,the pollution of indoor environments and nutrition.

Projects outside Catalonia

At the moment, the Centre is participating in sixinternational projects in the international consortiumof bladder cancer and in European networks suchas GA2LEN-The Global Allergy and Asthma Euro-pean Network, EARNEST-Early nutrition program-ming and NewGeneris-New-borns and GenotoxicExposure Risks, among others. And at the sametime it is collaborating in eleven national projectsincluding the Network of Research Centres in Epi-demiology and Public Health (RCESP), Child-hood and the Environment (INMA) and the Multi-disciplinary network for the study of the aetiology,clinics and molecular genetics of bladder urinarycancer (EPICUR-RED).

Future: consolidation of past experience

The immediate future of the CREAL depends onthe consolidation in the Centre of the benefits ofthe experience of the URRA, always taking intoaccount the commitment to environmental health.To this end, the CREAL will strive to promote ma-ximum scientific quality and postgraduate trainingin environmental epidemiology topics.

At this moment in time, the new researcherrecruitment plan is under way, as is the constitu-tion of the Advisory Scientific Committee, compri-sed of internationally renowned researchers.Work is also ongoing on a consultancy initiativewith the General Board of Public Health on airand water pollution. •

Centre for Research in EnvironmentalEpidemiology (CREAL)Edicifi PRBBDoctor Aiguader, 88. E-08003 BarcelonaTel. +34 93 316 05 80www.creal.cat

Dr. Josep M. Antó, Director

Date of constitution Desembre, 2005



and Enterprise• Ministry of Health• Municipal Institute of Medical Research• Pompeu Fabra University

President of the Advisory ScientificCommitteeProf. John Samet. Johns HopkinsBloomberg School of Public Health (USA)



Centre for Researchin EnvironmentalEpidemiology CREAL

Research for the preventionof diseases caused byenvironmental factors


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55A fter a period of incubation in the Scien-tific Park of Barcelona, the Institute forResearch in Biomedicine (IRB) of Bar-

celona became a foundation in 2005 with the par-ticipation of the Government of Catalonia, the UBand the Scientific Park of Barcelona.

Since the outset, the IRB Barcelona has pro-ven itself to be firmly committed to becoming a re-ference model for future high level research centres.Quality, cooperation between different researchgroups and external projection are the definingtraits of the research developed at the Institute.

The initial scientific structure

The centre brings together researchers of provenscientific excellence heading research lines thatcomplement each other. The main investigators ofIRB Barcelona come from the actual Institute, theUB, the ICREA and the CSIC.

Currently, there are twenty-five scientificleaders grouped in five research programmes:Cell and development biology; Structural andcomputational biology; Molecular medicine;Oncology; and molecular chemistry and pharma-cology. The definition of the programmes coversfive priority areas of biomedicine. They have beendesigned with a future vision, with the possibilityof their growing or being restructured accordingto new opportunities that arise.

In the coming years, the IRB Barcelona hasto consolidate its position as a centre of excel-lence. International calls are used to recruit newscientists that join each one of the five researchprogrammes. Thus, the current twenty-five groupsare expected to be extended to forty. The fastest-growing programmes are Oncology, which inclu-des the Metastasis Laboratory, supervised by theprestigious scientist Joan Massagué, who is alsothe assistant director of the centre.

The international visibility of the Institutedepends to a large extent on the recruitment offirst-line research personnel, the continuousassessment of research, the suitability of tech-nology platforms and scientific services, and adecided commitment to cutting-edge research.

Science and transfer

Every research group has fully equipped laborato-ries that benefit from a wide network of scientific

and technical services that include, advancedmicroscopy, high resolution nuclear magnetic reso-nance, crystallisation robots, proteomic servicesand an animal housing facility. The Institute is alsoestablishing a series of in-house services headedby high technical level scientists. The Drosophila In-jection Service, the Mouse Mutant Core Facility andthe Genomics Core Facility are already operating.

As for research, the added value of the IRBBarcelona is the fact that it has a great potentialfor the design and development of new drugs. Theinteraction of the scientists with the national andinternational pharmaceutical companies in thePark permits a continuous flow of ideas that facil-itates technology transfer.

Realising that Barcelona has become one ofthe most important cities in biomedical research inthe South of Europe, with the constitution of thebackground BioRegion, the IRB Barcelona main-tains links that strengthen the Catalan capital city’sappeal as a pole of attraction for competitive scien-tists. These collaborations target both hospitals andresearch centres in biomedicine in the immediateenvironment and the main institutes in this sphere inEurope and the United States.

PhD students: a future value

A key piece of quality research centres is theirPhD students. The Institute hosts students fromall over the world with the desire to innovate andproduce new knowledge in the centre’s area ofinterest. The support to the pre- and post-doc-toral student research translates into the actualresearch project and a varied offer of seminarsand conferences. The IRB Barcelona organisesspecific weekly or fortnightly seminars in eachone of the research programmes, as well asweekly plenary seminars, with the participationof speakers from centres from all over the world.

International projection

It also organises congresses featuring outstand-ing scientists. The first one, with the collaborationof the ICREA, was held in October 2006, andaddressed Drosophila, the fruit fly, as a model forthe diagnosis and care of human diseases.

The Institute also organises a series of in-ternational biomedical conferences titled Barce-lona BioMed Conferences. The first two were

held in October and December, 2006: NMR inDrug Discovery and RNAi: basic biology to clin-ical impact, with resounding success. A furtherthree have been scheduled for 2007: The regu-lation of Chromatin functions, Inflammation andchronic disease and Stem cells and cancer.

At the same time, other activities gearedtowards bringing science to society are beingconducted, such as the Forums and Workshops, atwhich general interest biomedical questions areaddressed.

Thus, the IRB Barcelona has the scientificpotential, ideas and motivation to develop advan-ced knowledge in biomedicine, promote local wealthwith business ideas emerging from research, andundertake scientific and informative initiatives with amajor impact on science and society. •

Institut for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona)Parc Científic de BarcelonaJosep Samitier, 1-5E-08028 BarcelonaTel. +34 93 403 71 11www.irbbarcelona.org

Dr. Joan GuinovartDirector

Date of constitution October, 2005



and Enterprise• Ministry of Health• University of Barcelona• Scientific Park of Barcelona

Scientific CommitteeBeing constituted in 2007



Institute for Researchin Biomedicine IRB Barcelona

Towards a research modelin biomedicine


SOCIAL SCIENCIES


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T he fundamental objective of the Centrefor Demographic Studies (CED) is the systematic follow-up of the demograph-

ic patterns and tendencies in Catalonia, Spainand Europe. In this framework, its activities revol-ve around the basic and applied research setting,specialised teaching and training in populationstudies, the dissemination of knowledge and theestablishment and the maintenance of scientificand institutional links with other national and inter-national centres engaged in similar work.

The CED is a public consortium comprisedof the Government of Catalonia and the UABwhich has its own legal identity, as established inits founding act in 1985. The centre, however,had already undertaken its activities at the begin-ning of 1984, when the first agreement wassigned between the institutions of the consortiummembers.

A team of fifty people

Since 1994, the CED has occupied a new build-ing, with a surface area of almost 1,400 sqm,located in the Bellaterra campus of the UAB. Thisbuilding currently houses around fifty people,including own and associated research doctors–a total of fifteen–, pre-doctoral fellows, supportto research technicians, technical managementpersonnel and administrative workers. Moreover,a variable number of professors and researchersfrom other universities and research centres thatparticipate in research and teaching activitiesvisit it.

The centre has a specialised library anddocumentation centre, in which the scientificcommunity and university have all the Catalanpopulation statistics since 1787 available, plus abroad themed bibliography with some 9,000books and subscription to ninety journals andperiodicals.

The research subjects

The research lines are dealt with by differentresearch teams organised in three ConsolidatedResearch Groups. These are the Population Stu-dy Group, the Demographic and MigrationsStudies Group and the Spatial DemographicsResearch Group.

The main topics are demographic forecast-ing and surveying, international migrations, thespatial distribution of the population and inhabi-tants, the mobility and use of time, historic popu-lation studies, economic demography, regionaldemography, studies on the family, aging andmortality.

Dissemination tools

The conclusions of the different research worksare initially disseminated via the «DemographyPapers» working paper which, with around 300issues published, is the leading tool for the publi-cation of work, articles and papers by researchpersonnel. Moreover, dissemination is also car-ried out through a monthly electronic bulletin, col-laboration in specialised books and journals andparticipation in national and international scientif-ic congresses and meetings.

For example, on the occasion of its twentyyears of existence, throughout which the CED

Centre for Demografic Studies CED

Monitoring demographic evolution


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58has been promoted as a reference centre inapplied research in demography in Catalonia andSpain, Working days on the Population ofCatalonia were organised in February 2005where the centre presented the main results ofthe recent research in this area. In this same line,the CED will be organising the next EuropeanDemography Congress in July 2008.

Training and projection abroad

With regard to training activities, mention shouldbe made of the postgraduate programmeMethods and Techniques for Population Study,prepared by the CED between 1988 and 2006,and the Demography PhD which it has organisedjointly with the Department of Geography of theUAB since 1994.

As of 2006-2007, and due to the reform ofpostgraduates in the framework of the EuropeanHigher Education Space, this PhD has becomepart of the «Geography, demography and territori-al planning» Official Postgraduate Programmeand can be accessed from the Master in Territorialand Population Studies. Finally, it is also important to mention that theCED was designated by the European Commis-sion as a Marie Curie training site in the fifthFramework Programme, and that it has led twoeditions of the ALFAPOP population studies net-work, which has permitted the exchange of PhDstudents between European and Latin Americanuniversities.

Indeed, and pursuing its international links,the CED belongs to another outstanding networkof teaching and research centres in demography,the European network of training programmes inpopulation studies. As for Spain, the CED alsoparticipates in the population, development andreproductive health Interest group, and inCatalonia it is part of the themed network of stud-ies on the family and kinship.

Recently, the CED has been seeking tofurther its international projection. The last fiveyears have spurred on basic research targetinga greater internationalisation of centre’s activi-ties, thanks to the acceleration of the academicmaturation process of the research personnel.The research personnel participates mainly in theactivities of the main scientific associations of thediscipline: the International Union for the ScientificStudy of Population (IUSSP), the European As-sociation for Population Studies (EAPS), Popu-lation Association of America (PAA) and the Latin-American Population Association (ALAP).

Competitive and non-competitive income

The funding of the CED comes from two largesources: the first, the non-competitive incomefrom the contributions of the two institutions of theconsortium, the Government of Catalonia and theUAB, which put up, between them both, about45% of the Centre’s funding (35% and 10%,respectively); and the latter, the competitiveincome obtained by means of public calls for theimplementation of research projects and fundingcomplementary to research, or else by means ofcontract research, which account for the other55% of the centre’s total funding. The latter 55%thus comprises the CED’s basic and appliedresearch and is broken down into 20% and 35%,respectively.

The future

The CED is a consolidated institution that looks tothe future with a view to promoting excellence inits activities, further globalising its work teams,improving the dissemination of research and uni-versalising, as far as possible, the scope of itsresults. •

Centre for DemograficStudies (CED)Campus de la UABEdifici E2E-08193 BellaterraTel. +34 93 581 30 60www.ced.uab.es

Dra. Anna Cabré, Director


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T he commitment of the Centre for Re-search in International Economy (CREI)research personnel is to contribute to a

better understanding of how the economy ope-rates in modern society. Such an understan-ding, based on rigorous study, is necessary inorder to improve the design of policies and ins-titutions with the aim of promoting economicgrowth and raising the welfare of citizens allover the world.

It is an institution created in 1994 by theGovernment of Catalonia and the UPF. Locatedin the Ciutadella campus of this university, itconducts research into the international eco-nomics and macroeconomics, understood in abroad sense, i.e. the study of economic growth,business cycles, monetary economics, interna-tional trade and finance, economic geography,etc. Given its origin, location and spirit, the Cen-tre strives to emphasize the European dimen-sions of these study fields.

The CREI seeks to promote research withthe highest academic standards. Always in con-nection with that research dimension, the Cen-tre also wants to be a source for education anddissemination of new ideas. Thus, it sees its pro-ximity to the Department of Economics at theUPF as very favourable, and with which it collabo-rates in many research and teaching activities.

Strategic recruitment plan

The Centre’s research activities are carried outby a group of in-house researchers, as well asby associate researchers from the UPF commu-nity. In 2001, the Governing Board of the CREIsigned an agreement to promote a strategicplan which entailed, among other aspects, therecruitment of twelve full-time researchers forthe next five years, and the development of newfacilities to accommodate the new researchersand expand the scope of their activities. Theguidance and support of a Scientific AdvisoryBoard, composed of a significant number ofleading academics in the field of macroecono-mics and international economics plays a keyrole in this new phase of expansion.

Market imperfections and speculation

The CREI researchers currently have two mainlines of research. In the first place, «Market im-perfections, stabilisation and welfare policies»,whose finality is to go deeper into knowledge onthe nature of the economic fluctuations in mo-dern economies and, specifically, their role as acause or mechanism of propagation thereof dueto different types of imperfections or frictions.Two of these imperfections studied by researchare: financial imperfections, limiting the capacityof consumers and companies to efficiently fundconsumption expenses or current investmentsagainst future income; and real rigidities in thejob market, whose immediate effect is to ham-per or slow down the current adjustment of realsalaries in response to variations in employmentcoming from different shocks.

The other research line examines the «Ma-croeconomic effects of speculative bubbles». Itsobjective is to model the analysis of the eco-nomic effects of the so-called speculative bub-bles, a phenomenon consisting of the existenceof a persistent deviation in the price of an asset

Centre for Research and International Economy CREI

The study of the economyto improve society


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60(financial or real) and its fundamental value (jus-tified by the income it is expected to generate).Research on this topic is based on the hypoth-esis that agents are rational and the bubbles arenot a market failure, but rather are caused by anexisting failure.

A new building

At the moment the CREI has two research proj-ects funded by the Spanish Ministry of Educa-tion and Science for the two aforementionedlines of research. Moreover, the Agency for Ma-nagement of University and Research Grants(AGAUR) awarded the CREI a support subsidyfor research in the 2005 edition.

As for the distribution of investments, in2002 an agreement was signed between theCREI, the UPF and the Government of Cata-lonia agreeing to the construction of a buil-ding on the Ciutadella campus of the UPFwhich will host the new centre. The estimatedinvestment for the construction of this buildingis 1,813,000 euros for the 2002-2006 period.Of this amount, 1.5 million corresponds to civilwork and the rest to scientific equipment. TheGovernment of Catalonia will subsidise all the fun-ding the CREI needs for it to address the con-struction of the centre.

International echo

The CREI’s greatest success was clinching therecruitment of a group of top-notch internatio-nal senior and junior researchers. Thanks to this,the Centre has already produced research onmacroeconomic, monetary and fiscal policies,speculative bubbles and the effects of globali-sation, with results that have had a major inter-national echo. Despite having a small researchCentre, the CREI has had an influence on theresearch of other researchers all over the world.

Another one of the CREI’s most singularsuccess stories is the organisation of the Barce-lona Macroeconomics Summer School (BMSS),a summer school where the members of the

Centre publicise their research to professors, PhDstudents and policy makers such as members ofcentral banks or governmental organisations.

It should be said that the Centre also par-ticipates actively in many of the initiatives, con-ferences and projects of the Centre for Eco-nomy Policy Research (CEPR) in the UnitedStates of America and the National Bureau ofEconomic Research (NBER) in the United King-dom. At the same time, it acts as coordinator ofa Research Training Network (RTN) project of theEuropean Commission, in which other partici-pants include the Humboldt University of Berlin,the University of Amsterdam, the Centre for Eco-nomic Policy Research (CEPR), the EuropeanUniversity Institute of Florence, the London Bu-siness School, the University of Copenhagen andthe Graduate Institute of International Studies ofGeneva.

Practical results

When talking about technology transfer, wemust remember that the nature of the scientificoutput of the CREI means that its results are notmarketable. This does not mean that these resultsdo not have a practical application in the medi-um-and even long term, for example, in the de-sign of macroeconomic and financial policies.This is why the members of the CREI have goneto explain their research to the Central Euro-pean Bank, the Federal Reserve of the USA, thecentral banks, the International Monetary Fund,the World Bank and the International Develop-ment Bank, among others.

Future ambition

The CREI’s future challenge is to double its sizeuntil it can host twelve permanent researchersand increase scientific output and its interna-tional resonance. The centre seeks to maintainexcellence and become, together with the De-partment of Economics of the UPF, the best ma-croeconomics and international economics centrein Europe. •

Centre for Research inInternational Economy (CREI)Universitat Pompeu FabraRamon Trias Fargas, 25-27E-08005 BarcelonaTel. +34 93 542 24 98www.crei.cat

Dr. Jordi GalíDirector


StructureConsortium


and Entreprise• Presidential Department• Pompeu Fabra University




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T he ruins of the ancient Tarraco, the magni-ficent capital of the province of Tarragona in the Roman Empire, offer the optimum

setting for the study of classic civilisation and cul-ture in Catalonia. The building of the old ProvincialForum Market of Tarraco houses the Catalan Ins-titute of Classical Archaeology (ICAC).

The ICAC carries out research, educationand the dissemination of the knowledge providedby Classical Archaeology, more specifically of theancient Mediterranean civilisation, such as theGreeks and Romans and others that were direct-ly related to them. Founded in 2000 as a publicconsortium consisting of the URV and the Go-vernment of Catalonia, it particularly deals with thewealth of Catalan archaeological heritage andwishes to expand its recognition.

Other objectives of the centre are the appli-cation of the most innovative sciences and tech-niques to archaeological research; coordinationwith other national and international research cen-tres that work in the same field; the promotion ofworking with universities to create an internationalcooperation platform that is to be a scientific re-ference in the European Research Space; coopera-tion with institutions dedicated to the managementof the archaeological heritage to contribute to itsscientific leverage; support to interdisciplinaryresearch with experimentation in new auxiliaryanalysis techniques; the promotion of advancededucation in this field of knowledge and the dis-semination of research outcomes.

The specialisation of research

The scientific work of the ICAC, very diverse andinterdisciplinary, is based in four research linesspanning the basic specialities of classical archaeo-logy. Every line gives rise to projects promoted bythe Institute itself or by universities, institutionsand research groups with which the ICAC hassigned cooperation agreements.

The first research line is called «The archae-ology of the ancient city» and analyses the pro-cesses of establishment, growth, organisationand evolution of ancient cities on the basis of theirarchaeological remains. The second is the «Lands-cape archaeology, settlement and territory»,studying the landscape, forms of settlement andenvironmental, social and human organisation ofthe territory in ancient times. «Instrumentun do-mesticum. Trade and materials in the ancient world»is the third line, dedicated to examining the ar-chaeological materials of ancient times to deter-mine commercial activity and its political, socialand economic implications. And finally, «Classicalarchaeology and artistic productions» studies thephenomenon of the artistic creation of olden daysand the archaeological documents derived from it:sculpture, painting, mosaics, crafts, etc. This lineof research also deals with other closely relatedfields of study, such as, iconography, handcraftedproducts, the social use of plastic arts and theirmore ideological aspects.

Furthermore, the ICAC has also establishedthree transversal methodological research pro-grammes which develop applied disciplines rela-ted to classical archaeology. These transversalprogrammes are: «Methods and techniques of theexperimental sciences applied to Classical Ar-chaeology. Archaeometry, Palaeoenvironment andEnvironmental Archaeology», «Information andCommunication Technologies (ICT) applied to Clas-sical Archaeology» and «Classical Archaeology

Catalan Institute of Classical ArchaeologyICAC

The study of ancient mediterraneancivilisation conducted from Tarraco


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and Antiquity Sciences. Written sources, epigra-phy and numismatics».

The example of outstanding projects

Articulated on the different lines and programmes,the ICAC is currently conducting thirty-nine re-search projects, which seek to promote interac-tion between the different institutions and agentsof classical archaeology. By way of example, thefollowing projects may be mentioned:

«Archaeological Planimetry of Tarraco» seeksto draw up an archaeological ground plan of theRoman city of Tarraco in different chronologicalperiods. This project has enjoyed the collabora-tion of all the archaeologists, more than fifty, thathave worked in Tarragona in recent years. It isjointly funded by the Museum of History of Tarra-gona and the ICAC, and enjoys the collaborationof the General Board of Cultural Heritage throughthe Area of Knowledge and Research and theNational Archaeological Museum of Tarragona.

Another project is «The Roman Archaeolo-gical Site of Can Tacó and its Surroundings (Mont-meló-Montornès del Vallès, Vallès Oriental)», bornof the cooperation between the Town and CityCouncils of Montmeló and Montornès del Vallèsand the ICAC. It deals with studying the chronol-ogy and the typology of a castellum from the firststages of Romanisation and its territorial contextin a strategic point on the Via Augusta.

Mention must also be made of the «Study ofthe Ancient Archaeological Landscape of theAger Tarraconensis», featuring the participation ofsixteen city councils of Tarragona, the CountyCouncil of El Tarragonès, the Regional Council ofEl Tarragonès, the Regional Council of El BaixCamp, the Institute of Catalan Studies and the pri-vate company Acesa, with a view to studying theevolution of landscape of the Ager Tarraconensis,to the right of the Francolí river, between theIberian period and the late antiquity.

Finally, another project refers to the «LandOccupation and Forms of Mountain Landscape inthe Western Pyrenees, from Ancient Times to theMiddle Ages», focusing on the study of the archae-ological signs of anthropisation of the Pyreneanmountain spaces, with preferential attention to pas-toralism in the antiquity. It is a collaboration with theSeminar of Studies and Prehistoric Research of theUniversity of Barcelona, the Institute of Earth Scien-ces Jaume Almera of the CSIC, the Limnology Unitof the Centre for Advanced Studies of Blanes andthe Historical Research Service of the Governmentof Andorra.

Resources

The projects are led by in-house or associatedresearch personnel, by external research person-nel, as collaborators or visitors, and by fellowshipresearch personnel. Overall, the ICAC now em-ploys twenty-five researchers, aided by researchsupport personnel and administration staff.

The governing body of the Institute is theBoard of Management, comprising a Director andan Administrator who perform executive work.Moreover, a Scientific Advisory Board, comprisingdifferent experts of international renown and thecoordinators of the lines and the programmes,monitors and assesses the centre’s activities.

The Institute is funded by the Government ofCatalonia and is complemented by contributions

from other administrations via competitive an-nouncements and the procurement of services byother public or private institutions. The Institute isalso sponsored by other companies in differentprojects. Thus, for example, the ICAC has beenfunded by the Spanish Ministry of Education andScience, the Government of Andorra, differentcity councils and by the private companies Repsoland Acesa, among others.

The ICAC’s headquarters, occupying 1,129sqm and located on the campus of the URV, wasgranted by the City Council of Tarragona when itwas officially opened, in 2003.

Contribution to training

Besides research, another one of the objectivesaccomplished by the ICAC was the preparation,for the 2006-2008 biennial, of an Interuniversityand International Master in Classical Archaeology.It is being done jointly with two Catalan universi-ties, the URV and the UAB, and two foreign ones,the Université de Provence and the SecondaUniversità degli Studi di Napoli. The master hasreceived the recognition of the Official Postgra-duate Programme.

This contribution to advanced teaching hasbeen complemented by the Introduction to Re-search with Scholarship (BIR) programme, whichfeatures the participation of different archaeologycompanies. The Institute has recruited pre-docto-ral scholarship holders for them to develop, in theframework of the ICAC’s scientific projects,research work to obtain the Advanced StudiesDiploma (DEA), as well as work experience. TheInstitute also has scholarship holders which, oncethe DEA has been obtained, lead to the PhD thesis.

Consolidation and growth

Regarding the future, the basic challenge of theICAC is the consolidation of its structure andactivities. In the field of research, it wants to sta-bilise the research team in collaboration with theother Catalan institutions so that they can becomea reference point in research into classical archae-ology, both in Catalonia and Europe.

To this end, it needs to consolidate the sup-port to research units, two of which have been

ongoing since the end of 2005: the GraphicalDocumentation Unit, dedicated to documentation,by means of drawings or photography of archae-ological sites, monuments and materials; and theArchaeometric Studies Unit, focusing initially onthe application of analytical techniques to inor-ganic archeological materials such as marble,mortar and ceramic, and in the archaeologicalinterpretation of the results. These two units havea twofold objective: on the one hand, to providesupport to the Institute’s own projects, and, on theother to offer its services to institutions and exter-nal companies.

As for the Documentation Centre–Library, theICAC will continue to work to concentrate the sci-entific information generated by the Institute andthe books and data bases needed for it to work. Itis on-line with the Collective Catalogue of the Uni-versity Libraries of Catalonia and seeks to coordi-nate, via IT, with other documentary centres thathave collections related to classical archaeology.

And in the era of advanced teaching in clas-sical archaeology, the Institute believes that it isalso necessary to consolidate supply in the fra-mework of intense national and international uni-versity collaboration to contribute to the trainingof leading professionals and researchers in thisfield. •

Catalan Institute of ClassicalArchaeology (ICAC)Pl. Rovellat, s/nE-43003 TarragonaTel. +34 977 249 133www.icac.net

Dr. Isabel Rodà de LlanzaDirector

Dr. Josep Guitart i DuranDirector 2002-2006

Date of constitutionMay, 2000

StructureConsortium


and Enterprise• Rovira i Virgili University




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H uman singularity is one of the mostsurprising phenomena in the course ofevolution of matter. The complexity of

our species is the fruit of a million years of evo-lution and the successive integration of differentbiological and cultural forms. Bipedism and theconsumption of meat explain the growth of ourcranial capacity and the emergence and deve-lopment of technology. Without it, we hominidswould never have overcome our physical preca-riousness or the hostility of the environment. Inother words, technology permitted hominisa-tion. The process of hominisation has integratedall biological acquisitions and techniques gene-rated by the different species of the Homo gen-re throughout its evolution. Our species is theonly one that has integrated all the knowledgeof the species that preceded us. Thanks to this,intraspecies cooperation and social intelligence,Homo sapiens was transformed into the mostversatile and adaptable animal.

The understanding of the specificity of man-kind, its origin and the mechanisms and processesthat have permitted our permanence, adaptationand progression on the planet is the main vector ofresearch of the Catalan Institute of Human Paleo-ecology and Social Evolution (IPHES). This centrewas set up in 2004 as an advanced transdiscipli-nary research institute dedicated to research andtraining in the life and earth sciences applied to thestudy of human evolution and social history. Throughits work in the field, laboratory and bureau studies,its finality is to promote a prospective knowledgeof the species to project the results obtained inevolutionist social research.

The application of knowledge of the species to the social sphere

As opposed to other prospective tools, the IPHESvindicates the scientific value of the analysis ofthe evolutionary processes of our species. Itsknowledge is the best point of departure toaddress the new changes mankind is facing.The Institute is thus conceived as an observatorywhich analyses the challenges and crossroads ofmankind and the new interaction with the envi-ronment, generating empirical, scientific, criticaland open knowledge that is transformed intothought. This may give rise to an application ofthe knowledge of the species at social sphere,on the basis of the development of conceptsand models emerging from an evolutionist con-ception of humanity.

The research focuses basically on the fieldsof archaeology, geology, biology and botany.Nevertheless, in contrast to a certain inertia ofthought fragmented into compartments, the IPHESdoes not regard any branch of science as aliento its activity, and promotes a line of integralresearch, structured through nodules of knowl-edge that are organised and networked.

The team that generates the knowledge

The scientific core of the Centre is comprisedby an transdisciplinary team with internationalprestige in their respective fields, based on theintegration of the research personnel of theURV, more specifically the Human Autoecologyof the Quaternary research group and other uni-versities and research groups, including themembers of the research team of Atapuerca, in

Catalan Instituteof Human Paleoecologyand Social EvolutionIPHES

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Burgos, and the Guadix-Baza Basin in Granada.The Centre now has its own and associate

staff which is funded by different institutions,such as the URV, the ICREA, the Spanish Mi-nistry of Education and Science and the Ata-puerca Foundation. Eighty people went throughthe centre in 2006 including researchers, asso-ciate and visiting professors, research supportexperts, human resources technicians, scholar-ship holders and administration staff.

The headquarters of the IPHES is in Tarra-gona, on the URV campus, and it has the facilitiesrequired to begin these activities: archaeobo-tanical laboratories, molecular archaeology, ge-oarchaeology, evolutional paleontology, archae-ological restoration and technology, as well asthe rings of the scientific and technical Resour-ces Services of the URV.

Moreover, collaborations with other nation-al and international organisations are conductedon the basis of the coordinated projects (CENIEH,ISCIII) and the new relations for institutionalisa-tion (INAH, Georgian State Museum).

The five axes of research

The centre’s research axes are organised ininteracting research lines and work moduleswhich, on the basis of evolution, project relatedprospection objectives. There are five axes.

The first one, called bioclimactic memory,is divided into the current research lines onbiochronology, the climate in the Plio-Pleistoce-ne, the climate in the Holocene and phylogenyand faunistic migrations. Among other objec-tives, it studies climactic change and the rela-tionships between hominids and nature.

Secondly, the axis dedicated to the evolu-tion of hominids develops the lines of gene-cul-ture coevolution, modes of subsistence, the oc-cupation of continents and the origin of Homosapiens. Their purposes, therefore, focus on theevolutional trends of the species, its biologicalorigin, the relationship between genetic evolu-tion and culture and the relationship betweenevolution, dentition and nutrition.

The third axis addresses technological de-velopment, studying the first technologies andtrying to quantify the degree of technologicaldevelopment and define a global diachronic ca-talogue of objects.

The fourth pertains to intelligence and so-cial learning. Its lines of research, which com-prise the study of the dehumanisation of human-ised primates, of household organisations andspatial behaviour, establish analysis of socialcohesion and the links between competition andevolution.

Finally, the axis on hominid socialisationexamines the graphic means of communicationin Prehistory, the socialisation of knowledge ofhuman evolution. Thus, it addresses the elementsof social integration, communication linked toevolution and the new technologies with regardto hominid resocialisation.

Towards a consolidated budget

During the Institute’s first year of operation, itssources of funding were mainly public. On thebasis of the personnel costs already providedby the URV and the competitive resources ob-tained, the contribution of the Government ofCatalonia has been added. But the IPHES hasalso defined other interest groups to expand pri-vate funding and eventually establish a consoli-dated budget in which 50% would be providedby the Government of Catalonia, 25% by the URVand the remaining 25% by private companies.

As all the basic needs in equipment arealready covered, the largest percentage of theinvestment targets the research personnel.Within the context of the centre, the foundingcontribution of the City Council of Tarragona asa founding trustee corresponds to the cofun-ding of the definitive building which is in theplanning phase. It should also be said that oneof the axes of activity of the IPHES is the ren-dering of archaeological analysis services bymeans of high-resolution instrumental techni-ques, and this permits the funding of an impor-tant part of the technical personnel.

The contribution to technology transfer

As a generator of knowledge in the areas of pre-history and human evolution, the new technologydevelopment capacity is not a primary objective ofthe centre. Nevertheless, the IPHES contributesto developing, with technology-based compa-nies and technology centres, new applicationsfor its research areas, which may then be exten-ded to other areas.

The creation of bridges with private com-panies has spawned different projects and eventhe registration of a patent.

The presence of the centre in the industrialsector comes by means of collaborations, ashappens, for example, with the ongoing 3COORproject with the IBM company for the develop-ment of Information Systems in archaeology fromthe Atapuerca trial platform.

Moreover, the collaboration with the Nub3Dcompany has permitted the application of 3-Dscans in the restoration and production of ar-chaeological objects and fossils moulds, andparticipation in a project to scan archaeologicalsurfaces that can later be exhibited in museumswithout damaging the site.

As has already been said, the centre alsooffers the main archaeological analysis techniquesto the scientific community, organisations andadministrations related to the historical heritage,as well as other computing applications, restora-

tion services, didactic activities, publishing andimaging services.

All of this must ultimately make it possible todefine a policy for the creation of own companies.

The future

This is an emerging centre. Therefore, its suc-cess must meet the capacity to become aninstrument for analysing how the species oper-ates on the basis of the knowledge of the fossilrecord and its inference in social analysis. Thestudy of human evolution over three million yearsoffers keys, patterns of behaviour and food forthought to survey our development as humanbeings moving towards humanisation.

Regarding the coming years, the IPHESlandmarks are on the one hand to take up itsposition among the five best centres in its disci-pline and on the other to integrate the transdis-ciplinary approach as a form of scientific work.Ensuring that the integration of knowledge willbe feasible in a centre like this is a priority, unit-ing life and earth science to the social history ofthe human species and for knowledge of thepast to lead to critical inference of the future.

Give a name to a new 800,000-year-oldhominid species, Homo antecessor, contributeto the change of paradigm on human presencein Europe and promote technology and its so-cial use as the factors that distinguish us ashuman beings, which all gives meaning to theactivity of this centre. Thousands of years agothe logics of evolution definitively displaced chan-ce as a motor of change in our species. At themoment, technical and cultural selection isreplacing natural selection, so that we all con-tribute to the socialisation of the knowledge ofhuman evolution. •

Catalan Institute of HumanPaleoecology and Social Evolution (IPHES)Escorxador, s/nE-43003 TarragonaTel. +34 977 558 703www.urv.cat/iphes

Dr. Eudald CarbonellDirector

Date of constitutionDecember, 2004

StructureFoundation


and Enterprise• Rovira i Virgili University • City Council of Tarragona


Operating Board 20062.090.300,00 €35% is provided by the Governmentof Catalonia


Centre for International Health Research of Barcelona (CRESIB)

The core objective of the CRESIB is to engage in biomedical research unit-ing the fields of health and development. Immigration and health, diseasesassociated with poverty, globalisation of health and disease, epidemics, newemerging and re-emerging diseases, economic consequences of health anddisease in development are some of the lines prioritised in developing coun-tries and particularly in Africa. They are also priority areas for the centre, whichseeks to carry out research that will do away with the vicious circle of pover-ty and disease in which many of these countries live.

Director: Dr. Pedro AlonsoLocation: Hospital Clínic de Barcelona, IDIBAPS and campus of the UBDate of constitution: 12 July, 2006Legal nature: FoundationBoard of Trustees:• Ministry of Health• Ministry of Innovation, Universities and Enterprise• University of Barcelona• Hospital Clínic de Barcelona• Institute for Biomedical Investigation August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS)

Catalan Water Research Institute (ICRA)

The realisation of the importance of water as a basic resource and thenumerous problems surrounding it led to the creation of this organisationwhich engages in research in all water-related aspects. In particular inthose related to its rational use and the effects of human activity on waterresources.

Director: Dr. Victòria SalvadóLocation: Science and Technology Park of the University of GironaWeb: http://icra.udg.catDate of constitution: 26 October, 2006Legal nature: FoundationBoard of Trustees:• Ministry of Innovation, Universities and Enterprise• University of Girona• Catalan Water Agency (ACA)

Institute for Research in Personalised and PredictiveMedicine of Cancer (IMPPC)

Its activity focuses on the identification and promotion of biomedicalresearch in oncology, particularly in predictive and personalised medicineof cancer in the hospital setting, near the patient.

Director: Dr. Manuel PeruchoLocation: University Hospital Germans Trias i Pujol of BadalonaDate of constitution: 30 October, 2006Legal nature: FoundationBoard of Trustees: • Ministry of Health• Ministry of Innovation, Universities and Enterprise• Autonomous University of Barcelona• City Council of Badalona• Catalan Health Institute• Hospital Germans Trias i Pujol

Catalan Institute of Palaeontology (ICP)

The objective of the ICP is to channel and promote research in human andvertebrate paleontology, both in the rich Catalan paleontological heritageand projects outside this setting, and which are of particular significanceand scientific interest.

Director: Dr. Salvador MoyàLocation: Autonomous University of BarcelonaDate of constitution: 22 November, 2006Legal nature: FoundationBoard of Trustees:• Ministry of Innovation, Universities and Enterprise• Autonomous University of Barcelona

Catalan Institute of Research into Cultural Heritage (ICRPC)

The ICRPC’s mission is to provide society with elements for the analysisof the historical and cultural heritage of Catalonia. Thus, it seeks tobecome a reference centre capable of integrating all the actors that par-ticipate in the Catalan cultural heritage, and also further its internationalprojection.

On the basis of the definition provided by the Catalan Law on cul-tural heritage (1993), the basic and applied research carried out by theICRPC will focus basically on two major priority areas: the processes ofpatrimonialisation and the use of cultural heritage.

Director: Dr. Gabriel AlcaldeLocation: Science and Technology Park of the University of GironaDate of constitution: 22 November, 2006Legal nature: FoundationBoard of Trustees:• Ministry of Innovation, Universities and Enterprise• University of Girona

Most recent actions

Centres created in 2006

In the last year, the list of centres has increased with the creation of four new research organisations,two in the sphere of biomedicine, one in paleontology and one dedicated to water, its managementand leverage.

These organisations are just finding their feet, and are still in this start-up phase where the coreactivity is the implementation of the research and management team.

Nevertheless, these centres were created following the model proposed by the CERCA pro-gramme, in the network it coordinates, and will be an example for future actions.

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AGAURCEABCEDCENIEHCENITCIBERCIDCIDEMCIEMATCIIRCCIMNECIRITCMIMACMRB CNRSCRAGCREAFCREALCREI CReSACRGCRM CSICCTFCCTTCCVCEMBLESA FCRIFEDERFISHERMESIBEC ICACICCCICFO ICIQ ICN ICREAIDIBAPSIEC IEEC IFAE IFIPIG IHÉSIMIM IN2P3INAHINSERMIPHESIRB BarcelonaIRTA ISCIIILIM/UPCMEC NEST

OTRI PRBB PRI RETICS

UAB UBUdLUG UPC UPF URLURVXarxa IT

Agency for Administration of University and Research GrantsCentre for Advanced Studies of Blanes Centre for Demographic StudiesNational Research Centre on Human Evolution (Spain)Strategic Consortia for Technical Research (Spain)Biomedical Research Centre Network. Instituto de Salud Carlos III. (Spain)Centre for Research and DevelopmentCentre for Innovation and Business Development Research Centre for Energy, Environment and Technology (Spain)International Centre for Coastal Resources ResearchInternational Centre for Numerical Methods in EngineeringInterdepartamental Council for Research and Technological InnovationMediterranean Marine and Environmental CentreCentre of Regenerative Medicine of BarcelonaCentre National de la Recherche Scientifique (France)Centre of Agrigenomic ResearchCentre for Ecological Research and Forestry ApplicationsCentre for Research in Environmental EpidemiologyCentre for Research in International EconomyCentre for Research in Animal Health Centre for Genomic Regulation Centre for Mathematics Research Spanish Council of Scientific ResearchForest Technology Centre of CataloniaTelecommunications Technological Centre of Catalonia Computer Vision CentreEuropean Molecular Biology Laboratory European Regional Development FundEuropean Space AgencyCatalan Foundation for Research and InnovationHealth Research Fund. Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs. (Spain)Human Expressive Representations of Motion and their Evaluation in Sequences.Bioengineering Institute of CataloniaCatalan Institute of Classical ArchaeologyCatalan Institute of Cardiovascular SciencesInstitute of Photonic SciencesInstitute of Chemical Research of CataloniaCatalan Institute of NanotechnologyCatalan Institution of Research and Advanced StudiesInstitute for Biomedical Investigation August Pi i SunyerInstitute of Catalan StudiesInstitute for Space Studies of CataloniaInstitute of High-Energy PhysicsInstitut de la Filière Porcine (France)Institute of GeomaticsInstitut des Hautes Études Scientifiques (France)Municipal Institute of Medical Research of BarcelonaInstitut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules (France)Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia (Mexico)Institut Nationel de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (France)Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution Institute for Research in Biomedicine BarcelonaInstitute for Food and Agricultural Research and TechnologyInstituto de Salud Carlos III (Spain)Maritime Engineering Laboratory / Polytechnic University of CataloniaMinistry of Education and Science (Spain)New and Emerging Science and Technology. Projects in the 6th Framework ProgrammeResearch Results Transfer OfficeBarcelona Biomedical Research ParkResearch and Innovation PlanThemed Networks for Cooperative Health Investigation. Instituto de Salud Carlos III. (Spain)Autonomous University of BarcelonaUniversity of BarcelonaUniversity of LleidaUniversity of GironaTechnical University of CataloniaPompeu Fabra University Ramon Llull University Rovira i Virgili UniversityNetwork of Support Centres to Technological Innovation of the CIDEM

ACRONYMES


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