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Strategic Priority Actions

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Strategic Priority Actions

Technology Transfer

A new Prototype Laboratory has been created. This is a technical service aim to help researchers in the development of functional prototypes, in order to validate technologies and increase their TRL. Fabricated prototypes will also help in the commercialization of the technologies as they can be shown to companies and investors.

In 2023 we filed 6 priority patent applications covering the 3 application lines of the institutes research: sustainable energy, low-cost and efficient electronics and smart nanomedicine and health.

We created one spin-off, LabsinLove. The company is developing new boron compounds for Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT) against cancer. In 2023, the R+D services and agreements reached a total funding of 630, 000€ and we signed 26 NDA/MTAs with different collaborators, companies and laboratories.

Two of our technologies were presented in TRANSFIERE 2023 in the prototype’s showroom of CSIC. We also showed our technologies in EXPOQUIMIA, in the booth of the Advanced Materials Cluster (Clúster MAV).

In 2023 the first edition of an entrepreneurship formation programme in collaboration with PRUAB was given. 2 groups participated in the European funded S3E programme to increase entrepreneurship.

4 groups have become members of H2CAT a network of researchers working on hydrogen. H2CAT promotes the transfer of the knowledge and technologies developed by its members.

CSIC has launched the CONVERGE platform to facilitate the transfer of knowledge to society, through the generation of links of trust between CSIC and the agents of the innovation ecosystem. 5 groups from ICMAB participate in the first edition of the EBTON and 2 groups have been funded with 50,000€ to strengthen their spin-off project.

Patents

Communication & Outreach

  • MAGNET project with Jose Echegaray School

    • Partnership of ICMAB with Primary Shcool, Municipality and Regional Government
    • AIM: Countering scholar segregation in public schools
    • 4-year project

  • SCHOOL PROGRAMS

    • “Connecting Research and Classroom” initiative on Organic photovoltaics
    • CientífiKsEnJoc
    • Escolab
    • Joves i Ciència
    • Bojos per la Física
    • Un investigador a l’Aula
    • Programa Argó

  • OTHER ACTIVITIES

    • 10 a la menos 9 Nanotechnology Festival
    • European Researcher’s Night 2023
    • Talks for the general public ( X. Obradors, R. Palacín)
    • Participation as panelists in round tables (M. Köber, R. Palacín)
    • R. Palacín panelist at a round table at Innovation Day Energia 2023 on Electric Mobility
    • M. Köber at round table at BioSpain 2023 on Technologies in Viral & Non-viral Gene Therapy Vectors

Training

  • Training Activities in 2023

    • ICMAB School on Orbital Currents in Solids (180 participants from 18 countries, 60 % online)
    • ICMAB Shcool on ARPES (86 participants from 15 countries, 50 % online)
    • ICMAB Technical Seminars & Characterization Workshops
    • Characterization and Preparation of Particulate Matter for CSIC personnel
    • Scientific meeting of PhDs

Projects

One of the ICMAB strategic priorities is to lead collaborative research projects. Those include international (mainly from European Commission under its Framework Programmes), national and regional. This allows us to contribute to the research ecosystem, increase our visibility and to have relevant scientific and innovative outputs.

In 2023 we have had an extraordinary success in international, national and regional grant attraction: 5.8 M€ were from European Horizon Europe projects, 4.9 M€ from MCIN projects), 0.6 M€ from CSIC-competitive and 0.7 M€ from the Catalan government. In total, we had 46 EU ongoing projects, 15 of them started in 2023, and 121 projects with Spanish funding, 22 of them started in 2023, 25 projects with Catalan funding, 1 of them started in 2023.

Among the new European projects, it is worth to mention that four of them were ERC Proof of Concept grants (PI4NORM, SMOLSUB, VERITASCAN and TARLIT) in our path to bring our innovations and technologies to higher TRLs and closer to the market.

MSCA-COFUND DocFam+

In 2022 ICMAB was awarded with its second Marie Sklodowska Curie COFUND programme. DocFam+ (DOCtoral training programme in Functional Advanced Materials: Towards a Better Future) is a doctoral programme that will recruit 26 extremely talented doctoral researchers to conduct their research at ICMAB and our partner organisations: ALBA Synchrotron Lightsource (ALBA-CELLS), Catalan Institute of Nanoscience & Nanotechnology (ICN2), Catalonia Energy Research Institute (IREC), High Energy Physics Institute (IFAE), the Institute of Microelectronics of Barcelona (IMB-CNM-CSIC) and the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB).

It builds on the success and remarkable outcomes from the original DOCFAM programme, and takes a step further, enhancing the potential and future career perspectives of recruited fellows and consolidating the excellence and outstanding track record of the participating entities. The frontier research programme will be complemented with advanced training aspects in an integrating holistic approach to the training of doctoral fellows through a combination of research-oriented and soft skills.

Our 2 MSCA-COFUND projects (DocFam+ and DOC-FAM) were the first MSCA-COFUND projects that CSIC had as beneficiary

NFFA Europe

ICMAB is one of the host institutions of the NFFA-Europe (Nanofoundries for fine analysis) project for the synthesis and characterization at the nanoscale across Europe, which started in 2015 and finished in March 2021. ICMAB is also part of the continuation of NFFA-Europe project as NFFA-Europe Pilot (NEP) until 2025.

 

ERC PROJECTS

Talent attraction and recruiting

Talent attraction and recruiting is one of our main strategic priority actions, in all the stages of the scientific career (from undergraduates to postdoctoral students), and research technicians and Research Support Unit staff. We also aim to continue improving our current training programs, for all our staff, to educate and guide our young researchers through their first years of research live, and to boost our internationalization.

On 2023 we welcomed several postdoctoral researchers, among them, 3 Juan de la Cierva Researcher (Martin Testa Anta, Zakir Ullah and Faizan Ali) and 1 Ramón y Cajal (Gabriele De Luca).

As far as 90 early stage researchers started their PhD with us in 2023, 4 with FPI contracts and 2 with FPU contracts, and 13 with grants from the China Scholarship Council (CSC) and 2 with Inphinit – La Caixa grants.

We received many undergraduate and master students (a total of 71) who carried out their bachelor and master research project with us. We had 6 out of all of them with JAE Intro grants, and 1 with a predoctoral Inphinit – La Caixa grant.

Our Research Support Unit also grew: Laura Cabana Jiménez, Lía Cano Riu and Mª Àngels Vilella Illa in the Project Management area, Iván Rodríguez Pérez in Communication, Ismael Muñoz Gavilán in the IT Office, Sara Herraiz as Executive Assistant and 3 people in General Services and Administration (Eva Serrano Ríos, Ana María Manzano Hernández and Yrene Domínguez García).

We saw the incorporation of 4 new technicians (Marcos Paradinas Aranjuelo, Ferran Vallés Pérez, Rosa Letizia Zaffino and Víctor Andrés Castro Pulido).

Finally, one of our researchers became ad honorem: Josep Fontcuberta. Two other researchers renewed their status of ad honorem: Clara Viñas and Francesc Teixidor.