The Knowledge Industry Programme promoted by the Department of Research and Universities of the Generalitat de Catalunya, aims to promote an economic model based on knowledge, encouraging the transfer of research results from the different centres of knowledge within the Catalan system of science and innovation, in order to achieve the generation of highly qualified jobs and a significant improvement in innovative activity.
This programme distinguishes between the Llavor category, which is for innovative projects with potential for incorporation into the productive sector, and the Producte category, which is aimed at obtaining prototypes and the valorisation and transfer of the research results generated by research teams in Catalonia.
Of the six projects presented by UIC Barcelona, three were awarded funds in the Producte category and three in the Llavor category. The main researchers of the projects in the Producte category are Roman Pérez and Begoña Bosch (Bioengineering Institute of Technology); Xavier Gil (Bioengineering Institute of Technology), and Rosalía Rodríguez and Sara Hernández (Department of Basic Sciences, with co-financing from the UAB). The following researchers received funding for their projects in the Llavor category: Jordi Castillo and Encarna Rodríguez (Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences), Magda Bosch (Faculty of Humanities), and Diego Navarro and Oriol Carrasco (School of Architecture).
Two of the projects awarded are led by women (Magda Bosch and Rosalía Rodríguez), and one of them is in the area of the Humanities, which is highly valued by the University for the transversal and multidisciplinary nature that this implies.
“We are very satisfied with the results of the call, not only for the projects that have achieved funding but also for the high participation of our researchers from different disciplines”, said the vice-rector for Research, Innovation and Knowledge Transfer, Conrado Aparicio. “This demonstrates the consolidation of the work carried out, demonstrating the knowledge transfer work and the real social impact of the research carried out at UIC Barcelona”.
The applications submitted by the University were evaluated according to the mechanisms established in the Regulation of Evaluation of the AGAUR, applying the criteria and weightings outlined in the regulations of the Knowledge Industry grants.
After a provisional communication by AGAUR on 21 December, the official communication arrived on 9 January after the acceptance of the funding by UIC Barcelona was formalised. The researchers now have grants (€150,000 or €110,500 from Producte and €20,000 from Llavor) to carry out the planned activities, and the funding will be complemented by an accompanying plan that aims to guide and advise the participating teams in the valorisation and transfer of their research results. Llavor projects must be completed in six months and Producte projects in eighteen months.
UIC Barcelona had already participated in previous years in the annual call for Knowledge Industry Programme grants, with an exponential and progressive growth the amount of funding awarded; from €80,000 in 2018 to €470,500 in the 2023 call.
In the 2018 call, UIC Barcelona had three Llavor projects. The following year the first Producte was awarded, and by 2021 the University already had three Llavor grants and one Producte. In the 2023 call this year six projects have been awarded, including three Producte projects. It should also be noted that two of the Producte projects of this year's call were Llavor projects in the previous year (the projects led by Román Pérez and Rosalía Rodríguez), a fact that the director of the Knowledge Transfer Centre, Òscar Carbó, values as “a fact that demonstrates the maturity of the process.”
A third category of the Knowledge Industry Programme is that of Innovadors, (Innovators) for valorisation and knowledge transfer projects developed by innovators during stays in research and innovation centres within the Catalan system. In this category, UIC Barcelona was awarded two Innovadors projects that are pending assignment. In summary, of the 21 projects presented in the 2023 call, a total of eight have been awarded to the University in these three categories, which represents a 37.5% success rate in the call.
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