Today the Ministry of the Economy and Competiveness has announced that the Severo Ochoa Award given to 8 centres in the first call in 2011 has been renewed for another four years
The award brings with it another 4 million euros (1 per year) for IRB Barcelona
Four more years of excellence
This morning the Secretary of State for I+D+I has announced that the first eight ‘Severo Ochoa’ Centres of Excellence ─whose strategic plans for 2016-2019 have been positively evaluated ─ have been awarded this distinction again—a distinction that brings with it 1 million euros a year over four years.
In the opinion of the evaluators, these centres have not only revalidated their position as references in international research but many of them have consolidated their scientific leadership during the last ‘Severo Ochoa’ Award period.
The Secretary of State stated that the centres in question stand out for the international standing of the science they perform, as well as for their capacity to innovate and for their strong relations with the business sector. Moreover, these centres are international references capable of attracting talent from around the world.
The renewal of the ‘Severo Ochoa’ Award coincides with IRB Barcelona’s 10th anniversary celebration, held yesterday in an institutional event in the Centro de Cultura Contemporánea de Barcelona (CCCB). This celebration brought together about 400 people, including members of the Board of Trustees, scientific leaders, public figures, the IRB Barcelona community, collaborators and friends. "This is the best birthday present that the Ministry could have given us today," said the very grateful director, Joan Guinovart, to the director general Scientific and Technical Research, Marina Villegas, who represented the ministry at the event.
The eight centres are as follows: Barcelona Supercomputing Center - Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS), the Instituto de Ciencias Matemáticas (ICMAT), the Instituto de Ciencias Fotónicas (ICFO), the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC), the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Oncológicas Carlos III (CNIO), the Instituto de Investigación Biomédica (IRB Barcelona), the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Carlos III (CNIC), and the Barcelona Graduate School of Economics.
In addition, the Secretary of State for I+D+i presented three new ‘Severo Ochoa’ Awards, and four ‘María de Maeztu’ Units of Excellence.
More information from the Secretary of State for I+D+I (Spanish Press Release)
Tot Barcelona, e-notícies and El Plural have published an interview with Begoña Cánovas, a postdoctoral researcher at IRB Barcelona, who, thanks to a grant from "la Caixa", has been part of the team of researchers that detected the protein that fuels the survival of a type of breast cancer. "The day they gave me the first fellowship, I couldn’t believe it. I felt great and my parents jumped for joy when they found out. When you see all the applications, you feel like it's a lottery and you think you have no chance of winning, but it's worth trying, "said Cánovas.
The IRB Barcelona scientist received the award during the opening ceremony of the academic year of this institution.
La Vanguardia newspaper has published an opinion article by Gabby Silberman, general director of the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), an organisation of which IRB Barcelona is a member. It is urgent for the government to increase public allocations for science to reach the European average of investment in R+D, 2.07% of GDP in 2017, compared to a low 1.2% in Spain.
