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 08.10.2019

IBEC obtains a second accreditation as Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence

The Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), based in the Barcelona Science Park, is one of the six centres in Spain to be awarded accreditation in this round of the Severo Ochoa Excellence programme. Furthermore, IBEC is the only center that receives this accreditation for the second time. The awards last for four years and bring a million euros each year to the winning centres, it also implies strengthening research capacities and boosting success rates in other competitive funding programmes.

 

The Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities published yesterday the results of the winners of this distinction, selected by an international panel of a hundred judges, for its scientific results and strategic programmes. Severo Ochoa Excellence Awards identify and promote public research centres and units in Spain that stand out as international references in their specialized fields

IBEC Director Josep Samitier expressed his gratitude for the award and highlights that: “the obtention of the Severo Ochoa accreditation for the second time satisfies us greatly because it recognizes the leadership and excellence of IBEC activities both in research and in translation of the obtained results to society. The progress that bioengineering has experienced in the 21st century allows to face challenges of new diagnoses and therapies for diseases without an adequate solution, so that clinicians will be able to develop a more personalized, precise and efficient medicine. This Severo Ochoa recognition will help us strengthen the competitiveness of our institute in our three strategic areas: Bioengineering for future medicine, Bioengineering for regenerative therapies and Bioengineering for active aging.”

The awards last for four years and bring a million euros each year to the winning centres, it also implies strengthening research capacities, improving visibility to obtain sponsorship and boosting success rates in other competitive funding programmes.

“Leadership both nationally and internationally has been achieved with very modest resources compared to those available to international research centers with which we collaborate, inequality that to date we have supplied with much talent and effort. If we want our health and that of our children to be better in the future, and that the best benefits are available to all, without restrictions, we have to strengthen investment in research centers”, adds Josep Samitier.

The other five centers that have received accreditation in this round of 2018 are: the International Center for Numerical Methods in Engineering (CIMNE), the Center for Ecological Research and Forest Applications (CREAF), Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC), the Institute of Global Health of Barcelona (ISGLOBAL) and the Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research. Except for the IBEC, they all achieve the Severo Ochoa distinction for the first time.

IBEC conducts interdisciplinary research of excellence on the frontier of engineering and life sciences in order to generate new knowledge integrating fields such as nanomedicine, biophysics, biotechnology, tissue engineering and technology applications of the information in the field of health.

This is the eighth year of the Severo Ochoa awards, and with the accreditation IBEC is recognised as one of Spain’s leading research centres alongside just 29 other organisations in the country.