Biocat to coordinate RIS3CAT community for digital applications in biotechnology and health therapies
<p>This is one of the five large research and innovation projects for which the Government of Catalonia has earmarked €19 millions</p>
Today the government announced the first five accredited RIS3CAT Communities –including the Community coordinated by Biocat– that will execute their respective action plans through high-impact collaborative innovation projects. The projects of these five RIS3CAT Communities focus on some of the areas that the Government of Catalonia has defined as leading sectors or those where Catalonia has a competitive advantage: digital applications in biotechnology and health therapies (coordinated by Biocat); sustainable and efficient energy (coordinated by IREC); healthy and safe food (coordinated by IRTA); eco-friendly mobility and new diagnostic devices (coordinated by FICOSA) and big data applied to health (coordinated by Leitat).
The RIS3CAT Community for digital applications in biotechnology and health therapies, with Biocat at the helm, encompasses organizations including the University of Barcelona, Hospital Sant Joan de Déu, Eurecat and the Institut Universitari de Ciència i Tecnologia. This Community will address the main health-related challenges, focusing on improving innovation in health, quality of life and the arrival of innovations to the market.
The Government of Catalonia, through ACCIÓ, has earmarked €19.1 millions in ERDF funds for the five RIS3CAT Communities. These are five large-scale business projects in research and innovation that will be carried out through 2020 by 138 companies, 64 Catalan research and technology stakeholders and other organizations like clusters and business support agencies, which will invest €43.8 millions to carry them out. In total, these five projects will be conducted by 1,300 Catalan technical, scientific and business professionals.
Companies and organizations submitted 446 applications in this call. There will be a second phase, with a new call to create more RIS3CAT Communities, and the process will culminate in 2020. By that time, a total of €72 millions in ERDF funds will have been invested.
What are the RIS3CAT Communities?
The RIS3CAT communities are voluntary groupings of companies and stakeholders in the Catalan R&D and innovation system that aim to transform the Catalan economy by sectors through new products and innovative services.
This is a groundbreaking strategy in Europe, launched by the Government of Catalonia to transform the Catalan business fabric from now through 2020. It is the practical application of the RIS3CAT Smart Specialization Strategy, passed by the Catalan government in 2014 in response to the directives of the European Union in the Europe 2020 Strategy. Each RIS3CAT Community is an instrument through which the various stakeholders of the R&D&i system in the leading sectors defined by the Government of Catalonia can obtain Catalonia 2014-2020 ERDF funds to carry out their innovative projects.
With the support of:
