The INSTITUT CATALÀ DE NANOCIÈNCIA I NANOTECNOLOGIA, with its official English translation Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology and acronym ICN2, is a non-profit international research institute located close to Barcelona, Spain. Its research lines focus on the newly-discovered physical and chemical properties that arise from the behavior of matter at the nanoscale.
The trustees of the ICN2 are the Government of Catalonia, the Spanish National Research Council and the Autonomous University of Barcelona. The institute promotes collaboration among scientists from diverse backgrounds to develop basic and applied research, while always seeking out new ways to engage with the local and global industry. The ICN2 also trains researchers in nanotechnology, develops numerous activities to facilitate the uptake of nanotechnology by industry, and promotes networking among scientists, engineers, technicians, business people, society, and policymakers.
ICN2 was accredited in 2014 as a Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence, a recognition renewed in 2018 for another 4-year period. The Severo Ochoa Programme, sponsored by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities, aims to identify and support Spanish research centers that are among the world’s best in their specialty.
HOSPITAL CLÍNIC DE BARCELONA is a university hospital founded in 1906 which belongs to the Catalan Public Hospital Network (XHUP). Through the practice of all medical and surgical areas of specialization, the hospital is active in the spheres of healthcare, research, and teaching, both directly and through associated companies.
As the main public healthcare provider in its area of influence in the city of Barcelona, the hospital acts as a community hospital serving a population of 540,000 inhabitants, while at the same time operating as a tertiary care facility for highly complex cases. The latter function involves treating patients from not only Catalonia but from all over Spain and even abroad. The hospital carries out its activities in several different centers, including a separate maternity hospital.
In order to ensure continued care and the comprehensive provision of health services, Hospital Clínic participates in the management of primary care centers (Gesclinic and the Ensanche Primary Care Health Consortium), works on projects and activities in the field of mental health and establishes alliances with other centers to meet the socio-health needs of its patients.
Barnaclínic, a healthcare center linked to Hospital Clínic, is devoted to the provision of healthcare for private patients. Through its Transplant Services Foundation (TSF), the center does important work in the extraction and distribution of organs and tissues.
The hospital has a deep-rooted tradition of research which has made it a national and international benchmark institution. A significant part of the hospital’s research activities is organized through the August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBAPS). The management and administration of research projects are done by the Clínic Foundation for Biomedical Research (FCRB).
Hospital Clínic is responsible for teaching activities at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels, including training medical residents and the on-going training of existing staff. The hospital is closely linked to the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Barcelona. Through its professionals, it also offers high-quality external training, facilitated and organized under the brand Aula Clínic.
ISTITUTO DI RICERCHE FARMACOLOGICHE – MARIO NEGRI – The institute does not patent its discoveries, remaining totally independent of the pharmaceutical industry, the state, universities, politics, finance, and religious ideologies. The institute’s research and discoveries are freely available to everyone -the scientific community, patients and the general public- guaranteeing the greatest possible levels of collaboration without the need for compromises due to confidentiality agreements and data secrecy issues.
The institute has never departed from the founding principle of serving the public interest: it continues to share and grant full access to its scientific research, and be completely transparent in the management of the intellectual property rights to its discoveries.
Since it is an independent actor, the institute operates with the utmost freedom of initiative and action. It is under no obligation to submit to profit-making principles and works with the typical efficiency of private organizations while, however, serving the public interest.
The institute contributes to disseminating scientific research and information through various initiatives and tools: it continuously informs the scientific community of new developments and breakthroughs; maintains a close relationship with citizens (especially patients) by sharing information on the use of pharmaceuticals and updates them regularly on matters involving scientific research and health. The institute was established thanks to Mario Negri’s generosity and that of several other philanthropists who followed him in supporting the institute. His example and dedication to the values underpinning science have become an indispensable point of reference for our mission. Mario Negri also paved the way for the generosity of many others, including Angela Marchegiano Borgomainerio, Aldo and Cele Daccò and Anna Maria Astori, to whom we owe a huge debt of gratitude.
TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY (TAU) – Israel’s largest and most comprehensive institution of higher learning – is home to over 30,000 students studying in nine faculties and over 125 schools and departments across the spectrum of sciences, humanities and the arts.
Situated in Israel’s cultural, financial and technological capital, TAU shares Tel Aviv’s unshakable spirit of openness and innovation -and boasts a campus life as dynamic and pluralistic as the metropolis itself. Tel Aviv the city and Tel Aviv the university are one and the same- a thriving Mediterranean center of diversity and discovery.
Consistently ranked in the top 20 in the world in terms of scientific citations and among the top 100 universities internationally, Tel Aviv University is also Israel’s first choice for students, and its graduates are the most sought after by Israeli companies. Global in outlook and impact, TAU advances teaching and research that breaks down the walls between disciplines, striving to address the twenty-first century’s most pressing challenges through bold, interdisciplinary solutions.
APPLIED NANOPARTICLES S.L. (AppNPs) is a spin-off of the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2), the University Autònoma of Barcelona (UAB) and the Institut Català de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA). Among its co-founders are scientists from these institutions, and experts on Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI), e-communication, business development and technology transfer. AppNPs is located in Barcelona. The main current objective of AppNPs is the commercial exploitation of the patent application “biogas production”, in the U.S. and Europe, consisting on the use of iron oxide nanoparticles as additives to optimise the production of biogas. AppNPs also develops projects on the production, characterisation and commercialization of model nanoparticles, as well as consulting work related to industrial uses of nanoparticles. AppNPs business is based on the principles of Responsible Research and Innovation, focusing on the process design of nanoparticles, low energy consumption, low toxicity, waste minimization and reduction of emissions. Milestones: 2008. Grant Spanish Environmental Ministry. To study the use and the effects of nanoparticles (NPs) in waste water treatments. 2010. Discovery of Magnetite NP effects on Anaerobic Digestion. 2011-2013. Grant from Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation: 2011. Patent deposited in the EU and Fundación Repsol Award Cathegory IDEA 2013 Applied Nanoparticles is created. 2013 Secretaria General Iberoamericana, 2nd Innovation Prize 2014 Scientifc Publication of the phenomena: Programmed Iron Oxide Nanoparticles Disintegration in Anaerobic Digesters Boosts Biogas Production 2014-2016 Fundación Repsol Award INNOVATION 2014-2016 2015 MINECO bussines plan AWARD 2016 Industrial Production of BiogasPLUS reached and subcontracted 2017 First satisfactory results in continuous treatments in Pilot Plants. 2017 February COMPASS AWARD for Responsible Research and Innovation 2017 Applied Nanoparticles Receives the Highly Commended Award for Research Project
