Letter from the Director

2020 was a challenging year. The Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2), together with society as a whole, endured a very difficult year and became stronger in the process. I am proud of the achievements of the ICN2 community despite the adversities we faced. This Institute and its people was able to adapt its priorities and keep excelling both at the research and administration level, with new research lines focused on the COVID-19 pandemic and contention plans while maintaining the Institute’s activity at the highest level.

The scientific outputs of ICN2 included 204 indexed articles, with an average impact factor of 9.26 (8.27 in 2019). We succeeded in fields such as knowledge transference and protection and fundraising, with spin offs companies such as INBRAIN achieving remarkable goals or two ERC Advanced Grants starting the same year. The ICN2 has renewed its involvement in strong networks such as the Graphene Flagship or the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST). It has also adopted new skills to adapt scientific and outreach events to a virtual and hybrid format.

In this Annual Report you will also find impressive figures on our success at attracting national and international competitive funding. Additionally, some strategic lines and successes in the technology transfer activity are also highlighted. In summary, 2020 has continued the consolidation of ICN2 as one of the top research centres in our country and Europe.

I invite you to dive into the information presented in this Annual Report, and to join us our journey. This year you can do so in the traditional physical format and also through this new devoted website where you will be able to dig deeper into the ICN2’s achievements.

Sincerely,

Prof. Pablo Ordejón
Director, ICN2