Andrea Ferrari inaugurates the Science, Technology and Innovation Festival of Barcelona together with ICN2 and ICFO

by Super User

Andrea Ferrari, President of the Executive Board of the Graphene Flagship, offers today a talk at the Saló de Cent of the Barcelona City Hall. The ICN2 and ICFO lead two of the eleven work packages of the Graphene Flagship.

Prof. Andrea Ferrari, director of the Cambridge Graphene Centre and president of the Executive Board of the Graphene Flagship, is a scientific leader in nanotechnology and graphene. Prof. Ferrari visits Barcelona to celebrate the Science, Technology and Innovation Festival (June 4 - 20 at various venues in the city). This evening he will offer a talk entitled "Graphene Research and Industry. An exceptional commitment to innovation and competitiveness in Europe", about the potential of this material to boost industrial innovation.

Prof Pablo Ordejón, Director of ICN2, and Prof Frank Koppens, researcher from ICFO, will introduce the speaker during the event at the Saló de Cent of the Barcelona City Hall. This event opens the Festival, putting in perspective the needs and challenges for closer connection between scientific research, technology transfer, industrial innovation and economic growth. Citizens will have an active role during the whole Festival.

The Graphene Flagship research initiative is the largest and better funded in the history of the European Union. This project seeks with the complicity of researchers and companies, to bring the graphene results obtained in laboratories closer to society. Today, Professor Ferrari pointed out that graphene is a material discovered in Europe and efforts should focus on further developing its applications in Europe before other countries may take the lead.

The Graphene Flagship brings together the most recognized figures in graphene research in Europe, including the ICREA Professor Stephan Roche of the Institut Catala de Nanociencia i Nanotecnologia (ICN2) and Nest Fellow Prof Frank Koppens of the Institut de Ciencies Fotoniques (ICFO). These two researchers, leading two of the Work Packages of the Flagship, are participating in the organization of the visit of Prof Andrea Ferrari. Industrial partners, including large, small and medium enterprises, are part of the Graphene Flagship too. The common goal is to introduce the unique properties of graphene in a wide range of applications.

ICN2 is among the initial promoters of the Graphene FET Flagship who achieved the approval by the European Commission. ICREA Research Prof. Stephan Roche, Group Leader of the Theoretical and Computational Nanoscience at ICN2, coordinates the tasks of this project devoted to the harvesting of graphene’s unique properties for designing new types of devices, including sensors and spintronics.

The joint efforts of ICN2, ICFO, CSIC, ALBA, UAB, UPC, UB, IBEC and other local institutions constitute a growing pool of talented researchers and technologies, services and products based on graphene. Catalonia has reached a prominent position in European graphene research, and now the challenges remain to transfer acquired knowledge to practical applications and products.

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