The visit consisted in a guided tour through the ICN2 facilities and a lively discussion about European policies, research funds and regional development. He met ICREA Prof. Jose A. Garrido, vice-Director of the ICN2, Dr Margarita Navia, Head of the ICN2 Strategy Development Area, and Lluis Rovira, Director of the CERCA Institution.
A Catalan member of the European Parliament, Jordi Solé, visited today the ICN2 together with his assistant Miquel Carrillo. This member of the Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance visited us to present some policies in which he is involved, such as the European Research Area or the ITRE Commission, but also to learn about the impact of European funds in our research. Lluis Rovira, Director of the CERCA Institution, also joined the visit to offer a global look about the Catalan research system.
The meeting was hosted by Prof. Jose A. Garrido, vice-Director of the ICN2 and Group Leader of the Advanced Electronic Materials and Devices Group, Dr Margarita Navia, Head of the ICN2 Strategy Development Area, and Àlex Argemí, Head of the ICN2 Marketing and Communication Department. It started with a lab-tour through the ICN2 facilities and finished with a lively debate at the ICN2 Seminar Room.
The visit included a brief encounter with ICREA Prof. ICREA Jordi Arbiol and Dr Belén Ballesteros, who are involved in the building of an advanced equipment for electron microscopy and sample preparation funded through FEDER funds; ICREA Prof. Jose A. Garrido, who introduced at the ICN2 Clean Room the research he leads with graphene-based neural sensing interfaces. ICREA Prof. Daniel Maspoch, who explained his research funded with an ERC Proof of Concept grant to bring closer to the market a new kind of adsorbents to purify water by eliminating its heavy metal ions; Prof. Laura Lechuga, who explained the research she leads to develop a new nanobiosensor to diagnose the COVID-19 disease in 30 minutes (CoNVaT Project); and, ICREA Prof. Clivia Sotomayor-Torres, who was recently awarded an ERC AdG to develop a disruptive phononics-based approach to information technology.
The afterwards discussion included relevant topics such as Open Science, knowledge transference, regional development, European funding and how to be more competitive in the European and global research landscape. We are grateful for this lively interaction that opened a door for future consultations and collaborations.