CERCA Centres: The awakening of Catalan Research Authors Lluís Rovira Director of the CERCA Institution (I-CERCA), Barcelona, Catalonia Keywords: scientific policy · research centres · CERCA Abstract The 42 CERCA centres existing today come from a historical origin plus a new wave of creation of new R&D centres starting approximately in 2000. They all have their own legal status under the umbrella of the CERCA Institution (I-CERCA). I-CERCA plays a control and coordinating role including evaluation, selection of directors, merging CERCA centres, national and international promotion, technology transfer benchmarking, etc. CERCA centres are built on a basis of institutional collaboration with universities and hospitals (who fund them in kind), and promoted by the Government of Catalonia (who funds them in cash with 100 million euros annually that represent 25% of their global income). The outputs measured by ERCs granted, coordination of H2020 projects, HRS4R awards, etc. are impressive. The comparison of their scientific production (and impact) in 2012–2014 with CNRS, Max Planck Institutes and CSIC is surprising! CERCA’s contribution to the expanding Catalan Science is crystal-clear. [Contrib Sci 12(1):1-3 (2016)]Keywords: scientific policy · research centres · CERCA Downloads PDF Issue Vol. 12 No. 1 (2016) Section Feature articles/Research centres in Catalonia License This work is subject, unless the contrary is indicated in the text, the photographs or in other illustrations, to an Attribution —Non-Commercial— No Derivative Works 3.0 Creative Commons License, the full text of which can be consulted at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/. You are free to share, copy, distribute and transmit the work provided that the author is credited and reuse of the material is restricted to non-commercial purposes only and that no derivative works are created from the original material.
