CAF, Petronor, and IKOR, new nanoGUNE partners
From now onwards, the research center has the participation of three new industrial players, which will further its strategy for transferring knowledge and technology. The incorporation of these three leading companies will reassert the center’s strategic mission and will strengthen the work it has been carrying out with and for industry.
Since nanoGUNE was set up in 2009, it has established itself as a leading center in nanoscience and nanotechnology research. The activity it is involved in is of a multidisciplinary nature and close to subjects in the realm of industrial application. The development that nanoGUNE has undergone up until 2015 has allowed it to provide itself with the human resources and infrastructure it needs to occupy a leading position in the research being carried out in nanoscience on a global level. In this period, advantage has also been taken of the various opportunities that have emerged to drive forward the development of new technology and the creation of new nanotechnology-based companies, such as Graphenea, Simune, Ctech-nano and Evolgene. So the bases are now in place to enable nanoGUNE to concentrate its efforts on activities geared towards encouraging competitive growth based on nanotechnology, while maintaining at all times the level of excellence in the research projects it carries out.
In this new phase it will be particularly important to have the advice and involvement of business players so that companies can benefit as much as possible from the recent developments offered by nanoscience and nanotechnology, and so that the nanoGUNE research team can benefit from their market perspective.
Transferring knowledge and technology
The incorporation of the companies CAF, Petronor, and IKOR as nanoGUNE’s partners is addressing the research center’s commitment to have top-level industrial experts to reinforce its strategy for transferring knowledge and technology. The commitment of these three leading companies in priority areas in the Smart Specialization Strategy (RIS3) of the Basque Government will no doubt bolster the center’s strategic mission and allow it to reinforce the work it has been doing with and for industry.
The potential of nanoscience and nanotechnology has been recognized across the world, “but the gap between research and the market remains huge,” explained José María Pitarke, nanoGUNE’s Director. ”However, things have started to change over the last few years. They continue to be emerging fields, but the interest is increasing steadily, and some commercially viable processes and products are already available in nearly all the industrial sectors". The European Commission has estimated that the global market for nanotechnology-based products has increased by 50% a year since 2009, and exceeds a trillion euros. “But beyond the market dimension, what is really important for the Basque Country is that nanotechnology should play a pivotal role in improving many industrial sectors that form the basis of our economy," concluded Pitarke. “We have not in fact remained immune from the global development of nanotechnology, since the Basque Country is already seeing the flourishing of the first fruits of the significant investment effort made in this field."
CIC nanoGUNE
The nanoGUNE Co-operative Research Center (CIC), located in Donostia-San Sebastian, Basque Country, is a research center set up with the mission to conduct excellent research in nanoscience and nanotechnology with the aim of increasing the Basque Country’s business competitiveness and economic growth.
CAF
A Basque company founded in 1917 that is seeking global leadership in the manufacture and supply of railway rolling stock equipped with cutting-edge technology with maximum reliability. Website: www.caf.es
Petronor
Basque company founded in 1968 with the aim of refining and marketing petroleum products and by-products. Today, it is pursuing an aim of ongoing improvement enabling it to compete on the international market and to plough back the fruits of its success into the environment that supports it. Website: www.petronor.com
IKOR
A Basque company that offers comprehensive design, development, and electronic manufacturing (EMS) services worldwide geared towards all the sectors in which electronics is the core in the functioning of the end product. Website: www.ikor.es