On July 15th, Dr. Lluís Solà, ICIQ’s manager, received the Severo Ochoa accreditation during an institutional event at the Secretary of State for Research, Development and Innovation, in Madrid.

Dr. Solà explained that “the Severo Ochoa accreditation is extremely important for ICIQ. It is a recognition of our work and it gives us strength to persevere in our desire for scientific excellence. It is also a significant source of funding at a time of austerity and finally, this accreditation will allow us to consolidate our Starting Career Programme to help young researchers to start an independent research career and to launch an international mobility programme for PhD students”

The Severo Ochoa accreditation will allow ICIQ to develop a strategic project in the area of ​​catalysis. The project deals with the discovery of catalysts for generating fuel (hydrogen) through water splitting using solar energy and the discovery of catalysts for converting molecules which have a strong environmental impact (such as CO2 and fluoroform) or which have low reactivity (such as methane) into molecules of interest for the chemical and energy industry.

 

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El Mundo

ICIQ was accredited as a “Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence” as it was announced on March 18th by the Secretary of State for Research, Development and Innovation, Carmen Vela.The Severo Ochoa award gives recognition to units and research centers that excel for being situated among the best in the world in their respective fields of research. The awarding of this accreditation represents an annual allocation of 1 million euros during a period of 4 years.
The five centers accredited with the Severo Ochoa award this year are:

1. Centro Nacional de Biotecnología (CNB)
2. Instituto de Neurociencias de Alicante
3. Centro Vasco de Matemática Aplicada
4. Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia (ICN2)
5. Institut Català d’Investigació Química (ICIQ)
Press release from the Ministry

Media El Mundo
Diari de Tarragona