THE UB COSMOS INSTITUTE OF SCIENCES CREATES A NEW TECHNOLOGICAL UNIT IN THE PARC CIENTÍFIC DE BARCELONA

-Parc Científic de Barcelona.- 

The Institute of Cosmos Sciences of the UB (ICCUB) has set up the ICCUB-Tech unit in the Barcelona Science Park, focused on the development of instrumentation and large data processing systems, both for scientific and technological projects As for companies. With this initiative, the center - one of the four units that make up the Institute of Space Studies of Catalonia (IEEC) - wants to transfer the knowledge generated in space and particle science projects to other fields, such as medical technology, Genomics or marine geosciences. 

The opening ceremony of the new ICCUB facilities - recognized with the María de Maeztu Excellence Unit accreditation - took place on May 11, with the participation of the Secretary of State for R & D, Carmen Vela; The secretary of Universities and Research of the Generalitat of Catalonia, Arcadi Navarro; The rector of the UB, Joan Elias; The Vice Chancellor of Research, Domènec Espriu, and Lluís Garrido, director of the ICCUB. 

In her speech, Carmen Vela highlighted the high scientific level achieved by the ICCUB, a center that has managed to "place itself in the elite of Spanish research, fulfilling scientific quality requirements exactly the same as those of the Severo Ochoa centers" . "The ICCUB," continued Vela, "generates a first-rate scientific production, attracts talent and makes its achievements benefit society." This is a great example of what we want R & D & I to be in Spain. That we look abroad in search of models, as we have them here in the Severo Ochoa centers and the units of Maria de Maeztu. " 

Rector Joan Elias highlighted "the added value of having an own specialized institute to create a critical mass that allows to choose to call centers of excellence as the units of Maria de Maeztu. Elias recalled that the UB has two institutes with this accreditation, "but we are ambitious and we want this number to increase," he said. 

On the other hand, Arcadi Navarro, has referred to the last years of crisis: "They have been ten years hard, but also some golden years for the investigation in Catalonia and Spain". 

ICCUB-Lluís Garrido, director of the ICCUB, said: "This unit represents a unique opportunity to centralize resources, to foster synergies between the groups of engineers and to pose new technological challenges. Technology to society ". 

Transverse unit 

The ICCUB-Tech - which occupies a space of 500 square meters - integrates the Institute's engineers specialized in instrumentation, electronics and mass data processing that until now worked in different research groups, in fields where technology is an element Key: mainly for space missions, telescopes, accelerators and particle detectors. 

The aim of this new unit is to centralize and increase the technological activity of the ICCUB and to offer all its members the possibility of participating in projects of high technological level through direct advice and assistance. At present, the unit is made up of twenty-five electronic and telecommunications engineers, computer and physical, and has, among others, an electronic laboratory and a precision laboratory, as well as a white room for the assembly of instrumentation. It is also planned to install new equipment to develop instrumentation for radiation detectors, cameras and space projects. 

Technology Transfer 

The ICCUB is an own research institute of the University of Barcelona, ​​created in 2006 and recognized with the Maria de Maeztu accreditation of excellence in 2015. It is also one of the four units that constitute the Institute of Spatial Studies of Catalonia (IEEC). The center plays a leading role in international projects such as the Gaia and Solar Orbiter missions of the European Space Agency; The LHCb Experiment of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), located at CERN, or projects with the Magic and CTA gamma ray telescopes. 

Now, one of the objectives of ICCUB-Tech will be to look for technology transfer projects to companies that allow them to take advantage of the knowledge generated in these large scientific projects, and ultimately generate a return of research results to society. 

Among the projects initiated at ICCUB-Tech, technology developed by LHCb chips is being applied to the improvement of the temporal accuracy of positron emission tomography (PET) tomographs used for medical diagnosis. Another example is the application of a data compression algorithm, developed within the framework of the Gaia project, to the fields of genomics and marine geosciences, or to new nanosatellites to observe Earth.