Barcelona

The Governing Committee has approved the general protocol of action between the Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), attached to the Ministry of Science and Innovation, and Barcelona City Council for the development of a new CSIC centre for scientific and research services in the health field. The protocol was signed today by the Mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, and the Minister of Science and Innovation, Diana Morant.

The framework collaboration agreement between the CSIC and the city envisages the realisation of a new construction project to house a scientific services centre, as well as two CSIC research institutes and the space required for the services of the Government Delegation in Catalonia. This centre would be located on the plot of land that the Ministry of Territorial Policy has been allocated in calle Dr. Trueta nº. 20, next to the Ciutadella Campus, and which currently houses a building for the State Motor Pool, the historical archive and other services of the Government Delegation in Catalonia.

Jaume Colboni stressed the importance of today’s agreement and of investing in education and research. “We lay the foundations and take a very important step for the Ciutadella del Coneixement to advance and to place Barcelona as a reference center and scientific capital of Catalonia and Spain and southern Europe”. According to the mayor, “the best investment we can make to ensure progress and quality of life is in education and scientific research” and added that “to speak of the scientific capital of Barcelona is to talk about creating infrastructure and equipment of first level and to promote talent, attract talent and researchers to work in the best conditions and resources”.

With today’s agreement, the CSIC also reinforces its commitment and presence in the Ciutadella del Conocimiento, the great scientific and urban project that the City Council is promoting, together with universities, research centers and other administrations, to turn the Ciutadella Park and its surroundings into a node of knowledge, dissemination, research and innovation leading in Europe.

The new center

The new building, focused on the field of bioscience, represents the realization of a new part of the Ciutadella del Coneixement. Specifically, the new center will house the Institute of Biomedical Research of Barcelona (IIBB-CSIC) and the Institute of Molecular Biology of Barcelona (IBMB-CSIC), currently located on the Campus of the Hospital Clínic of Barcelona and the Barcelona Science Park, respectively. Both centers carry out active and productive scientific work of excellence in fields such as neuroscience and biology. The new center could bring together more than 300 people and some 40 research groups. The new building will also have the necessary space for the services of the Government Delegation in Catalonia.

To carry out the project, a construction of 12,900 square meters above ground level and 4,700 square meters below ground level is foreseen. In order to carry out the project, the agreement establishes that the CSIC will carry out all the necessary actions and management of property and urban planning to enable the construction of the new headquarters of its research institutes. For its part, the Barcelona City Council undertakes to carry out the necessary administrative actions, such as the requalification of the land or the processing of the urban planning and construction permits that will make it possible to carry out the project.

The Ciutadella of Knowledge

The Ciutadella del Conocimiento is a project led by the Barcelona City Council in collaboration with the Generalitat de Catalunya, the Ministries of Science and Universities, the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, the Universitat de Barcelona, the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, the Fundación Pasqual Maragall and the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology.