Barcelona, a focal point for research
Fostering scientific research in Catalonia comes from an impetus for competitiveness to promote economic growth, progress and social well-being.
The tools for achieving this competitiveness include: a home-grown research-centre model in Catalonia, policies for attracting and keeping talent, large-scale research infrastructures and a wide political and institutional consensus that brings stability to the system.
The research, development and investigation (RDI) system throughout Catalonia is made up of:
- 12 universities (7 public, 4 private and 1 online) and 36 university research institutes
- 40 research centres in Catalonia (CERCA) devoted to excellence in research
- 21 centres belonging to the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
- 11 IRTA centres (Institute of Agrifood Research and Technology)
- 9 hospital institutions that carry out excellent research in biomedicine
- 16 scientific and technological parks for the transfer and use of knowledge
- 13 large research-support infrastructures (GISR)
- 1.652 research groups
Data extracted from the Generalitat's website