The University of Cantabria and TECNALIA renew their strategic agreement to tackle new innovation and research-related challenges
- Both organisations have renewed the framework agreement which has been in force since 2019 and increased the number of instruments available to them to enable them to work together on international research and innovation programmes
Santander. 2 December 2024. The University of Cantabria and the TECNALIA research and technological development centre have renewed the framework agreement that they signed in 2019, adding new instruments to increase the strategic nature and enable them to tackle new innovation and research-related challenges. One of the new features in the new agreement is the development of the UCampus Joint Research Unit (JRU), as a way to promote joint action on international research and transfer projects.
This new instrument is in addition to the launch of the Joint Research Laboratories (JRL), the shared research laboratories which will make it possible to share equipment and infrastructures so as to strengthen existing collaborations and help carry out scientific and technological projects in emerging areas of common interest.
Leadership in research and innovation
The agreement, which was signed this morning by the Rector of the University of Cantabria, Ángel Pazos, and TECNALIA’s Director of Infrastructures and Corporate Services, Javier Urreta, will consolidate the leading position of both institutions in international research and innovation by combining their strengths and resources. The signing of the new agreement was also attended by:
- Carlos Beltrán, Vice-Chancellor for Research and Science Policy.
- Daniel Castro, director of the School of Civil Engineering.
- Jesús Isoird, Buildings and Infrastructures Technology Manager at TECNALIA.
- David García Sánchez, head of Structural Engineering and Fluid-Structure Interaction at TECNALIA.
Rector Ángel Pazos pointed out that the framework agreement not only preserves the different training, research and transfer programmes that the university has been working on jointly with TECNALIA for the last five years, but also extends and strengthens them with the launch of a Joint Research Laboratory, “a more formal joint research structure that will allow us to submit applications for international research and knowledge transfer projects together”. This “successful” collaboration between the two organisations not only benefits the School of Civil Engineering, but has also been extended to other university centres.
Meanwhile, Javier Urreta, who has praised the joint work with the University, has described the creation of the JRU as a “qualitative step forward”, which, in his opinion, “will allow us to work together both in Spain and in Europe, especially when it comes to carrying out new research projects and developing new areas of activity that will help to strengthen innovation throughout the business community in our autonomous communities and in Spain as a whole, thereby strengthening the innovative capacity of these companies”.
The agreement between the University of Cantabria and TECNALIA, which is a member of the Basque Science, Technology and Innovation Network, is based on three lines of action: innovation, research and transfer activities; activities in the educational field; and training, dissemination and other activities of joint interest. It will also retain Tecnalia Classroom, which was created by the School of Civil Engineering in 2019 with two objectives: to support students in completing their Final Degree Projects, Master's Degree Projects and Doctoral Theses that focus on innovation and technological development; and to explore new avenues of collaboration with research groups throughout the University of Cantabria, as well as companies and public bodies.
