ICMAB is the recipient of one of twelve MIT-Spain ”la Caixa” Foundation Seed Fund grants under a brand new funding programme in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

The presentation of the grants took place on 18 April 2018 at Palau Macaya (Barcelona). A common objective of all the awarded projects is to face some of the challenges of the XXI century: organs on a chip to fight cancer, polymers against antibiotic resistance, in vitro biologic 3D ears, quantic computers for data processing, or new materials to increase the efficiency of photovoltaic cells, to name a few. This latter is the project from Dr. Ignasi Fina, from the MULFOX group at ICMAB, who will work together with Dr. Rafael Jaramillo, at MIT. 

The ”la Caixa” and MIT grants aim to support research projects carried out jointly between Spanish universities and MIT research groups, boosting cooperation between faculty, researchers and students. The inititative is part of the MISTI Global Seed Funds programme, which promotes collaborations between MIT faculty and researchers and their counterparts abroad. 

(Catalunya Migdia, 18/04/2018)

In this first 2017 call, the awarded projects are in the fields of health (5), energy (5) or the global economy (2), and went to researchers at institutions all over the country, Catalunya (7), Madrid (2), Valencia (2) and Cantabria (1). The research centers include IQS-URL, IBEC, BSC, or the UPC in Catalunya. You can find the list and especifications of the 12 awarded projects in this press release. 

Ignasi's project is focused on the investigation of new materials for photovoltaic applications. The aim is to study the use of a new kind of material, called a ferroelectric semiconductor, that may offer a powerful mechanism to convert sunlight into electricity. The goal of this challenging project is to use this new material to exceed the efficiency limits that dictate the physics underneath photovoltaic conversion in semiconductors, and built more efficient solar cells.

Read the news post at our website (New collaborative project between the MULFOX group and MIT, funded by “la Caixa” Foundation, 09/01/2018) and some of the news appeared in the media:

• Seleccionats 12 projectes del programa MIT-Spain ”la Caixa” Foundation Seed Fund que potencien la recerca de frontera (Obra Social "la Caixa", 18/04/2018)
• El MIT i La Caixa aposten per la recerca a banda i banda de l'Atlàntic (Diari ARA, 18/04/2018)
• El MIT y la Caixa buscan fomentar la colaboración con la investigación de excelencia española (Big Vang, La Vanguardia, 18/04/2018)
• Intercambio de cerebros para alentar sinergias en investigación (El País, 18/04/2018)
• Set projectes catalans col·laboraran amb el MIT en recerca puntera (Catalunya Migdia, 18/04/2018)