Plan to boost science and innovation in Barcelona
The Barcelona City Council and "la Caixa" Foundation sign an alliance to promote the Barcelona Science Plan and turn the city into the European capital of research and innovation | The Barcelona - "la Caixa" Living Lab will be launched with the experiences of the IrsiCaixa and ISGlobal Living Labs, which include a wide range of initiatives in the field of research and health
Ada Colau, mayor of Barcelona, and Jaume Giró, general director of "la Caixa" Foundation, have signed an alliance to turn Barcelona into a European reference in research and responsible innovation. This public-private collaboration aims to promote the existing research and innovation (R&I) of excellence. The iniciative also wants to expand the R&I and strengthen it with new lines of action with the participation of citizens.
The agreement underlines two major lines of action: the municipal call for grants for research projects for one million euros, contributed jointly by the City Council and "la Caixa", and the creation of the Barcelona "la Caixa" Living Lab-research laboratory and citizen participation. In this sense, the experience of the IrsiCaixa and ISGlobal Living Labs will be a starting point in the field of science generated with civil society and other agents.
Barcelona - "la Caixa" Living Lab, new platform for citizen innovation
Today's social challenges are complex and multifactorial, which makes it more necessary than ever to improve the participation and interaction among various stakeholders, such as managers, citizens, researchers and civil society, in order to improve the governance in research. The program Barcelona - "la Caixa" Living Lab wants to be the point of encounter between all these parts and a place where the citizen's opinion about the current scientific aspects is gathered. The new platform will include initiatives of public participation in research and codetermination of agendas in research and innovation.
The activities are carried out in CosmoCaixa and also in two municipal spaces of reference in citizen innovation of the City Council, such as the Centre d’Innovació Urbana Ca l’Alier and la Fabra i Coats. The starting point will be the experiences of the IrsiCaixa and ISGlobal Living Labs, which include a wide range of initiatives in the field of research and health. "La Caixa" will allocate 600,000 euros over three years to this new platform.
Council grants for innovative research projects in the field of ageing, mobility and environment
The grants, which will be published in March, will fund research projects for innovative solutions in the areas of aging, quality of life, mobility and respect and protection of the environment, with the main objective of contributing to the modernization of the city of Barcelona, within the framework of the objectives that preside over EU actions and worldwide. At the same time, the aim is to incorporate technological transformation in the attention to citizens, and to encourage the proposals that arise from the collaboration of a minimum of three institutions to achieve better cooperation between research and transfer entities, companies and citizens' associations, creating networks for the development of knowledge where those involved relate successfully with other institutions.
The City Council of Barcelona will organize this first call for grants of up to one million euros in total, with the "la Caixa" Foundation making a contribution of a total of 400,000 euros to be distributed in these two years (2019 and 2020).