The Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC) has cemented its position as the leading university and the third institution in Spain in terms of the amount of funding obtained for projects carried out during the first four years of the H2020 programme. According to reports recently published by the EU Programmes Division of the Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI) that take a close look at the results of Spain’s participation in H2020, only the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and Fundación Tecnalia Research & Innovation received more project funding than the UPC.

According to the CDTI reports, the UPC participated in a total of 101 research projects during the 2014–2017 period and acted as project coordinator on 33 of them.

Also among the top 20 Spanish funding recipients are the Barcelona Supercomputing Center – Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS), which ranks ninth, and the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO), which ranks tenth. Both research centres are associated with the UPC.

High level of funding for Excellent Science, ICT and Security
The CDTI report, which breaks down results by entity, pillar and thematic area (as defined by the CDTI), highlights the UPC's commitment to Excellent Science, the first pillar of the H2020 programme. The UPC, the BSC-CNS and the ICFO are all among the ten entities awarded the most project funding in this area – in the form of Advanced, Consolidator and Starting Grants – by the European Research Council (ERC).

In the same area, the UPC and the BSC-CNS are among the five entities that received the most funding under the Research Infrastructures programme. The other three are the CSIC, the Canary Islands Institute of Astrophysics, and Atos Spain.

In addition, the BSC-CNS and the ICFO are two of the five entities that received the most funding for R&D projects with Spanish participation under the Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) programme. The other funding recipients in the top five were the CSIC, the Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2), and the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM).

As for Industrial Leadership, the second H2020 pillar, the UPC is one of the seven entities awarded the most funding under the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) programme. The others are Atos, the CSIC, Tecnalia, Telefónica R&D, UPM and UPV.

In the area of Societal Challenges, the third H2020 pillar, the UPC is among the six Spanish entities that attract the most funding under the security (SEC) programme, along with Atos, the Government of Catalonia, the Spanish Ministry of Home Affairs, the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) and Vicomtech.

As for the breakdown of funding by autonomous community, the CDTI report points to excellent results for Catalonia, which maintains its lead as a recipient of H2020 funding.

Nearly 150 projects from 2014 to 2018
Since the programme was launched in 2014, the UPC has participated in 147 H2020 projects and acted as project coordinator on 41. These projects have been awarded over €53 million in funding.

In terms of sub-programmes, the area in which the UPC has obtained the most project funding over the period in which H2020 has been in effect is Excellent Science. The University has received over €9.55 million in ERC grants for projects related to this pillar, while Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA), which are aimed at generating new capabilities and innovation based on research talent, have brought in €9 million.

The third most significant source of funding was the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) programme, under which the UPC was awarded grants totalling over €8.5 million.

More information

• UPC H2020 projects list by programme
• International Projects Unit of the Research and Innovation Support Service

Related news

• UPC maintains position as leading Spanish university in H2020 funding (10/07/2017)
• UPC: leading Spanish university in Horizon 2020 funding (30/11/2016)