Medeco-HUB

This objective and the planned actions are framed in CREAF's Strategic Plan for 2014-2017.  Results obtained will be very positive, with a significant increase of the number of European projects led by the center. This proposal raises a number of activities to strengthen the Department of European Projects of CREAF, to

(i) increase our participation in European programs, both as partners and leaders,

(ii) strengthen and expand the activities to increase the effectiveness of the service (especially in the face of HORIZON 2020),

(iii) promote the excellence and internationalization of CREAF's researchers, and

(iv) increase the return of funds from European programs through a shift towards innovation.

The Societal Challenge 5 of Horizon 2020: Climate action, environment, resource efficiency and raw materials, represents an excellent opportunity to attract new funds from the EU, given the correspondence of most lines of research of CREAF with this challenge. Apart from providing solutions for one of the greatest challenges that the current Spanish society faces, Global Change, this proposal will promote leadership and international projection of CREAF, allowing new challenges related to scientific excellence and the attraction of competitive funds based on a high-level scientific activity.

Finally, the project will promote the participation of SMEs and other research groups with little experience in European Calls, particularly with regard to eco-innovation based forestry. This will be facilitated by collaboration with the Agency for Support to Innovation and Internationalization of Catalonia (ACC10) and the Centre for Industrial and Technological Development (CDTI), as well as the creation of a Joint Research Unit CREAF-CTFT (Forest Science Centre of Catalonia), that will enhance the participation of SMEs from the forestry sector.