Scientific enviroment in the Basque Country

Decisive steps have been taken to transform the Basque Country into an example of innovation in Europe. The Basque Science, Technology and Innovation System has been promoted to combine the efforts of all public and private entities that encourage the use of Science Technology and Innovation to improve business competitiveness. The Basque Country has organized its research around eight spheres of knowledge that are closely linked with its business and social fabric. Together they make up a point of reference in Europe, and participating actively in the construction of the European research space, the leading international consortia at the highest level.

Knowledge communities embrace, in fact, all of the organizations and institutional agents that carry out activities designed to generate and disseminate knowledge that serves as the basis for the processes of social and commercial innovation,and is the driving force behind economic development. The basis of a successful science, technology, and innovation system is a well-formed critical mass. The Basque System offers highly qualified jobs in different disciplines, both in the pubic and private sectors. The research and technology carried out are founded on collaboration and cooperation and are organized in the so-called knowledge communities, which generate new types of innovation.

Today, the Basque Country has the most extensive network of science and technology agents in the Spanish state, with more than 12,500 researchers and backup staff; an interconnected network of more than 90 entities between technology and sector centers, laboratories, business units, universities, and around technological scientific knowledge communities-understood as multipartite spheres of cooperation consisting of local groups both in universities and in research centers and industry. These communities focus on the following disciplines: biosciences, nanosciences, materials, neutron sciences, energy, manufacturing, information sciences, social sciences, and humanities. Of special relevance are the 18 technology centers that carry out technological development activities of an industrial, pluri-technology, and pluri-sector nature; knowledge generation work and training; and the dissemination of their own technologies, not only for their associate members or collaborators but also for any entity.

Moreover, in the region there are a number of Cooperative Research Centres (CIC), multi-partite cooperation platforms engaged in the medium-to-long term development of capabilities in strategic areas of research for the Basque Community. Universities, together with the technology centers, participate in the configuration of the CICs, which constitute the Basque Country’s new scientific competences in emerging niches. The companies themselves participate directly in the managing bodies of most of the technological research and development centers. It is also possible to find three Basque Excellence Research Renters (BERC): Basque Centre for Climate Change, Basque Centre for Applied Mathematics (BCAM) and Basque Centre on Cognition Brain and Language (BCBL).

Scientific environment in neutron scattering and fields that use neutron scattering

The ESS will serve the entire European neutron science community, which is estimated to have some 5.500 scientists. In Spain alone, we have around 250 scientists, distributed in 50 research groups, who use neutron techniques on a regular basis. This high number is remarkable if we take into account that Spain has no neutron source; therefore, Spanish scientists carry out their experiments in the two European sources, namely, the ILL reactor and the ISIS spallation source, in which Spain participates directly. In comparison, in the United States SNS at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, with ten times more inhabitants, estimates are that about 600 scientists conduct research with neutrons. New research strategies and development plans in bioscience, nanoscience, new materials, energy, transport, etc. will bring important margins for growth in the Spanish Scientific Community. In 2007, the growth of the Spanish neutron community led to the renewal of agreements with ILL and ISIS to increase the Spanish contribution by 50% and 25%, respectively.

Basque Country bets on Biosciences

New age for the research in Basque Country, money is being invested in research facilities, as CIC Biomagune or the future ESS-Bilbao, candidate. European Neutron Spallation Source CIC Biomagune, located in San Sebastian, takes charge of one of the most promising fields of the modern science research, the bioscience. This center is divided in:

• Biofunctional Nanomaterials Unit,
• Biosurfaces Unit,
• Molecular ImagingTechnological Platforms Unit.
  

The first two in turn, are divided in four laboratories, each one with different purposes. On the other hand, the last two, are focused in biomaterials analysis with specially designed intruments, such as magnetic resonance imaging and microscopy.