The Minister of Research and Universities of the Generalitat of Catalonia, Núria Montserrat Pulido, visited the headquarters of the IGFAE on Friday, September 26, as part of a working day on R&D&I with representatives of the Xunta de Galicia. Núria Montserrat was accompanied on the visit by the Minister of Education, Science, Universities, and Vocational Training of the Xunta de Galicia, Román Rodríguez; the Secretary General of Universities, José Alberto Díez de Castro; the Director of the Galician Agency for Innovation (GAIN), Carmen Cotelo; and the Vice-Rector for Scientific Policy at the USC, Pilar Bermejo. They were welcomed by Carlos Salgado, Director of IGFAE, and Abraham Gallas, Deputy Director.
During their tour of the new IGFAE facilities, the delegation was able to see the center’s various workspaces and laboratories. The center is the only one in Galicia to have been accredited twice as a María de Maeztu Unit of Excellence and also belongs to the CIGUS network, which accredites to the quality and impact of its research.
As the Catalan minister stated, “we asked to come to learn about the work being done here. We have a lot to learn, and in Galicia there are models that work, with very interesting results, and we came to explore avenues for collaboration in this area.” Román Rodríguez, for his part, thanked the Generalitat for its interest in the governance and management model that Galicia has implemented through structures such as the CIGUS network, calls for public-private collaboration, and multi-year university funding plans. The visit was fruitful and inspiring. Sharing is always positive, and we have a lot to learn from Catalonia’s capabilities in the field of R&D&I and the great work they do in their research laboratories,” said the head of Science for the Xunta.
During her stay in Galicia, the minister also visited CiMUS (also accredited this year as a María de Maeztu Unit) and the Mestrelab business research center. Finally, representatives from the Xunta and the Generalitat held a meeting with leading figures in Galician R&D&I to learn first-hand about their research, Galicia’s potential, and the progress made in recent years in public policies supporting this sector.
