The State unblocks 260 million euros to boost research in Catalonia.

BarcelonaA shower of millions for Catalonia's scientific and technological research centers. The State has released this Monday 260 million euros that it had pending to send to the Generalitat (Catalan Government) to strengthen the Catalan research and development system. These resources, as explained by the Minister of Research and Universities, Núria Montserrat, will now allow the Catalan government to launch a territorial investment plan with the aim of placing Catalonia among the 50 most innovative regions in Europe by 2030.

This investment comes from the (R&D) transfers that the Government committed to making at the Joint Committee on Economic and Fiscal Affairs (CMAEF) in July 2024. Specifically, €109.3 million correspond to the outstanding resources from 2024 that were not executed – only €40.7 million reached Catalonia – and the €25 million on the 25th. €150 million annually will also be consolidated in the coming years.

Minister Montserrat has specified that the territorial investment plan will be used to develop scientific and technological projects such as those planned by the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC) linked to the Mare Nostrum 6 supercomputer and the AI Factories. They will also be used to renew the Alba Synchrotron, for several biomedical centers, as well as for the Quantum Valley and the National Center for Genomic Analysis.

Also benefiting from the money from this investment plan are the decarbonization pilot plants planned in Tarragona; the BIST building in theOld Fish Market; the Pere Virgili Health Research Institute; the Montsec Observatory, which will have a new telescope; the InnoFAB advanced semiconductor and chip research and reproduction center, dedicated to the manufacture of chip prototypes with alternative materials to silicon; the Manresa Center for Technological Research and Innovation; and new buildings for the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) and the University of Barcelona (UB).

Montserrat also emphasized that the money from these transfers will be used for the "basic financing" of the 42 centers in the BÚSQUEDA R&D network, distributed throughout Catalonia. These CERCA centers will receive, specifically, an additional investment of 25 million euros, the minister herself specified, adding that the money from the plan will also be used to build "university infrastructure."

Among these forty centers is the Girona Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBGI). "We are coming off sixteen years of socioeconomic crises that have had a very negative impact on the knowledge sector," recalled the Minister of Universities and Research, who defended a sustained strategy to avoid missing opportunities and keep Catalonia within the global talent circuit. According to Minister Núria Montserrat, the Territorial Plan for Investment in R&D "will strengthen the Catalan knowledge and innovation ecosystem" in the medium and long term, and brings "the goal of achieving strategic autonomy for Catalonia within the European framework" closer.

In parallel with the arrival of these resources to the CERCA network, the department has also designed a new evaluation model for these centers to ensure that future investments are distributed according to criteria of scientific excellence, quality, and social impact. A strategy that, according to the regional ministry, will allow the centers to "gain financial stability and medium- and long-term planning capacity."

An announcement advanced by Junqueras

The minister's words served to solidify the announcement made earlier this morning by the president of the ERC (Republican Left), Oriol Junqueras, from in front of the Barcelona Supercomputing Center. The Republican leader noted that the funds now allocated are the result of the agreement between the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) and ERC (Spanish Left) for the investiture of Spanish President Pedro Sánchez, which was finalized within the framework of the Joint Committee on Economic and Fiscal Affairs in July of last year. In fact, the figure of €260 million corresponds to the approximately €110 million that were not received last year and the €150 million corresponding to the 2025 financial year.

Junqueras has disassociated these funds from any possible budget negotiations with the PSC (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party) or the PSOE (Spanish Workers' Party). "It has nothing to do with budget negotiations because there are no budget negotiations, neither in the case of Catalonia nor in the case of Spain," he said. "If there won't be a Spanish budget, it's simply because Esquerra has decided it won't negotiate it until the Spanish government complies and the Socialist Party fulfills all of its assigned commitments, which it must fulfill for the good of Catalan society and the good of the Catalan economy," he insisted.