The Group Connect-EU (consisting of 12 working groups) aims to promote and strengthen the participation of Catalonia in the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Union. The groups are made up of public and private stakeholders representing the territory who work in science and technology with high impact on the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Union. The working groups was convened by ACC10 (Catalan Agency for Enterprise Competitiveness). The result of the call for applications was the choice of these 12 groups representing technological sectors of the catalan productive structure: sustainable automotive, advanced materials, energy and environment, food, medical technologies, smart transfics, factories of the future, reactions and catalytic processes, manufacturing systems and electronic components, nano-biotechnology, social sciences and humanities, and media and mobility.

The social sciences and humanities group, which is enrolled the Institut Barcelona d’Estudis Internacionals, is coordinated by the Universitat Pompeu Fabra. Also involves the Universitat de Barcelona, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Centre d’Estudis Demogràfics, CIDOB, and the Fundación Centre d’Iniciatives i Recercas Europees a la Mediterrànea (CIREM).