The Board of Trustees of the Institution of Research Centres of Catalonia (CERCA) yesterday approved the recognition of the Institut Barcelona d'Estudis Internacionals (IBEI) as a CERCA centre, in accordance with the evaluation report issued.

IBEI's incorporation comes after a demanding evaluation process, which has culminated favourably. This will become effective with the subsequent publication of the resolution by the Department of Business and Knowledge of the Generalitat de Catalunya, which is responsible for research.

The CERCA Institution is a public sector entity of the Generalitat de Catalunya for the monitoring, support and facilitation of the activity of research centres. The action of the CERCA Institution is mainly focused on the following activities:

• Contribute to the international presence of the Generalitat's research centres.
• To facilitate and promote the adoption of joint policies in research management, scientific development and knowledge transfer, identifying and taking advantage of synergies and economies of scale.
• Contribute to fostering cooperation and scientific exchange between research centres and the best centres and universities around the world, promoting interdisciplinary research, coordinated transversal programmes, the mobility of researchers and the attraction and retention of talent at an international level.
• Increase and facilitate the transfer of knowledge to the business sector and society in general, as well as support, advice and encouragement for the creation of spin-off companies based on patents or results generated.
• To promote the involvement and commitment of the economic and business sector and society in general in the field of research centres.

Recognition as a CERCA centre will allow IBEI to improve the visibility and impact of its research, maximize synergies, as well as consolidate its standards of excellence, among others.

There are currently forty-two CERCA centres in the network.