CORDIS Archive

Higher education facilities, R&D institutes and science parks
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The region of Madrid offers a full range of teaching services for every educational level through 3,600 centres that serve 550,000 students. 25% of all university students in Spain study in one of the nearly 100 higher education centres in the region. More than a quarter of a million university students are currently studying in the region of Madrid. There are 7 prestigious public universities, which host 94% of the students, as well as 6 other private universities that cover the rest. The universities of Madrid deploy their own R&D programmes.

Madrid has a great number of public research and technology organisations, which also includes the national scientific research council (Spanish acronym CSIC), with a wide variety of research fields. There are over 43 research centres that group 8 working-areas in the region. Madrid concentrates 52% of the public GERD, which does not include universities.

Science and technology parks are one of the main features of Madrid’s innovation system. Among these is the technology park of Tres Cantos, the first regional "new satellite." It is integrated into the main body of the town and combines residential and industrial areas along with space dedicated for high technological activities. The park has business-incubator facilities and is specialised in start-up, development, consolidation and growth of new technology-based firms. The main emphasis is on electronics, ICT, robotics, environmental technology, energy, new materials, chemistry, biotechnology and health.

Mobility of Researchers
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The number of measures to promote the mobility of researchers include regional grants under the responsibility of DGUI. Under this initiative, scientists are fully supported in the framework of a research project in research centres of other EU countries or the USA. These grants cannot be shared with other EU or national funds, and are limited in time (always limited to the administrative exercise). In addition, the DGUI also provides grants for young researchers for duration of two years. In such cases, the host research centre must be part of the regional R&D system, which also includes industries with R&D departments.

The “single complementary entry point” (Ventanilla Unica) is a service provided by the region of Madrid as well as by some of its municipalities. It is an information and administrative management procedure system that incorporates general information, specific advice about proposal and request submissions, and the delivery of official forms and questionnaires. The main issues behind the service are commerce, agriculture, health, environment, social welfare, consumption, employment, personnel, education and training, tourism and taxes.

Inside the organisational structure, public research centres play a key role in the offices for results of research transfer and technology transfer (Spanish acronyms OTRI/OTT). The basic mission of these “liaison offices” is to notify enterprises and public authorities about the benefits that can be derived from the relations with the university or research centre. At the same time, the offices serve as identification instruments, useful in informing researchers of the opportunities that exist between companies and their institutions, which bridge the gap between local technology offers and the technology market.