Periodic Reporting for period 1 - BBCE (Baltic Biomaterials Centre of Excellence)
Berichtszeitraum: 2017-09-01 bis 2018-08-31
EU ageing population creates demand for more attention in healthcare and puts high burden on society in terms of costs and loss of quality of life. Significant part of clinical cases is connected with musculoskeletal disabilities, where implants based on new technologies offer opportunities for lower costs, due to lower amount or revision operations, lower cost of implants and higher performance. Scientifically, research into biomaterials is done through new techniques, development of new biocompatible materials, additive manufacturing, drug and biomolecule delivery, etc., where research excellence is spread between different organisations specialized in different steps of implant development, leading to lack of collaboration, coordination, fragmentation of funding, and duplication of research projects and infrastructure. Although research excellence in Latvia is low and Latvia is performing well below EU-average, there is potential in good infrastructure, good existing collaboration between different institutes, international collaboration and alignment with RIS3 (Smart Specialisation Strategy). BBCE project ́s objective is to establish a joint Baltic Biomaterials Centre of Excellence for advanced biomaterials development based on the long-term strategic cooperation between Riga Technical University (RTU), Latvian Institute of Organic Synthesis (LIOS), Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) and LTD “Rīgas Stradiņa universitātes Stomatoloģijas institūts” (RSU IS) on the one hand and AO Research Institute Davos, Switzerland and Friedrich- Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany on the other hand. Activities of BBCE will provide an opportunity to combine existing expertise and infrastructure, to create critical mass and excel in development of solutions for biomedical applications, as described in business plan of BBCE. Significant impact of BBCE on all national partners is foreseen in development of infrastructure, strengthening research excellence, cooperation ability with industry and valorization intensity. BBCE project will improve Latvia’s and hence also the EU’s research excellence, which is expressed as the Composite indicator of Research Excellence. Project's overall approach is to build the centre of excellence in the field of biomaterials research and development.
During implementation of project, evaluation of current research excellence, capacity, infrastructure and human resources of the BBCE core institutions in Latvia was performed. The evaluation report generated by advanced partners was used for development of BBCE business plan. Roadmap for BBCE development was created, where also strategic research direction of BBCE have been identified that responds to the clinical challenge. In order to avoid overlapping and maximize the impact of investments in infrastructure, available and infrastructure planned to be purchased is described and presented in time line of H2020 Teaming Phase 2 project implementation. The research staff capacity and planned increase is forecasted in parallel with upgrade of infrastructure and potential funding (research grants, competitive funding and industry research projects) that can be available due to development and increased capacity of BBCE. Available and infrastructure planned to be purchased is described and presented in time line of H2020 Teaming Phase 2 project implementation. The research staff capacity and planned increase is forecasted in parallel with upgrade of infrastructure and potential funding (research grants, competitive funding and industry research projects) that can be available due to development and increased capacity of BBCE.
Implementation of the BBCE Teaming Phase I ensured the development of robust business plan for the BBCE establishment and two way knowledge transfer between core BBCE partners and advanced international partners in in order to achieve the scientific and innovation excellence and critical mass and capacity for external investment attraction. The expected impact of the BBCE project through Teaming Phase 2 in long term will be achieved through fruitful cooperation between the BBCE research institutes in Latvia and SME’s bringing the high performance products into the market, increasing scientific excellence, elevating the impact factor of peer-reviewed publications and Hirsch index in the field of biomaterials as well as "critical mass" of high level scientists and/or technology developers will be achieved ensuring career development to provide highly-qualified staff at BBCE core institutions able to work in a multinational and interdisciplinary environment and capable to cope with their future career demands in an efficient and innovative way. Total socio-economic impact of BBCE on national economy was calculated to reach 70 MEUR in 20 years.