The Catalan Association of Public Universities (ACUP) presented the third edition of the 2014 report on research and innovation indicators of Catalan public universities , a publication that analyses the activity of the system in three areas: the funds obtained for research (both competitive and non-competitive funds), the scientific output derived from them (also contextualized at national, European and global level), and the activity generated in the field of knowledge transfer. In addition, the report includes a monograph describing success stories of cooperation between university and enterprise.

The report, carried out using data from 2012, confirms a downward trend at system level in the ability to raise funds for research, a fact linked to the period analysed marked by cut-backs in investment in the public university system. However, the data also show that UPF remains the most competitive university in terms of harnessing resources, with   funding obtained by the doctoral teaching and research staff (PDI) who, in 2012, more than doubled (58%) the average of the Catalan public system (Graph 1).

Graph 1. Funds raised for R&D&i per number of doctoral teaching and research staff (PDI).Year 2012

 

In this sense, the productivity of UPF researchers has a positive impact on the budget of the University. In 2012, the amount received through competitive and non-competitive calls at UPF represented 26% of its overall budget (Graph 2), the highest percentage in the system.

Graph 2. Competitive and non-competitive funds raised per university and % of its total budget.Year 2012

 

Secondly, the report evaluates the scientific output of the Catalan universities, which has increased compared to the previous report, and highlights the output of the system, with an average number of publications per full-time equivalent researcher (2013) 86% above the rest of the state. Finally, with regard to the quality of scientific output, measured by standardized mean impact, in the period 2007-2011, four Catalan universities are among the top five in the Spanish State, in a list headed by UPF (Table 1).

Table 1. The Top 10 Spanish universities for impact and scientific output. 2007-2011

 

Thirdly, the report assesses the position of the system in indicators linked to innovation and knowledge transfer, in particular, the generation of patents, innovation agreements with companies, spin-offs or the university-enterprise-society chairs). In this field, the resources obtained in 2012 continue the downward trend of recent years and, if the non-competitive funding of the universities and their associated entities are accounted in an aggregated way, the resources are close to EUR 80 million.

Graph 3. Non-competitive funds raised by the Catalan public universities and associated entities. Year 2012

Finally, dealing with the increasing relevance of the University's third mission, the report includes a monograph with several success stories of university-enterprise collaboration. Most noteworthy in the case of UPF is the collaboration between the Music Technology Group (MTG), of the Department of Information and Communication Technologies, and Yamaha who, among other initiatives, has helped Vocaloid technology onto the market.

Other related e-news:

• UPF leads competitive fundraising and the quality of scientific output in the Catalan university system 
• UPF accounts for 10% of the funding obtained by Spanish universities in the 7 ^th EU Framework Programme