We are starting academic year 2025-26 with momentum and many challenges ahead!
We have started a new academic year and we are pleased provide you with some figures on the research and transfer activities that have taken place over the past year, which showcase the growth of IQS in these areas of knowledge.
We will continue to inform you through this newsletter about the research projects that are conducted in our facilities, the doctoral theses that are being defended, as well as the solutions that we offer to companies in terms of research and knowledge and technology transfer. We started this newsletter in November 2017 and, without interruption, we have continued to share our most important news with you on a monthly basis. We often find it difficult to present everything that is going on, but we think that the news we do publish can give readers an idea of the magnitude and quality of the research and transfer activity we do. We welcome comments from you that encourage us to continue working along these lines, and we are pleased to share with you what is taking place at IQS in research and transfer.
Although we do not yet have the information fully completed and processed, we can provide some figures about our research and transfer activities over the last academic year. The following shows some of the indicators that highlight the growth of IQS in these areas of knowledge.
During academic year 2024-25, a total of 21 doctoral theses were defended across the three IQS doctoral programmes, with 63 students enrolled in these programmes.
During this period, the proposals presented by research staff to protect the technology developed from their research projects have grown. Of all the initiatives received at the IQS Tech Transfer office, eight new priority patent applications have been formalized and we are still working on the feasibility of protecting other proposals. In parallel, we also work on extending patents in other territories and we attempt to license the technology in the industrial sector.
Regarding publications in scientific journals, the most recent data show that IQS research staff have published 169 articles, of which 77% are in Q1 and Q2 journals in the WOS ranking.
In the field of research projects funded by public entities and private foundations, we have been growing at a high rate for the past five years. This year, the figures show a 20% increase in compared to the previous year, already exceeding €3,200,000 in expenditure. This trend shows continued growth, as evidenced by the indicators regarding the number of applications submitted and the success rate in the most recent concessions.
In terms of transfers and services to companies, it should be noted that, in terms of revenue from scientific and technical services, consulting, and R&D&i contracts for companies, we continue to show a sustained increase of 4%, exceeding €2,100,000 in the last academic year.
However, the figures themselves are not the most important thing, but rather the interpretation we can make of them and the conclusions we can draw. Indeed, it is clear that IQS has been increasing its educational offering of bachelor’s and master’s degrees, which has also been accompanied by an increase in the number of teaching staff who are also, without a doubt, research staff. As a backdrop, the IQS administration holds a strong commitment to research and transfer, which has been evident, among other actions, in the creation of new research laboratories and the acquisition of high-level scientific equipment. The indicators from recent years show the growth of IQS in the number of students in doctoral programmes and in the number of postdoctoral researchers that we have been able to hire thanks, in part, to grants that have been earned through competitive calls for public grants and private foundations.
I am certain we’ll advance even more this year.
Dr Nuria Vallmitjana
Director of IQS Tech Transfer