This year, the Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ) will be hosting the meeting at its facilities in Tarragona (Avda. de los Països Catalans, 16, 43007, Tarragona), for which we are very grateful.

After a number of years in which we have been unable to hold the meeting or do so with restrictions on numbers and distancing, we are delighted to be meeting you all again in person and sharing a morning to discuss strategic aspects of interest to the evolution of the CERCA system.

Among the participants is Prof. Avelino Corma, research professor and founder of the Institute of Chemical Technology (ITQ – CSIC/UPV), an internationally recognised expert in solid acid and bifunctional catalysts and the 2014 Prince of Asturias Award winner for Technical and Scientific Research.

For more information, contact comunicacio.cerca@gencat.cat.

The celebration of the CERCA Institute’s 10th anniversary was cut short by the COVID-19 outbreak. One year on and we have finally been able to celebrate the 10+1 anniversary, in conjunction with all the centres.

We have produced 14,000 T-shirts with the slogan #JoSocReCERCAire (I am a researcher) to distribute among all the centre’s staff. The aim of the action is to reach this public, with whom we have no direct contact, and create awareness and identification with the brand.

The T-shirt design incorporates many of the CERCA centres’ fields of science.

• An engraving of the figure of a horse, discovered in 2019, along with many other figures, on the walls of the Font Major cave in Espluga de Francolí, a sanctuary approximately 15,000 years old.
• The entropy formula, developed by Claude E. Shannon in 1948, is the measure of uncertainty regarding a source of information. In this context, Shannon’s formula measures the number of questions needed to obtain the correct answer.
• The recognition sequence of endonucleaseHindIII restriction. Type II restriction enzymes, such as HindIII, cut double-stranded DNA at its recognition sequence site. The discovery of these enzymes in the 1970s led to the development of recombinant DNA technology, genetic engineering and other technologies, producing such results as the production of synthetic insulin and the sequencing of the human genome.
• Graph of an electrocardiogram signal, representing biomedical advances.
• Binary code, representing computing and telecommunications.
• Carbon atom, the basis of organic matter and the biological world.
• The silicon atom, the basis for the microchip, on which computational evolution and its applications have been built.