The Department of Education will invest 100 million euros -additional to the budget-, over the next 10 years.

The Minister of Education Jokin Bildarratz, together with the Deputy Minister of Universities and Research Adolfo Morais, presented this morning the IKUR 2030 Strategy launched by the Department of Education in the field of research excellence. IKUR 2030 was created with the aim of strengthening the scientific fabric of the Basque Country and achieving an international positioning in specific niches. It is strongly committed to four strategic areas of research for the coming years, in which the Department of Education will invest 100 million euros: Neurosciences; Quantum Technologies; Neutrionics; Supercomputing and Artificial Intelligence.

The presentation of the IKUR 2030 Strategy was also attended by representatives of the 9 BERC research centers (Basic Research and Excellence Centers) under the Department of Education that will play an important driving role within the IKUR Strategy.

"Taking a leap"

During the presentation, Minister Bildarratz highlighted the high levels of development and the remarkable capabilities that Euskadi has obtained in the field of research, thanks to the work and collaboration of the entire Basque University Ecosystem (the universities, the BERC centers, Ikerbasque, Euskampus). "We are a reference in many fields, and we have managed to attract funding outside the Basque Country. In a sentence: we have become stronger, and we are a reference at the international level. But we want to go a little further," he pointed out.

"Now we want to invest more intensely in some specific niches. We see ourselves as capable of making an important leap in certain areas. In short, we want to help our society, our productive and business fabric, through the work they do every day in our BERCs, through basic research. We seek to leverage a structural change in the Basque Country with scientific, technological, business and social impact through the promotion of emblematic long-term research initiatives. Our horizon is 2030. We will concentrate resources and efforts in a sustained manner over time".

4 areas

The IKUR 2030 Strategy will make a firm commitment to four emblematic areas or niches, from now until 2030. This decision is aligned with the main science initiatives and lines of research at the international level. They are a worldwide commitment, due to their potential to respond to global challenges, and in which the Basque Country has unique capabilities.

The four strategic areas of IKUR, and some of its sectors or areas of application are:

• Neurosciences: with application sectors such as healthy aging or personalized medicine.
• Quantum Technologies: of application, among others, in aerospace technology or telecommunications.
• Neutrionics (including neutron and neutrino physics): with very diverse fields such as the biomedical industry, energy storage or the environment.
• Supercomputing and Artificial Intelligence: fields such as intelligent industry, or the field of energy.
• Investment and impact

The commitment requires significant investment, whether in infrastructure, in attracting research personnel or for participation in international projects. For this reason, the Department of Education will allocate, over the next ten years, an additional 100 million euros to the Department's budgets. But the total investment mobilized during the period 2021-2030 could reach 280 million euros, through the connection with other projects and the adhesion of other agents, such as private companies, other administrations or international agents.

The estimated impact of the IKUR Strategy is also considerable, with a horizon of 2030:

• Recruitment of 400 new researchers
• More than 4,000 indexed publications
• More than 30 patents in operation
• Creation of more than 20 new companies
• Turnover of more than 350 million euros
• Creation of close to 3,200 jobs

Source: EJ-GV