We are happy to announce that the 2017 IRAP PLUS competition will result in the creation of new centres of excellence in Łódź and Otwock. Professor Klaus Müllen, head of the newly created International Centre for Research on Innovative Biobased Materials (ICRI-BioM), and Professor Piotr Paneth, its Scientific Affairs Director, will carry out research in molecular biotechnology, using modern computational techniques. The Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research will be the new unit’s strategic foreign partner. Locally, the project will be implemented in collaboration with the Łódź Polytechnic.

The Otwock unit, the Centre for Excellence NOMATEN, will be led by Professor Sergio Bertolucci and Paweł Sobkowicz, PhD. NOMATEN will focus on designing, developing and functional assessment of the properties of new materials, resistant to high temperatures, corrosion and/or radiation. The Polish National Centre for Nuclear Research will serve as a local partner, while the foreign partners will come from Finland (Teknologian tutkimuskeskus) and France (Commissariat a l?énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)).

The IRAP PLUS competition supports projects carried out as part of the Teaming competition held by the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 programme. It is aimed at the creation of highly specialized, world-class research centers located in Poland, which implement interdisciplinary research within international teams and apply the best international practices with regards to identifying research programmes and themes, HR policy and R&D management, and commercialisation of R&D results.