Income from RD contracts with third parties reached last year 2.2 millions of Euros, which represents 57% of the total which also grew in terms of employment with a workforce of 35 people and an increment of 52%.
CATEC increased its turnover by 153% in 2010 after reaching an income of 3.8 millions of Euros, which confirms again that CATEC is a referral technology centre at regional and national level and also an aerospace benchmark. The centre has got this significant achievement thanks to its RD services for aeronautic and aerospace companies. Income from R&D contracts with third parties amounted to € 2.2 millions last year, which represents 57% of Catec’s total income. The remaining 43% comes from competitive grants and funds from the Regional Ministry of Economy, Innovation and Science, whose agreement was recently renewed.
In 2010, CATEC developed performances for 22 customers, among there were companies, institutions and research organisms. The centre also grew in terms of employment; in 2010, CATEC’s workforce consisted of 35 employees, 52% more compared to 2009, the majority of which have higher degrees; 25 among them are engineers.
Regarding to R&D&I projects, the centre presented last year 23 proposals before organisms and institutions with autonomous, national and international public funds. 11 of them were approved; one of them under an EC VII Framework Programme and 6 under the CENIT Project from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. Throughout 2010, CATEC signed up more than 20 agreements with companies and private entities to participate in aerospace projects. Likewise, different agreements of collaboration were also subscribed together with other technology and research centres like the aggregation to the International Campus of Excellence, “Andalucía Tech”, the acceptation to the Spanish Federation representing Technology Centres (FEDIT) and got the certification to be registered in the General Directorate of Armaments and Materiel (DGAM) of the Ministry of Defence.
At the same time CATEC took a step forward and continued its commitment to quality when developing its scientific and technological activity, since its quality integrated system has been ratified. The centre has received the R&D&I Management certification (UNE 166.000:2006) and the Environmental Management Systems (ISO 14001:2004) and renewed its Quality Certification after being audited by the firm Bureau Veritas according to EN 9100 (Aerospace Requirements). In terms of diffusing and promoting the technical scientific knowledge, CATEC organized and participated actively in six aerospace technologies seminars and attended 17 conferences at national and international level. Likewise, several technical articles have been published in different specialized magazines and several lectures and publications have been presented in conferences and seminars related to the technology and aerospace sector.
It also has been recognized at international level; Aníbal Ollero, scientific director of CATEC and his team were prized with the EUROP-EURON Technology Transfer Award, which is given jointly by the European Robotic Technology Platform, EUROP, and EURON Robotics Network to projects which improve the impact of robotics research and raise the profile of technology transfer between science and industry. Likewise, Catec’s researchers received: the award for the best PhD Thesis given by the Cooperating Objects Network of Excellence FP7 CONET, the Best Paper Award at the IEEE Safety, Security and Rescue Robotics 2011, and the best presentation at the Conference on Autonomous Robot Systems and Competitions Robótica 2010.
