In the framework of the Barcelona BioMed Forum, different experts analyzed the results of the four editions for Starting Grants and Advanced Grants and conclude that, despite the positive assessment, it is necessary that the European Research Council (ERC) has more independence from the European Commission to finally achieve its objective of enhancing European scientific excellence.

The groups at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) headed by Ernest Giralt (Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology) and Miquel Pons (Structural and Computational Biology) are to develop research projects with Catalan biotech companies. The groups will work with Intelligent Pharma and Lead Molecular Design, respectively, to identify more efficient methods to obtain drugs. The IRB Barcelona groups have been awarded 200,000€ and 100,000€ respectively by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology, through the programme “Transmisión de Conocimiento a la Empresa” (TRACE -Transmission of Knowledge to Enterprise). This programme seeks to promote interaction between agents working in the science and technology sectors; in this case basic research labs and companies are involved.