The University of Cantabria has celebrated this Monday the award ceremony of the Research Awards Social Council and the Business Collaboration Award of the Leonardo Torres Quevedo Foundation.
Development of new nanosensors for biological applications', from the Optics Group, is the work that this year has won the prize for the best research work in its ninth edition, while the X Prize for Business Collaboration of the Leonardo Torres Quevedo Foundation has been awarded to the company Equipos Nucleares. This is one of the most significant academic events of the University of Cantabria because it distinguishes two of the activities that mark the development and being a university: research and its transfer to the business world.
The Gómez Laa Hall hosted this academic event which was presided over by the Rector, Jose Carlos Gómez Sal, and the President of the Government of Cantabria, Ignacio Diego. They were accompanied by the President of the Parliament, Jose Antonio Cagigas; the President of the Social Council, Jose Luis Zárate; his predecessor and President of the Social Council until last year, Juan María Parés; the Regional Minister for Education, Culture and Sport, Miguel Angel Serna; the Vice-Rector for Research and Knowledge Transfer, Angel Pazos; and the Managing Director of the FLTQ, Sergio Cicero.
Diego presented the award to the professors of the Optics Group of the University of Cantabria who have carried out the work 'Development of new nanosensors for biological applications', awarded the prize for the best research workDevelopment of new nanosensors for biological applicationsawarded the prize for the best research work: Fernando Moreno, Francisco Gonzalez, Jose María Saiz, Pablo Albella and Borja García. The director of this work, Fernando Moreno, was in charge of the presentation.
Together with this prize, the Social Council also awarded the best theses in five of the major research
Nuclear Equipment, Business Collaboration Award
The Rector, Jose Carlos Gómez Sal, was in charge of presenting the Business Collaboration Prize, an award, said the Rector, which precisely marks the need for a useful and real collaboration between the University and the business world, something "fundamental" both for the development of the University and for the development and future of the region itself.
This form of "joint and respectful work can lead us to great projects", said Gómez Sal before announcing the awarding of the 10th Business Collaboration Prize of the Leonardo Torres Quevedo Foundation to the company Equipos Nucleares, a relationship that the University of Cantabria has maintained for more than 20 years.
In his speech, Isidro Cicero summarised some of the many projects and research projects that have been made possible as a result of this "fruitful" collaboration with Equipos Nucleares, whose director, Eduardo González Mesones, accepted the award.
Representing the promoters of this candidacy was Professor Jose María Drake Moyano, who described the winning company as a world leader in its sector and "an example of University/Company collaboration".
Joining forces
Finally, the regional president, Ignacio Diego, closed the ceremony by saying that "it is time to join forces to win the future" and stressed the need for collaboration "between companies, the University and the Government" to "get out of the situation in which we find ourselves" and "consolidate a system that links the university with the business world".
Diego stressed that the Research Awards of the Social Council of the University of Cantabria (UC) "are prestigious because of the person who gives them their name", Juan María Parés, an "exemplary businessman and a point of reference for our society, whom I respect and appreciate".
He also highlighted the "high level of research and the solvency of the teams" that compete for these awards each year. The President stressed the Government's "commitment" to "a regional model based on research, innovation and knowledge", for which he assured that he could count on the "support" of the University.