[Sandi Orlic]

THE RUĐER BOŠKOVIĆ INSTITUTE is regarded as Croatia’s leading scientific institute in the fields of natural sciences, biomedicine, marine and environmental research due to its size, scientific productivity, international reputation in research, quality of its scientific staff and research facilities.
Today, the RBI consists of eleven divisions, four centres, as well as administrative and technical services, and employs a total of more than 900 people, of whom more than 75 percent are scientists and researchers. More than 440 PhDs working at RBI, 60 percent of whom are women. This puts the RBI above the EU and world average for the participation of women in science.
In addition, more than 200 PhD students and 81 postdocs are currently working at the RBI. This confirms the Institute’s reputation as a sought-after employer in our scientific community.
The multidisciplinary research staff of more than 700 scientists and researchers, housed in more than 60 laboratories, conducts research in theoretical and experimental physics, physics and materials chemistry, electronics, physical chemistry, organic chemistry and biochemistry, molecular biology and medicine, marine and environmental sciences, information and computer sciences, laser and nuclear research and development.
RBI’s capital equipment is worth more than 20 million euros and accounts for 50 percent of all scientific equipment in Croatia.

POWER OF KNOWLEDGE
A quick look at the Nature Index, which measures production in leading international scientific journals, shows that the RBI is responsible for about half of Croatia’s total contribution.
RBI scientists actively participate in higher education in more than seventy bachelors’, more than two hundred master’s and doctoral programmes, which makes RBI an equal partner of universities in the Republic of Croatia and abroad.

COMPETITIVE PROJECT PORTFOILO
RBI is the leading and most internationally competitive Croatian institute due to its participation in international research projects such as IAEA, EC FP5-7 and HORIZON2020 programmes funded by the European Commission, NATO, NSF, UKF, SNSF, DAAD and other international scientific foundations.
More than 300 competitive national and international scientific projects are currently being carried out at the Institute. The RBI’s European project portfolio has reached a value of 110 million euros.
Since Croatia’s accession to the European Union, RBI has withdrawn €18.6 million from the Horizon 2020 program through 32 contracted projects, thus taking the leading role in the withdrawal of EU funds and positioning itself as a strong strategic partner of the Government of the Republic of Croatia.
Scientific projects funded by the European Research Council represent the best research in Europe and are awarded to scientists solely on the basis of the excellence of their work. The international competition is strong and only the best, from 8 to 15 percent, of the applicants are selected, which is why the ERC projects are colloquially referred to as “scientific Oscars.”
During the period from 2015 to 2020, three ERC projects were awarded to RBI scientists. A new ERC Synergy Grant valued at 10 million euros arrived in early 2020.

UPGRADING THE RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE
In addition, the EU Cohesion Policy enabled RBI scientists to apply for funding from the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF), which led to the establishment of two Centres of Excellence – for Advanced Materials and Sensors (CEMS) and the Centre of Excellence for Marine Bioprospecting (BioProCro).
The highlight of RBI’s ESIF portfolio is the €72 million project ‘Open Scientific Infrastructure Platforms for Innovative Applications in Business and Society (O-ZIP)’. The O- ZIP project aims to promote collaboration between science and industry with the goal of creating a more competitive economy.
By focusing on Material Science and Technology, Biomedical Research, Marine and Environmental Science, and Information and Communication Science and Technology, the Institute is aiming to build significant interdisciplinary research programs to provide relevant answers to tomorrow’s challenges.
The project is funded by the European Union under the Operational Programme for Competitiveness and Cohesion 2014-2020.

KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER TO INDUSTRY
In addition to investments in the infrastructure, European Structural Funds are being used to promote cooperation between scientists and entrepreneurs. This involves projects sponsored by the European Regional Development Fund, as part of an ongoing call for the submission of project proposals for grant funding, “Increased Development of New Products and Services Resulting from Research and Development Activities, issued by the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development.
The Institute is currently a partner in several such applied research projects in the food industry, medicine and solar cell development
In addition to basic research and education, RBI activities also lead to various forms of intellectual creation. An important task of RBI is the protection of intellectual property and its commercialization. To this end, various specific activities have been initiated and carried out in recent years, including the establishment of spin-off companies such as Ruđer Medikol Cyclotron Ltd. and Ruđer Innovations Ltd.
A multidisciplinary approach is one of the main strengths of the Institute, which provides comprehensive solutions to a wide range of socially important issues.
Because of the knowledge, expertise, and multidisciplinary approach to solving a wide range of problems, project tasks, and services available in RBI’s many laboratories, RBI offers great potential for collaboration with companies. Collaboration with RBI could include: advanced materials, nanotechnology and production technologies, biomedicine, biotechnology, environment and marine, ICT.

[Konstantina Ioannou]

Dear Sandi,

We are really interested in discussing more about a potential collaboration with you.

Our aim at PwC Cyprus is to find the right solutions to complex problems, creating value for our associates, clients, stakeholders and society. We embrace the future with a focus on quality and by building strong relationships based on trust. PwC’s new global strategy, “The New Equation”, leads to a people led and tech powered future. It includes our ability to look at problems from different angles and present innovative solutions that make a difference and lead to sustained outcomes. More than 1,000 people in Cyprus join forces with 295,000 professionals of our global network in 156 countries and create an experienced team that combines intelligent approaches, experience and technological innovation to offer globally consistent services and to work with a broad range of clients, from large international financial institutions to small locally-based organisations. Our industry specialisation in several sectors such as Energy, Communication & Technology, Hospitality & Leisure, Transportation & Logistics, Health, Government & Public Services will give a project the benefit of our in-depth industry knowledge and experience. Our participation in European funded projects will be valuable as it will offer multi-skilled solutions to a wide range of challenges. We can be involved in implementing various activities of a project such as analysis of indicators and KPIs, developing targets, generating new knowledge to support benchmarking and policy recommendations. PwC is also experienced in providing academic training, digital reskilling, workshops/seminars related to ICT technologies, innovation and entrepreneurship, guidance for legislation and internationalisation and has long experience in organising conferences and vocational training seminars. PwC can provide to the consortium digitally equipped collaborative workspace, the PwC Experience Center containing cutting edge equipment for rapid prototyping, manufacturing, digital collaboration and user centred design. We know how the European Commission works, since under the umbrella of PwC EU Services, we have won and delivered projects successfully under the European funding framework. In addition, we have easy access to and maintain great professional relationships with key policy makers and with senior people in public and private organisations in Cyprus who will play a crucial role in the successful implementation of any project especially to gain maximum communication impact. A number of senior experts who have vast expertise across the entire spectrum of necessary skills can add great value and insight in the project. Also, their presence, experience and credibility will help gain the endorsement of the recommendations from the Cyprus authorities.

Looking forward to your response.

Regards,
Konstantina Ioannou

[Author]

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