• 1
Thursday May 10, 2018 at 14:58

The URJC improves its energy, business and research efficiency

Over the last few years, the University has achieved more R&D funding through national and international projects. Its scientific publications, the ambitious proposals of its teachers and the initiatives in favor of energy efficiency place it at the top of the Community of Madrid in the ranking within the research and innovative field.

Laura Susin Ascaso

In general terms, at the beginning of 2018, the Rey Juan Carlos University appeared in one of the most important rankings worldwide: THE, Times Higher Education World University Rankings. In this ranking it was among the 600-800 best universities in the world, at the same level as the Polytechnic, the University of Alcalá and Carlos III.

Financing in competitive calls

In 2016, the Challenges of Society and Excellence programs financed up to 26 URJC projects with 2 million euros. That same year, a success rate of almost 50% was achieved in the MINECO call and the participation of researchers grew by 30% more than in previous editions.

The Madrid Regional Plan for Science and Technology (PRICIT) has granted almost 8 million euros to research groups in the last three years, which has allowed them to increase the number of their researchers. At the same time, they themselves have obtained funding for 22 projects out of the 152 proposals they made to the European Union's R&D&I funding programme, Horizon 2020.

In the Calls of the General Directorate of Universities and Research of Madrid in 2017, it managed to incorporate 71 new researchers to the institution.

Scientific Publications

In 2010, URJC researchers made a total of 600 publications indexed in the SCOPUS database and in 2016 this figure amounted to almost 900.

The URJC is the fourth university in the Community of Madrid in terms of citations per scientific document and ranks 17th in Spain in percentage of publications with companies. The impact of its scientific publications places it as the fourth public university in the region and in position 35 of the national total.

Innovation and transfer

The Center for Innovation, Technology and Knowledge Transfer (CINTTEC) manages an average of around 180 collaboration contracts with external companies and entities, which represents an annual income of 4 million euros.

The University maintains a technological portfolio of 100 families of patents, has applied for up to 20 patents during 2017 and has 19 active research chairs. The authorization last year of 'DESILICO' as the first technological company of the Rey Juan Carlos University is also very noteworthy.

Campus of International Excellence

The URJC is a Campus of International Excellence in 'Intelligent Energy' (CEI). A seal that boasts thanks to the project promoted together with the University of Alcalá and the support of associated entities such as Repsol, Ferrovial, Imdea Energía and Ciemat. It has become a benchmark for clean energy and smart infrastructure and is part of the European Map of Universities specialized in energy.

At the same time, he works in the field of Smart Cities and collaborates in the implementation of smart infrastructures in the Madrid cities of Alcorcón, Móstoles and Guadalajara. Among other aspects, the URJC tries to improve noise and environmental pollution, energy saving, sustainable consumption or improving mobility.

Once again, the Green Metric ranking rewarded at the end of 2017 the effort in terms of environmental and energy sustainability of the URJC. Thus, it ranks third nationally and ranks 82nd globally.