IMDEA Materials (Madrid Institute for Advanced Studies of Materials) is a non-profit independent research institute promoted by the Madrid regional government to perform research in Materials Science and Engineering. IMDEA Materials belongs to the Madrid Institute for Advanced Studies network, a new institutional framework created to foster social and economic growth in the region of Madrid by promoting research of excellence and technology transfer in a number of strategic areas (water, food, social sciences, energy, materials, nanoscience, networks, software).
Motivation and goals
The analysis of the research panorama in Materials Science and Engineering in Madrid shows the presence of a number of research groups at Universities (Complutense, Autonomous, Polytechnic, Carlos III and Rey Juan Carlos) and CSIC research centers (ICMM, ICV, ICTP, CENIM) with a well-established international reputation and state-of-the-art research infrastructures (mainly for characterization). Nevertheless, this expertise has not led to a significant technology transfer to improve the competitiveness of Spanish and European industries neither to the attraction of talent from abroad. These two points are critical to maintain the technological leadership of Spain and Europe and IMDEA Materials was created with an innovative legal status (non-profit independent organization) and a carefully designed relationship with industry (strategic partnership) to achieve these goals.
So, IMDEA Materials is committed to three main objectives: excellence in Materials Science and Engineering research, technology transfer to the industrial sector in order to increase competitiveness and maintain technological leadership, and attraction of talented researchers from all over the world to Madrid to work in an truly international and interdisciplinary environment.
History
IMDEA Materials began its activities in February, 2007, although an international committee chaired by the director was working in the definition of the Scientific Program and the research lines since the beginning of 2006. The Strategic Plan and the Scientific Program of the Institute were presented and approved by the Board of Trustees in October. The Strategic Plan summarized the objectives of the Institute in terms of organization, personnel, infrastructures (provisional and final site as well as scientific equipment), and investment for the period 2008-2011. The Scientific Program established the main research lines and scientific objectives of the Institute for the same period.
The provisional site of the Institute was inaugurated in October 2007, after refurbishing the space provided by the Polytechnic University of Madrid at the School of Civil Engineering. This site includes 200 m2 of office space and 140 m2 of laboratory and currently hosts the offices for the director and staff and the Divisions of Composite Materials and Modeling & Simulation as well as the research line on Nano- and Micromechanics. Another provisional site was opened in September 2009 in premises rented to the Carlos III University to host the Division of Metallic materials and the research line on Multifunctional Nanocomposites. The final site of the Institute will be located at the Technological Park of the Polytechnic University of Madrid in Tecnogetafe. The new building includes over 4000 m2 of laboratory space and 2000 m2 of offices to accommodate administrative and technical staff and research personnel. Construction of the building has already started and it will be available by October 2011.
Two international calls for scientists were launched in 2007 and 2008 to contract the first researchers. 82 applications from 18 countries were received for the first one, while these figures increased up to 113 and 30, respectively, for the second one. Researchers were contracted after the positive evaluation of the Scientific Council. IMDEA Materials research personnel currently includes 22 researchers (5 senior, 6 junior, 4 post-doctoral and 7 doctoral students) from 10 different nationalities. Another international call was recently launched to incorporate more talent in selected areas.
The Institute is currently organized into four divisions devoted to Modeling & Simulation, Metallic Materials, Composite Materials and Advanced Characterization of Materials, and already counts with excellent research infrastructures for high-performance computing, processing of metallic and composite materials as well as thermo-mechanical and microstructural characterization. In addition, the Institute participates or has participated in ≈20 research projects funded by industry (Rolls-Royce, Intel, Airbus, Antolín, Aries-Complex, Aernnova, etc.), the European Unión, the Spanish ministry of Science and Innovation, the Spanish Center for Technological and Industrial Development (CDTI), and the Regional government of Madrid. As a result of these research activities, IMDEA Materials researchers registered two patents and published 26 papers in international peer-reviewed journals (including Scientific American, Advanced Materials, Physical Review Letters, Acta Materialia, Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids, etc.) during 2009.