Despite its strengths, the European Research and Innovation landscape presents a lot of structural disparities, with research and innovation excellence concentrated in a few geographical zones. These disparities are due to, among other reasons, the insufficient critical mass of Science and Excellence Centers having sufficient competence to engage countries and regions strategically in a path of innovative growth, building on newly developed capabilities. This could help countries and regions that are lagging behind in terms of research and innovation performance reclaim their competitive position in the global value chains. Teaming will address this challenge by creating or upgrading such centers of excellence, building on partnerships between leading scientific institutions and low performing partners that display the willingness to engage together on this purpose.
ISSP UL is the only one scientific institution from Latvia which will be supported by the EC within the frames of Horizon2020 WIDESPREAD1-2014:Teaming action to develop a Center of Excellence “CAMART:ISSP”. The project CAMART2 (Center of Advanced Materials Research and Technology Transfer) in the view of experts was the third best proposal in the assessment of 169 applications, receiving 14.5 of the 15 points.
ISSP UL as a coordinator of the project will develop a new Regional Centre of Excellence in Materialscience and Technology Transfer aiming to increase the commercialization of the science and innovation in Latvia and Europe. The Center will host open-access thematically oriented research laboratories available for science, industry and academia. KTH Royal Institute of Technology (Sweden) and the Swedish Acreo ICT (Sweden) involved in the realization of the project as partners are internationally recognized leaders in the development and commercialization of innovation products.
During the first phase of the project the EC funding of EUR 497 500 will be used to develop a business plan for the Center of Excellence. After the assessment of the business plan, the Commission will decide on the further support of the developing Center of Excellence. The allocated funding up to EUR 20 million for the period up to 7 years will cover all the costs related to the development and maintenance of the Center, while the costs of the necessary infrastructure (buildings, scientific equipment, etc.) are to be covered by the European Structural and Investment funds of Latvia.
 is the only one scientific institution from Latvia which will be supported by the European Commission (EC) within the frames of Horizon2020 WIDESPREAD1-2014:Teaming action. The project CAMART2 in the view of experts was the third best proposal in the assessment of 169 applications, receiving 14.5 of maximum 15 points.){kind=link}