Platforms and Associations

The CTC in the Cantabria Clusters

The Components Technological Centre is one of the main players of the growing activities carried out by clusters in Cantabria. The CTC has a presence in the four business groupings of the region and plays the role of the catalyser of innovation, promoting relevant initiatives that facilitate the improvement of the competitiveness of the Cantabrian industrial fabric.

The experience of the only technological centre in the region in the designing and carrying out of projects of industrial technological transfer, in addition to its extensive research experience combined with the network of alliances with other innovation centres from neighbouring regions, makes the CTC a very valuable element to help clusters increase their innovative activities.

This is understood by the Car industry cluster (GIRA) and also at the Nuclear industry cluster (Clúster de la industria nuclear, CINC). In both groupings the Components Technological Centre has a presence on the governing bodies (the Executive Committee of the GIRA and the Technical Secretariat of the CINC) and also has a proactive presence in its projects and measures. It is not for nothing that both the GIRA and the CINC have set up R+D+I committees in which the CTC plays a relevant role.

The joining of the Sea of Innovation Cantabria Cluster (SICC), in which it occupies the vice-presidency, and the Cantabria Maritime Cluster (Clúster Marítimo de Cantabria, MARCA) in which the CTC acts as the secretary, confirms the relationship of the centre with this business model in connection with its corporative philosophy, both in its work of improving the competitiveness of companies by innovation and in its dissemination of a culture of innovation.

In addition, CTC is a member and promoter of the innovation strategy in the clusters:

– Clúster de la Industria de Defensa de Cantabria (C+I+D)
– Clúster Comportamiento e Investigación del Fuego en Cantabria (CIF Cantabria)
– Clúster de la Industria del Besaya
– Clúster TERA, Asociación de Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación de Cantabria

National technological platforms on which the CTC takes part

CEIDEN

(Technological Platform of Nuclear Fission Technology): Owing to the specific weight of the projects in the nuclear field within the CTC, participation on the CEIDEN platform is considered to be strategic. Its objectives are the coordinating of various national R+D+I plans and programmes in the field of nuclear fission technology, in addition to participation on international programmes with the aim of orientating coherently the efforts of the entities involved.

REOLTEC (Technological Platform of the Spanish Wind Sector): The objective of the REOLTEC is to coordinate the various activities of research, development, and innovation which meet the needs of the wind sector and to consolidate the technological positioning of the national industry by means of the strengthening and selective coordination of the scientific/technological stages and the selective dissemination of the results and the experience attained. The CTC has been a member of this platform since 2009, taking part in the working parties of Offshore Wind and Wind Turbines.

PTM (Plataforma Tecnológica Marítima): The PTM aims to be a meeting point and forum for dialogue between all agents related to the sea and other aquatic media, the future of which largely depends on their capacity to maintain and create competitive advantages by carrying out activities of investment and innovation. The CTC joined the PTM in September 2011 and is a member of the following working groups:

GT01: Materials, coatings, joining technologies, and nanotechnologies

GT02: Automation and marine robotics

GT07: Renewable Marine Energy Group

The CTC takes part in the events organised by the platform on which calls are announced and networking and project revitalisation sessions are held.

MATERPLAT (Technological Platform of advanced materials and nanomaterials): The CTC has been a member of the Platform since 2009, taking part in the Light Alloys and Nanomaterials working groups and contributing to the objective of the Platform, i.e. the creation of a suitable framework of collaboration among R+D+I entities, sectoral platforms, official bodies, and companies from all over Spain to encourage the development and application of advanced materials and nanomaterials.

European technological platforms on which the CTC takes part

EUROPEAN DEFENSE AGENCY: CTC joins the European Defense Agency in 2018 to support innovation in military satellite navigation systems. Specifically, it has joined the group of experts called CapTech Guidance, Navigation and Control (GNC), whose mission is to support and promote R&D&i actions in defense systems related to guidance, navigation and control technologies.

TP Ocean Over 200 experts in the sector take part on the European Marine Energy Technology Platform with the mission of defining the strategy of the technological development of the sector. Since it joined in 2015 the CTC has taken part in the drawing up of the Strategic Research Agenda and also in events of the Ocean Energy Forum.

IEC TC114: The Components Technological Centre is one of the members of the technical standards committee of AENOR, IEC TC114, which works to draw up international standards for the construction of marine energy converters. This national committee, which consists of experts in marine renewable energy, is in charge of reflecting Spain’s vision in the basic world document which will govern the designing of any kind of energy converter for waves and currents. Its objective is to present the Spanish contributions to those responsible for the standard on an international level so as to guarantee that the future IEC TC114 will be applicable to our country.

National networks on which the CTC takes part

Fedit is the Spanish Federation of Technological Centers. It was established in 1996 and since then it has been working to promote and promote Innovation, Technological Development and Private Research to increase the competitiveness of companies through the strengthening of Technology Centers. CTC has been incorporated into FEDIT in December 2021.

European networks on which the CTC takes part

EERA The EERA is a European alliance of leading energy research organisations (150 organisations from 22 different countries) with the objective of strengthening, expanding, and optimising the research capacities of the EU in the field of energy.

The CTC currently takes part in the following Joint Programmes (JPs):

– JP Wind

– JP Ocean Energy

Participation in a European alliance of this kind means the strengthening of the capacities of the CTC in the field of energy by means of access to scientific installations and specific programmes for training researchers and carrying out R+D projects. The activities of the association also encourage the drawing up of proposals for European projects by means of seminars and other specific activities.

The duties of the Research Centres that make up the EERA include the establishing of strategic research lines for Europe concerning energy in the medium and long term, maintaining close collaboration with the European Commission and the major stakeholders in order to comply with the objectives established in the SET-plan. The alliance contemplates the shared use of first-class scientific facilities, carrying out research programmes jointly, and even the creation of the first virtual European research institution in the field of energy.