CREAFBrux, CREAF's new strategic commitment in Brussels

Sometimes dreams come true, and if we focus on the professional field, the vision of Olga Roig, head of the CREAF pre-award area, was to be able to establish an antenna in Brussels that would connect CREAF with all the new developments, entities and opportunities offered by the European Research Area.

Today, we can proudly say that this great idea has become a reality and that CREAF has made official CREAFBrux, a new liaison office with the European Commission in the heart of Europe. Next to the European Parliament, on the sixth floor of a building in the Ixelles district and very well connected to the airport, CREAF already has an office in the facilities that the CSIC has in the capital of the European Union. The contract includes its own office but also the use of other facilities in the same building, such as meeting rooms, networking spaces, a terrace and an events room for more than 80 people. The deployment of this office is a key objective of the Severo Ochoa project awarded to CREAF in 2024.

CREAF plans to make intensive use of this office with Olga's presence for one full week a month. On the other hand, research staff with European projects will be able to organize project meetings, events or have a place to work during visits to the city to attend other events. And, among many other initiatives, this space will also be an opportunity to develop the international communication strategy, which has yet to establish meaningful relationships with journalists from the so-called Brussels bubble, with journalists based there who cover European issues, many of them with an interest in science or environmental issues.

A key aspect of CREAF's strategy is that this office shares spaces with other entities that are also based in Brussels, such as FECYT, the Spanish Research Agency (AEI), European universities, the CDTI, and the CSIC itself. This creates a very interesting space for networking and mutual support.

On April 8th and 9th, a CREAF representation formed by the CREAF director, Joan Pino, the head of the Institutional Relations and Political Interaction area, Alicia Pérez-Porro and the CREAF Head of Communication, Anna Ramon, made an institutional trip to Brussels to support this new initiative promoted by the Pre-Award Area led by Olga Roig, the host of the trip. The aim of the visit was to explain the new commitment to some key actors established in Brussels.

The first visit was to the Catalan Delegation of the Catalan Government to the European Commission, where they were received by the Government Delegate Esther Borràs and her deputy, Maria Rodríguez. During the visit we had the opportunity to present the new CREAF liaison office and our lines of research and international collaboration, in addition to connecting with key personnel from this delegation who can support us in this new stage.

The following day, the CREAF team visited the CSIC offices to present themselves to the CSIC Delegate in Brussels, Elena Domínquez Cañas. The meeting was also attended by several people who work as analysts on research topics of interest to the CSIC in Brussels.