A project that seeks to contribute to the sustainable development of the region in its triple dimension: social, environmental and economic, in partnership with the administration, various entities and the business community of Navarra. The University of Navarra has thus presented the new BIOMA Centerat the headquarters of the Confederación Empresarial Navarra (CEN). The BIOMA Center represents the commitment of the University of Navarra to care for people and the environment in solidarity. It also wants to be a point of meeting between professors, researchers, students and the rest of the citizenship.

The president of CEN, Juan Miguel Sucunza, welcomed the attendees and stressed that "companies must lead the transformation in sustainability" from partnership and the commitment to seek joint solutions.

For her part, the president of the University of Navarra, María Iraburu, said: "Our goal is to make a constructive and innovative contribution, putting science at the service of nature and people. This is embodied in the BIOMA Center, which we intend to build with all the social agents - companies, administration - and which we wanted to be in Navarra, a land characterized by its biodiversity, social cohesion and good economic data . The BIOMA Center reaffirms the University's commitment to Navarra".

The BIOMA Center is presented with a triple goal: the interdisciplinaryresearch of biodiversity and the environment, to provide innovative solutions to the major challenges facing our society today, which is carried out from the Biodiversity and Environment Institute, which already has more than 50 researchers. Together with the research, the Science Museum will be a space for scientificknowledge dissemination and the training of new generations, who will be able to face the challenges of today's society. training of new generations, who can face the problems of our planet in a creative and creative way manager .

The project

The BIOMA Center will be raised on the area of the Cimaagainst the Clinica Universidad de Navarraacting as a link between campus and the city of Pamplona. It will have 13,000 square metresThe building will be divided into two parts: 3,600 square metres for the teaching; 2,800 square metres for the research; and 4,400 square metres for the exhibition area. Access to the building will be via a new pedestrian place , leading directly to a service area: the reception, a shop, a restaurant area and versatile spaces for representation and meetings with companies, institutions and other external entities.

As explained by the architect Francisco Mangado, author of project, the Building will support the objectives of respect for the environment and sustainability. Energy saving measures and measures to promote the efficiency of the facilities will be incorporated.

budget With a budget of 30 million euros - 24 million euros for the building, 2 million euros for the equipment and another 4 million euros for urbanisation and car park- work on the building is expected to begin in 2023, provided that the necessary funds have been raised through the fundraising actions that the University has been carrying out for some time now. The opening of the centre is also planned for the academic year 2025/26.
 

Alliances and partnership with companies

Javier Ortega, director of development of BIOMA Center, stressed the need to establish solid partnerships between the public and private spheres, civil society, the university, business and government. "The partnership with the BIOMA Center can be materialized in three directions: working on shared projects, which integrate the research of the University in the value chain of the business; aligning CSR with the strategy of the business and the research or dissemination activity of BIOMA; or associating its brand with that of the University in the activities of knowledge dissemination or financing spaces," he stressed.

José Ignacio Pérez de Albéniz, tax lawyer, partner-director general of Arpa Abogados, explained that "the law offers very attractive tax incentives for companies that collaborate with project".

The Regional Minister for University, Innovation and Digital Transformation of the Government of Navarra, Juan Cruz Cigudosa, was in charge of closing the event. The Minister said that this new project of the University of Navarra is great news, as "it will allow the training of students, promote the research multidisciplinary and applied, as well as fostering scientific knowledge dissemination ". 

During his speech, Cigudosa also referred to the importance of the partnership between the Administration, universities, companies and knowledge centres in this transition towards a more sustainable energy model , which is an important economic and social driving force for Navarre.

Finally, he valued the impulse that this new centre will have for the scientific knowledge and the research work from sustainability, strategic axes that it shares with the department of University, Innovation and Digital Transformation and that is made clear through programmes such as the doctorate International WIT or the call for ANDIA grants, both focused on attracting, generating and disseminating the knowledge.