A HALF CENTURY OF TRADITION AND EXCELLENCE

The Ruđer Bošković Institute (RBI) is the largest multidisciplinary research centre in Croatia with strengths in basic science and applied science research as well as higher education. It was founded in 1950 as a centre for advanced research and named after the famous 18th century Croatian scientist Josip Ruđer Bošković (1711- 1787).

The multidisciplinary character of the Institute is manifested in different research fields in physics, chemistry, oceanography (including marine and environmental research and geosciences), biology, biomedicine, computer science and electronics/engineering. The Institute gathers a staff of 867, including 542 research staff (344 PhDs) and 325 support and technical staff. Since its inception as a multidisciplinary public research institute, funded to a large extent by the Croatian Ministry of Science, Education and Sports, the RBI mission has been dependent upon the particular needs of our society. The RBI has consistently endeavoured to provide high-quality support to industry and academia nationally and to increase the number of qualified graduate students for the ‘knowledge economy’, thus providing science expertise and support to state and local governments, as well as to technology-based industry and small and medium enterprises. With this, the Institute exerts an important function in the development, prosperity and well being of Croatia.

POWER OF KNOWLEDGE

The Ruđer Bošković Institute seeks to achieve its objectives by continually improving and enhancing its facilities and capabilities as well as by establishing strategic partnerships and links with recognised organisations, scientific and academic institutions and industry. This scientific cooperation is enhanced through numerous projects, lasting between three and five years. The majority of projects are national basic research projects, funded by the Ministry of Science, Education and Sport of the Republic of Croatia. At present, RBI scientists are involved in 136 such projects. Besides that, the RBI scientists are involved in numerous international projects including: 7 FP7, 20 FP6, 2 FP5, 6 IAEA, 5 COST, 4 NATO, 2 INTERREG and NIH projects, as well as 67 applied and technological projects and 4 HITRA projects.

The activities of the RBI also result in various forms of intellectual creations. One important mission of the RBI is the protection of intellectual property and its commercialization. In this context, various specific activities have been initiated and realized over the last few years. First and foremost, the Institute’s Commission for Intellectual Property has been established. Also, in the period of the last few years the RBI has established several spin off companies.

Due to its manpower and well-organized infrastructure, which includes twelve divisions, two centres, 82 laboratories, the largest library in natural sciences in Croatia, computing centre, animal facilities and large number of valuable experimental devices, the Institute is able to maintain its activities at the highest level, benchmarking itself against the very best in the region and forming an essential part of the European Research Area.

Read more...