BETA Technology Centre Joins Catalonia’s CERCA Network With EUR800,000 Investment

The BETA Technology Centre for Biodiversity, Ecology, Environmental and Food Technology, affiliated with the University of Vic – Central University of Catalonia, officially joined the CERCA system on September 22, 2026, Catalonia’s network of research centers of excellence. The Catalan government’s Department of Research and Universities will provide EUR800,000 to the centre, known as CT BETA, to fund science and technology infrastructure over the 2026-2027 period, according to the CERCA Institution and a Government of Catalonia press release.

The incorporation was announced by Catalonia’s Minister for Research and Universities, Nuria Montserrat, during an accreditation ceremony at UVic-UCC’s Assembly Hall in Vic on September 21, 2026. Montserrat said the centre’s entry into CERCA “recognizes a track record of excellence and reinforces a research model closely tied to the territory, capable of transforming knowledge into concrete solutions for the agri-food sector and rural world,” according to the government’s press release.

Four infrastructure projects funded by the investment

The EUR800,000 will fund a multi-year project called “Strategic Infrastructures to Promote Sustainability and Innovation in Rural Areas,” organized around four areas: environmental genomics, pre-industrial pilot plants, artificial intelligence, and soil ecotoxicology. The environmental genomics platform will characterize microorganisms, monitor biodiversity in soil and water, and strengthen surveillance of pathogens and antimicrobial resistance. A shared pre-industrial innovation space will give companies and research centers access to experimental infrastructure, including composters, anaerobic digesters, pyrolysis units, vacuum evaporators, photobioreactors and artificial rivers, to validate and scale circular bioeconomy technologies before industrial deployment.

A digital experimentation laboratory will develop and test AI tools applied to sustainability, designed to later scale onto supercomputing infrastructure such as the MareNostrum system at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center. The fourth strand, a soil ecotoxicology laboratory, will study the biological effects of contaminants on soil and assess environmental risks using a “One Health” approach that considers ecosystem, animal and human health together.

Source: Government of Catalonia press release, “El Centre Tecnologic BETA de la UVic-UCC s’incorpora a la xarxa CERCA,” September 21, 2026.

Access to CERCA support and European strategic alignment

Joining CERCA gives CT BETA access to the CERCA Institution’s coordination and support programs, including specialized training for research and management staff, plus resources in open science, gender equality, knowledge transfer and internationalization, according to the government’s announcement. The centre can also benefit from transformative agreements that ease access to and publication in leading scientific journals. Sergio Ponsa, director of CT BETA, said the goal is “not to grow but to grow better, so that everyone has a better professional quality, aligned with European standards,” adding that “institutional consolidation is a tool to generate more impact; being CERCA does not change our purpose, it reinforces it.”

The project is aligned with several Catalan and European strategic frameworks, including Catalonia’s RIS3CAT 2030 innovation strategy, its Bioeconomy Strategy 2030, and the Catalonia AI 2030 plan, as well as the European Green Deal, the EU Bioeconomy Strategy and the EU Soil Strategy for 2030, according to the government’s press release. UVic-UCC rector Marta Otero said the recognition also demonstrates that “excellent, socially impactful research” can come from central Catalonia rather than only from Barcelona.

CT BETA’s move into CERCA follows the centre’s transition into an independent foundation in 2025, a restructuring designed to strengthen its access to CERCA resources. At that time, university figures put the centre’s scale at around 120 professionals, an annual budget near EUR6 million, and roughly 45 ongoing European projects, according to UVic-UCC; the centre’s own website has since cited more than 140 professionals and over 60 European projects, though the September 2026 CERCA and government announcements did not restate updated staffing or budget figures. Winss Solutions has previously covered related biodiversity research, including a Nature study finding food webs drive ecosystem function and how a global seagrass mapping effort revealed losses outside protected areas, as well as broader work on farmers and ecologists as allies in sustainability.

Background

The BETA Technology Centre for Biodiversity, Ecology, Environmental and Food Technology, known by its Catalan initials CT BETA, was founded in 2014 and is based at the Can Baumann building in Vic, Catalonia. Affiliated with the University of Vic – Central University of Catalonia, it applies research to sustainability, the circular bioeconomy, agri-food systems and environmental management, working closely with businesses, farms, local governments and public bodies to turn research into usable tools and technologies. The centre became an independent foundation in 2025 to strengthen its position ahead of joining CERCA, Catalonia’s network of research centers of excellence, which is jointly overseen by the Catalan government and the Spanish Association of Research Centers. CT BETA’s incorporation into CERCA on September 22, 2026 gives the 12-year-old centre institutional backing and EUR800,000 in fresh funding to expand its environmental genomics, circular bioeconomy, AI and soil health research over the next two years.

Sources: CERCA Institution; Government of Catalonia; University of Vic – Central University of Catalonia

Featured image: photo by Sergej ***** on Pexels (free Pexels license).

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Figen Sekin

I specialize in sustainability education, curriculum co-creation, and early-stage project strategy. At WINSS, I craft articles on sustainability, transformative AI, and related topics. When I’m not writing, you’ll find me chasing the perfect sushi roll, exploring cities around the globe, or unwinding with my dog Puffy — the world’s most loyal sidekick.