Lluís Arola, chairman of the Catalan Council for Research and Innovation

This advisory body for the government, and the research and innovation system was constituted by the Catalan Government in Barcelona in the presence of the president, José Montilla. Lluís Arola, its chairman, is a lecturer at the URV.

Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and former rector of the URV, Lluís Arola has been appointed chairman and spokesman of the Council, which is made up of fourteen experts.

The Catalan Council of Research and Innovation advises the Government and the Catalan research and innovation system on the strategies to follow in the short and the long term in science, technology and innovation, policies, planning, and systemic evaluation in research and innovation.

The National Agreement for Research and Innovation, approved in October 2008, also contemplates the Council as an evaluating body. On 15 September this year, the Government passed the decree setting up the Council, and on 22 September it initiated its activity in the presence of the president of the Catalan Government and the minister for Innovation, Universities and Business, Josep Huguet.