Vision and Mission_Statement of the Director_Organization and Management_Research and Demostration_Business Development_Intellectual Property Rights_Highlights 2007_Research Projects_Technology transfer_Training activities_Partnerships, Cooperation and Communication_Publications_Financial Report 6
2 STATEMENT OF THE DIRECTOR The Centre Tecnològic de Telecomunicacions de Catalunya (<strong>CTTC</strong>) started its activities in December 2001 as the first research institute and technology center in Spain devoted to physical layer technologies for <strong>communications</strong> systems. The scientific activity of <strong>CTTC</strong> focuses on five research areas oriented to the major transport technologies for digital <strong>communications</strong>. Wireless <strong>communications</strong>, Optical Networking, Access Technologies, Communications Subsystems and IP Technologies areas face the current major research trends in wired, optical and wireless <strong>communications</strong> systems. In addition to research, <strong>CTTC</strong> is a singular element in the European research architecture, since engineering consists of approximately 35% of its human resources devoted to R&D tasks. This enables the institution to tune the performed in-house research to industrial applications and engineering demonstrators, paving the way to shorten the distance between research and industry. Starting with 4 engineers and 5 Ph.D. in 2002, four years later <strong>CTTC</strong> was ranked by CDTI (Centro para el Desarrollo Tecnológico Industrial), an agency of the Spanish Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Trade, at position six of non-profit research institutions with major gross return from European research programs, in competition with major universities and national research institutes. In terms of scientific production, the <strong>CTTC</strong> annually produces over 30 and 100 papers in peer-reviewed journals and international conferences, respectively. After 2005, the institution was mature to start with an ambitious plan for technology and knowledge transfer to the industrial sector, mainly focusing on national corporations and industries. Additionally, <strong>CTTC</strong> has also initiated the creation of an IPR portfolio with the submission of 8 International Patents, which provides a good indication of the tradeoff achieved between engineering and research. Strongly related with these initiatives is our policy of enlarging our experimental infrastructure through testbeds or multipurpose technology platforms, fully developed inside the <strong>CTTC</strong> as internal projects, and being the natural source for our patent portfolio. These testbeds support today a close relationship and harmonic growth of good science and innovative technology in the fast changing environment of <strong>communications</strong> engineering. In addition to that, <strong>CTTC</strong> is also a recognized center for training of young researchers and engineers. In fact, regardless of the fact that we are a technology-driven center, the number of master and doctoral students, together with post-doc researchers, represents approximately 30% of personnel devoted to R&D tasks. This shows the increased interest in <strong>CTTC</strong> as a research training site in fair competition with the excellent surrounding universities in Barcelona. Finally, it is worth mentioning that the output of our work is annually submitted to the Business and Scientific Committes. These Committees are in charge of tuning our enthusiasm with the pragmatic and critical views of their members, who are well-experienced professionals of the national and international <strong>communications</strong> industrial and academic sectors, with a solid scientific reputation on engineering management, basic and applied research. I would like to express here my sincere recognition to their work, to the generosity of the time devoted to dive in our problems, and to the criticism of their reports. After presenting <strong>CTTC</strong> objectives, organization and business development, this annual report aims at describing the <strong>CTTC</strong> scientific and technological activity realized in the framework of leading projects, which has resulted in an improved level of self funding for 2007 with respect to the previous years. This result is perfectly aligned with one of the <strong>CTTC</strong>’s objectives, which consists in achieving 51% of self funding over the period 2008-2012. The good performances obtained during this year really motivate and inspire us in order to pursue our final objective: to achieve higher-layer innovations from revisiting physical layer technologies. Prof. Miguel Ángel Lagunas Director Castelldefels, June 2008 7