SOMM ALLIANCE

SOMMa: excellent Spanish research alliance

SOMMa is the alliance of Severo Ochoa centres and María de Maeztu units to promote Spanish Excellence in research and to enhance its social impact at national and international levels.

SOMMa was officially launched in October 2017. SOMMa brings together 25 centres and 16 units accredited through these excellence awards and aims to:

  • Increase the national and international visibility of the SO and MM programme as an “interdisciplinary and interconnedted Spanish research ecosystem of excellence”
  • Promote exchange of knowledge, technology and good practices among its members, the international scientific community and key stakeholders. 
  • Have a voice in Spanish science policy. 
  • Collaborate with other centres and universities to push forward Spanish science.

100xCiencia meetings

The alliance’s starting activities comprised the establishment of its own governance, the launching of the website (somma.es) and the organisation of task forces to address the different objectives.

SOMMa is organized by a chair, co-chair and project manager, and by a steering committee in charge of different work packages.

The ICMAB participates in “Work package 3: Outreach”, and helps in the organization of the 100xciencia meetings.

In 2017, the meeting was held in Alicante, and its topic was “Co-creating value in scientific research” and was focused on technology transfer success stories. In 2018, the meeting was held in Madrid, and the topic was "Bridging science and society" and was more devoted to outreach and educational activities. 

The ICMAB Communication & Outreach Officer, Anna May Masnou, is also part of the SOMMa Editorial Board, which is in charge of the website and of the press releases of the SOMMa network.

ICMAB articles on the SOMMa website:

Towards calcium-based batteries

The development of a rechargeable battery technology using light electropositive metal anodes would bring in a breakthrough in energy density. For divalent charge carriers (M2+), the number of ions that must react to achieve a certain electrochemical capacity is diminished by two when compared to Li+. This would allow for the design of higher energy density batteries.
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Superconductors to improve energy efficiency

The Superconducting Materials and Large Scale Nanostructures (SUMAN) group has participated in the EU-funded project EUROTAPES, whose main goal is to develop superconducting tapes to improve energy efficiency in Europe. The project, which counts with the participation of excellent researchers in the field, and the involvement of leading global companies and universities, has produced 600 meters of superconducting tape with an innovative method that reduces superconductor production cost, simplifies the architecture of these materials, and improves their capacity in high magnetic fields at various temperature scales.
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Paper farming for thermoelectrics: breakthrough to recycle waste heat into electricity

Researchers at the Institute of Materials Science of Barcelona (ICMAB-CSIC) have created a cost-effective, easy to produce and potentially recyclable thermoelectric material: a paper capable of converting waste heat into electricity. These device could be used to generate electricity from residual heat. For instance, they could be used to feed sensors in the field of the Internet of Things, or in Agriculture and Industry 4.0.
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A step closer to future calcium batteries

A group of researchers of the Institute of Materials Science of Barcelona (ICMAB – CSIC) has made a discovery that could entail the replacement in the future of the currently omnipresent Lithium–ion batteries. From mobiles to laptops, drills to hedge trimmers, or electric bicycles and cars, these batteries are used in countless devices, small and large. Now, building on top of their previous discoveries in this field, the research group of M. Rosa Palacín has proven the feasibility of electrochemically extracting calcium from a calcium containing oxide. This opens the possibility for developing cathodes and giving proof-of-concept for calcium-based batteries, something previously considered unfeasible. These batteries may outperform Li-ion  batteries in terms of energy density in the future.
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Coordination
Anna May-Masnou This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Redaction
Anna May-Masnou This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Web & Graphic Editor
José Antonio Gómez  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Webmasters
José Antonio Gómez This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Albert Moreno     This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
ICMAB