Francisco Javier Lafuente, new director of the UAB Research Park

The board of trustees of the UAB Research Park recently appointed Francisco Javier Lafuente the centre's new director. He will be taking over from Buenaventura Guamis, who was the Park's director during these past four years.

08/09/2016

Francisco Javier Lafuente (Barcelona, 1960) is professor in Chemical Engineering at the UAB School of Engineering and also the UAB's Vice Rector for Innovation and Strategic Projects. He is currently also the director of the Technological Centre for the Integrated Treatment of Gas Emissions, Liquid Effluents and Solid Residues (BIO-GLS), member of the TECNIO Network (ACCIÓ), and head of the consolidated research group in the Treatment of Effluent Liquids and Gases (GENOCOV).

He was director of the Department of Chemical Engineering from 2004 to 2010, as well as degree coordinator of the bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering and Rector's Delegate to the School of Environment of the University of Technology (EUPMA) in Mollet del Vallès.

Francisco Javier Lafuente has directed 15 PhD theses and has participated in 25 national and European research projects in the fields of biotechnology and, more specifically, the environment. He has also participated in over 50 R&D contracts with businesses and public administration and has worked as head researcher in 30 of them. His research focuses on environmental engineering, especially on the design and use of biological systems in the treatment of effluent liquids and gases. As a result of this activity he has published 136 scientific articles, 121 of them in indexed journals, with over 2,300 citations. He has been a visiting professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of California and the Illinois Institute of Technology.

In addition, the new director of the UAB Research Park has participated in the creation of the technological spin-off Aeris Tecnologies Ambientals, dedicated to helping industries solve problems related to the generation of residual pollutants, water or gases by using biological technologies.

“The goal of this new stage is to strengthen the role of the UAB Research Park as a tool which will increase innovation at the UAB and other entities. At the same time, the Park must be the driving force for the interactions and synergies among the different centres belonging to the UAB Sphere and the surrounding area (city councils, businesses, metropolitan areas, etc.)", Lafuente points out.

The UAB Research Park
The park is a non profit foundation created by three leading research entities: The Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the Institute for Agri-Food Research and Technology (IRTA). Its mission focuses on fostering and improving technology and knowledge transfer activities, promoting entrepreneurial activities through the creation of research-based businesses and facilitating in general the interaction between research, business and society. The UAB Research Park offers supports to the departments and research groups at the UAB, as well as to other centres and institutions located on the Bellaterra Campus.