More information

The accreditation is valid for four years until the 2019 call, and from the 2020 call it will last for five years, in both cases without the possibility of renewal. Once the accreditation has been completed, the centers or units may re-present themselves for a new call in competitive competition. The accreditation implies the granting of an aid of four million euros for four years in the case of the centers and of two million euros for the units.

Centers or units of excellence

The actions to support the «Severo Ochoa» Centers of Excellence and the «María de Maeztu» Units of Excellence are aimed at those centers or units that meet the requirements established in the calls and that carry out and execute basic border research and are among the best in the world in their respective areas. Network centers or units are excluded.

Therefore, the consolidated centers or units that submit their candidacy for this program must demonstrate that their research activity meets the required requirements of excellence and that they are characterized by:

• Have a high level of impact and competitiveness in their field of activity on the world scientific scene.
• Submit their research activities periodically to scientific evaluation processes through external and independent scientific committees.
• Develop their research activities according to a strategic program that responds to the generation of frontier knowledge.
• Have training activities, selection and attraction of human resources at an international level.
• Maintain active collaboration and exchange agreements at the institutional level with high-level research centers.
• Work to promote the activities of transfer and dissemination of knowledge to society.

Benefits of accreditation

Accreditation as a «Severo Ochoa Center of Excellence» or «María de Maeztu Unit of Excellence» will be valid for four or five years and will provide::

• One million euros per year for each of the centers in that period, or five hundred thousand euros per year in the case of the units. This financing is characterized by a high degree of flexibility and its execution must respond exclusively to strategic criteria, duly justified, for the accredited center or unit.
• Priority access to other initiatives of the State Research Agency in terms of grants for pre-doctoral contracts for the training of doctors, of the State Training Subprogram, within the State Program for the Promotion of Talent and its Employability in R + D + i.
• Increased reputation and social and scientific recognition that will give them preferential visibility in obtaining patronage grants, among other benefits.

Scientific leadership

The "Severo Ochoa" Centers of Excellence and the "María de Maeztu" Units of Excellence must have a Scientific Director, who does not necessarily correspond to the director of the institution. The Scientific Director must be a researcher recognized by his peers according to the most demanding standards and at the same time have an important leadership capacity in the organization of the research.

The "Severo Ochoa" Centers of Excellence and the "María de Maeztu" Units of Excellence must be centers or units of reference and clear exponents of the quality and relevance of frontier scientific research carried out in Spain and, as such, they must serve to lead and boost the capacities of our research system as a whole and its international projection.