Transforming for Cooperative Research to Create a Bioregion in South-Western Europe

This contribution suggests a conceptual framework for a Basque country research institution. Over 20 years of data have been treated to assess CIC bioGUNE eligibility for Nature Index (NI). The tide of excitement swept up in the currents of this evolution, in the competitive races for fundings and staff. The characterization of liver injury research as a race, and the importance of the rankings and indicators can be calibrated by providing an insight into the practice of this middle-sized institution. Particularly acute is the issue of strategically designed by the Basque Government policies to create a bioregion in south-western Europe. CIC bioGUNE is enrolled in two ESI disciplines, ‘biochemistry & molecular biology’ and ‘cell biology’, and it belongs to top 1% worldwide ranking in this two disciplinary fields. As a research institution its academic influence has determined the creation of a network of interconnected publicly funded facilities which have a very similar internal culture. Comparisons between individual disciplines are reported here to provide a framework. Generally, it was found that the fact that provides internal cohesion to identify the driving force behind the context of this scientific race is the preeminent private and public funding relationships. Across the categories considered our results show the research impact of the work performed and the high profile of comparison for investment in science with leading institutions in the field.