FUNDACIO CATALUNYA LA PEDRERA - FUNDACIO ESPECIAL

Their core work

Fundació Catalunya La Pedrera is a Barcelona-based Catalan cultural and educational foundation that channels private philanthropic resources into scientific research training and university support programmes. In H2020, the foundation acted exclusively as a third-party co-funder — contributing private matching funds to MSCA doctoral fellowship schemes alongside EU grants, most concretely by co-financing the Martí i Franquès doctoral programme at a Catalan research university. Their real-world work is the promotion of science, education, and cultural heritage in Catalonia through grants, scholarships, and institutional partnerships. They are not a research performer but a funding enabler: a private foundation that makes EU-funded doctoral training financially feasible by providing the mandatory non-EU co-financing that COFUND schemes require.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Both projects began in the 2016–2017 window, so the timeline is too compressed to identify a strong directional shift within H2020. The earlier project, RUNIN, involved the foundation at the policy-adjacent level — research on how universities drive regional innovation — while the later project, MFP, moved to direct operational support of doctoral training through co-financing. This suggests a trajectory from broad institutional participation toward hands-on programme enablement, but with only two data points the reading must be treated with caution.

If their trajectory holds, future collaborations are most likely to involve MSCA COFUND doctoral programmes where the foundation provides the mandatory private co-financing — making them a relevant third-party partner for Catalan universities planning new fellowship schemes rather than a consortium peer in technical research.

How they like to work

This foundation exclusively takes the third-party co-funder role — it enables projects financially rather than leading or executing research. Despite only two projects, the combined consortium spans 47 partners across 17 countries, a reach driven by the large MSCA network structures rather than the foundation's own partner-building activity. Organizations should approach them when private matching funds for a Catalan doctoral scheme are needed, not when looking for a technical co-investigator or project lead.

Despite just two projects, the foundation is connected to 47 consortium partners across 17 countries — a reach inherited from the wide MSCA networks rather than independent partner development. Their direct institutional relationships are concentrated in Catalonia and Spain, with European breadth coming from the COFUND and ITN-ETN scheme architectures.

What sets them apart

Fundació Catalunya La Pedrera occupies a rare niche as a private cultural foundation that actively co-funds EU MSCA doctoral programmes in Catalonia, providing the mandatory non-EU matching capital that makes COFUND schemes viable. Unlike university foundations or public research agencies, their value is philanthropic capital combined with institutional credibility and deep regional embeddedness in Catalonia. For a consortium seeking a Catalan private co-financing partner for an MSCA COFUND proposal, this foundation is among very few non-academic Spanish organizations with demonstrated experience in exactly this role.

Highlights from their portfolio

• MFP
  The Martí i Franquès COFUND programme is the clearest demonstration of the foundation's model — a private cultural institution providing matching funds to sustain a university-hosted MSCA doctoral fellowship scheme, a template directly replicable in future COFUND proposals seeking a Catalan co-funder.
• RUNIN
  Participation in a pan-European research project on university-led regional innovation is unusual for a cultural NGO and signals the foundation's openness to being embedded in academic research consortia beyond pure philanthropy.