FUNDACION BARCELONA MACULA FOUNDATION RESEARCH FOR VISION

Their core work

The Barcelona Macula Foundation is a Spanish private research foundation dedicated to understanding and combating diseases of the macula — the central part of the retina responsible for sharp vision. Their core scientific work focuses on age-related macular degeneration (AMD), one of the leading causes of blindness in adults over 50, with particular emphasis on identifying genetic and environmental risk factors. Beyond laboratory research, they engage with the broader vision-impairment community by contributing to projects that improve accessibility and assistive technology procurement for people with visual disabilities. They operate as a focused clinical and translational research centre, bringing disease-specific expertise into multi-partner European consortia.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Both of BMF's H2020 projects launched simultaneously in 2015, so there is no observable temporal shift in focus within the H2020 period — the foundation entered EU-funded research on two parallel tracks at once. One track is biomedical (AMD genetics via EYE-RISK), the other is sociotechnical (assistive technology procurement via PRO4VIP), suggesting the foundation always combined clinical science with patient-facing application. Without later projects to anchor a trend, it is not possible to say whether one track dominated over time; any evolution claim would be speculation.

With both projects dating from 2015 and no subsequent H2020 activity on record, the clearest signal is that BMF participates selectively in highly specialised consortia rather than building a high-volume EU project portfolio; future collaborators should expect deep domain expertise in retinal disease paired with limited administrative bandwidth for large-scale project management.

How they like to work

BMF has never held the coordinator role across its recorded H2020 projects, always joining as a participant — a pattern consistent with a specialist research foundation that contributes clinical or scientific knowledge rather than managing consortia. Despite only two projects, they amassed 25 unique consortium partners across 8 countries, which indicates they join ambitious, multi-partner programmes rather than small bilateral arrangements. This makes them a valuable node for consortia that need credible, disease-focused clinical expertise from Southern Europe.

BMF has collaborated with 25 distinct organisations across 8 countries through just two projects, suggesting both consortia were large and geographically diverse. Their network spans Western Europe at minimum, consistent with the pan-European makeup typical of RIA and CSA grants in health and ICT.

What sets them apart

BMF occupies a rare niche as a foundation entirely dedicated to macular disease — not general ophthalmology, not broad vision science, but specifically the macula and its disorders. This narrow focus means they bring unusually concentrated clinical and patient-community knowledge to any consortium dealing with AMD, retinal genetics, or vision rehabilitation. For a project coordinator seeking a Spanish clinical partner with direct access to macular disease patients and biobank resources, BMF is a more credible fit than a university hospital with scattered research interests.

Highlights from their portfolio

• EYE-RISK
  The largest and longest of BMF's EU projects (€320k, 4 years), directly aligned with their core mission of understanding AMD through a combined genetic and environmental lens — the most representative demonstration of their scientific identity.
• PRO4VIP
  A policy-oriented CSA that shows BMF's reach beyond the laboratory into patient advocacy and assistive technology markets, demonstrating cross-sector relevance in digital accessibility and public procurement.