The PHOTOKRETE team of CFM receives the award at the third edition of the CSIC Knowledge Transfer and Entrepreneurship Awards

Published: May 21, 2026

The PHOTOKRETE project has officially received its award at the ceremony of the 3rd CSIC Knowledge Transfer and Entrepreneurship Awards. During the event, the team from CFM, composed of Guido Goracci, Silvia Arrese-Igor and Jorge Sánchez Dolado, collected the prize in the general Entrepreneurship category, consolidating institutional support for this initiative.

The award ceremony took place in Alicante within the framework of the annual meeting of the management teams of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC). The meeting, aimed at strengthening and coordinating the institution’s scientific and strategic agenda, gathered nearly 200 participants and was attended by CSIC President Eloísa del Pino, together with her executive team, and Celia Rogero, Director of CFM.

Innovation against the “urban heat island” effect

The award granted to PHOTOKRETE, presented ex aequo alongside the Refoxy Pharma initiative from IIBM-CSIC-UAM, represents important recognition of the work carried out by the CFM team composed of researchers Guido Goracci, Silvia Arrese-Igor and Jorge Sánchez Dolado.

The initiative proposes the development of photonic mortars capable of reducing the temperature of urban surfaces and environments. Thanks to this technology, it offers a direct solution to mitigate the urban heat island effect and reduce the energy consumption associated with air conditioning, demonstrating the real impact of materials science on today’s climate challenges.

Promoting an entrepreneurial culture

The aim of these CSIC awards is to recognize the efforts of researchers and institutes in transferring knowledge to society and industry. Alongside the PHOTOKRETE project, the CSIC also recognized the work of other researchers in several categories:

  • Technology Transfer: Projects led by Juan Carlos Abanades (INCAR-CSIC) and Víctor Rodríguez López (IO-CSIC).
  • Knowledge Transfer: Initiatives by Inés Galindo (IGME-CSIC) and Marcos Martínez Roig (CIDE-CSIC).
  • Entrepreneurship (Emerging Category): Project by Evgeny Bulatov (IDAEA-CSIC).
  • Lifetime Achievement in Transfer: Eduardo Torroja Institute for Construction Sciences (IETcc-CSIC), with a special mention to IATA-CSIC.

At CFM, we once again congratulate the entire PHOTOKRETE team for bringing our research one step closer to society.