The aim of CAMART² project is to upgrade the existing Centre of Excellence in Advanced Material Research and Technology at the Institute of Solid State Physics University of Latvia (ISSP UL) to a new and significantly stronger Centre of Excellence.
One of the conditions of the Horizon 2020 call "WIDESPREAD 1-2014: Teaming" was to provide an equal amount of state funding for the project applicant, using these funds to carry out development activities of the project applicant’s institution that are not eligible for direct project expenses, like infrastructure upgrade. Thanks to the Ministry of Education and Science, the Ministry of Economics, and to the EC funding of EUR 14,999,955 for the CAMART² project, EUR 15,320,196 were invested in improving the infrastructure of the ISSP UL within the project No.1.1.1.4 / 17 / I / 002, which consists of the European Regional Development Fund financing EUR 12 072 166.00, the state budget EUR 1 248 030.00 and the own resources of the Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia EUR 2 000 000.00.
The biggest projects ever implemented at the ISSP UL were aimed at creation of the ISSP UL as a modern Technological Centre in research of advanced material direction in Latvia and the Baltic Sea region by improving and developing the Open Access infrastructure, using it for Research & Development & Innovation. It was initiated in 2017 and all the activities were finished by the end of June 2021. In the beginning of year 2022, the event devoted to the completion of this infrastructure project of ISSP UL will take place. Hopefully, the epidemiological situation will allow it to be an in-person event so the involved parties - high-ranking political functionaries, academic and scientific society as well as CAMART2 partners will be able to attend the event and evaluate its result.
Within the framework of the infrastructure upgrade and CAMART² project activities, the ISO class 4-8 cleanrooms were created and developed, the upper floor of the Institute and several laboratories and lobbies on other floors were reconstructed and designed as modern and attractive spaces for experimentation and office work. Laboratory of Chemical Technologies as well as the Laboratory of Prototyping of Electronic and Photonic Devices were established. All the reconstructed, established and upgraded laboratories have been equipped with the latest generation of devices and tools, for example, Helios G5 UX DualBeam high-resolution scanning electron and ion beam microscope (Thermo scientific), Pulsed Laser Deposition system (Twente Solid State Technology), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (ThermoFisher) and many others are now available for researchers, students and industry use.
This major projects’ duo in Latvia was noticed by the EuroNews Futuris team, who developed a story about CAMART2 and infrastructure upgrade contribution to the growth of ISSP UL, giving an opportunity to 430 million EuroNews viewers in 130 countries and in 12 languages to be acquainted with our institute.
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