Employees

The National Institute of Chemistry has 273 employees (31.12.2009), of which around 243 carry out research work in 15 laboratories and two infrastructure centers; 114 of these have doctorates of science degrees.

Fields of activity

Research

Basic and applied research are oriented towards fields which are of long-term importance to both Slovenia and the world: biotechnology, environmental protection, structural and theoretical chemistry, analytical chemistry, materials research, and chemical engineering, through which the institute is in line with the needs of the domestic chemical, pharmaceutical, tire, and food industries. The work of the Institute is also in line with the priority thematic areas of the 6th Framework Program of the EU, which places an emphasis on genomics and biotechnology for health, nanotechnology, quality and safety of food, as well as nutrition, sustainable development, and global change.

Education

Currently 74 graduate students are being trained at the Institute within the national Young Researchers Program for the acquisition of their PhD degrees. The young researchers represent about 25% of the Institute's staff members, making National Institute of Chemistry one of the leading Slovenian organizations for graduate-level education and training.

Cooperation with industry

Research is oriented towards the development of new technologies and products, which will help to ensure the long-term development of Slovenia and which are internationally relevant. Industry is an important partner to the Institute in these endeavors. There are a number of Slovenian companies with whom the Institute has entered into close long-term cooperation, as well as a number of well-regarded foreign companies. From a financial point of view, this kind of cooperation represents 30% of the income of the Institute.

Contact with world science

The Institute offers high-level research equipment, allowing researchers to engage in even the most cutting edge research challenges at the world level. Some acquisitions are: a Karl Zeiss Supra 35 VP Electronic Microscope with EDX analysis, a high resolution powder x-ray diffractometer, and an 800 MHz NMR spectrometer; these are the only ones of their kind in Slovenia. The NMR spectrometer is the first of this kind of instrument to be found in the new member states of EU and represents one of the largest investments in a free-standing piece of research equipment in Slovenia.

The National Institute of Chemistry was the first research institution in Slovenia to obtain ISO 9001 standards in December 2003 with the goal of improving the conditions, as well as organization and effectiveness, of its work.

[Translate to English:] Raziskave

Osnovne in aplikativne raziskave so usmerjene na področja, ki so dolgoročno pomembna tako za Slovenijo kot v svetovnem merilu: biotehnologija, varstvo okolja, strukturna in teoretična kemija, analizna kemija, raziskave materialov in kemijsko inženirstvo; pri čemer je inštitut usklajen s potrebami domače kemične, farmacevtske, gumarske in živilske industrije. Delo inštituta je tudi v sozvočju s prednostnimi nalogami šestega okvirnega programa EU, ki postavlja v ospredje genomiko in biotehnologijo za zdravje, nanotehnologijo, kakovost in varnost živil ter prehrane, trajnostni razvoj ter globalne spremembe.

Izobraževanje

Izobraževalna dejavnost sodi med pomembna področja delovanja Kemijskega inštituta.
Na inštitutu se za pridobitev doktorata znanosti v okviru programov za mlade raziskovalce trenutno usposablja 74 podiplomskih študentov, kar predstavlja okrog 25% vseh zaposlenih. S tem se Kemijski inštitut skupaj z univerzami in visokimi šolami v Sloveniji in po svetu uvršča med pomembne ustanove na področju podiplomskega izobraževanja in usposabljanja.

Sodelovanje z gospodarstvom

Raziskave so usmerjene v razvoj novih tehnologij in izdelkov, ki bodo pomagali zagotavljati trajnostni razvoj Slovenije in so hkrati tudi mednarodno aktualni. Industrija je pri tem pomemben partner Kemijskega inštituta. To so mnoga slovenska podjetja, s katerimi ima inštitut vzpostavljeno tesno, v mnogih primerih tudi dolgoročno sodelovanje, na mednarodnem področju pa so to mnoga ugledna tuja podjetja. Cilj inštituta je povečanje sodelovanja z industrijo in povečanje inovativnosti raziskovalcev inštituta. Načini sodelovanja:

• razne oblike izobraževanja,
• izdelava izvedenskih mnenj, ocen, storitev ipd. za znane naročnike,
• razvoj tehnologij oz. delov tehnologij in izdelkov (po naročilu ali samostojno),
• dolgoročno usmerjene raziskave za postavljanje temeljev razvoja tehnologij in izdelkov.

Finančno tovrstno sodelovanje predstavlja okoli 20% prihodkov Kemijskega inštituta.