History of the National Institute of Chemistry
On the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the National Institute of Chemistry, this is an opportune moment to look back at the Institute’s history.
The beginnings after the Second World War (1946–1953)
The Institute was established as an independent institution on 21 December 1946, when the Chemical Laboratory of the University of Ljubljana was assigned to the then Academy of Sciences and Arts (today’s Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts) with the purpose of developing technologies for processing coal into coke, which was economically important in the post-war period.
In 1946, Prof. Maks Samec took over as head of the institution, and in 1947 the Academy renamed the laboratory the Institute of Chemistry. Its main purpose was to enable established scientists to work on experimental problems and students to work on problems leading to doctoral dissertations.
In the following years, the Institute also expanded in terms of premises: in 1949 it moved from the National and University Library building to Salendrova Street, and in 1953 to a new building on Hajdrihova Street, where it remains to this day.
That same year, more precisely on 17 June 1953, the Institute of Chemistry of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts was also given a new name – the Boris Kidrič Institute of Chemistry. In addition to the Academy, the Executive Council of the People’s Republic of Slovenia and the University of Ljubljana also assumed the role of co-founders. The adoption of Kidrič’s name reflects the social and institutional framework of the time, as well as the status of research in Slovenia.
Consolidation of research groups and growth of infrastructure (1953–1958)
With the new building, the Institute was strengthened both organizationally and in terms of personnel. The first doctoral candidates earned their doctorates at the Institute – the first was Dr. Dušan Hadži, who completed his doctorate on the formation of solid coke – and the first formal staffing structure of 21 researchers at the Institute was recorded.
During this period, several research fields took shape, along with informal yet relatively stable research groups. The purchase of the first infrared spectrometer (Perkin Elmer 21) in 1956 made it possible to begin in-depth research in various areas of the Institute’s work.
The year 1957 was marked by strengthened international and professional networking of the Institute: in March, the first Yugoslav Symposium on Technological Microbiology took place, and in the summer an international symposium on the hydrogen bond was held, at which the opening lecture was delivered by Nobel laureate Linus Pauling.
Financial independence and the search for a stable operating model (1958–1970)
In 1958, the Boris Kidrič Institute of Chemistry was separated from the institutes of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, and in January 1958 it became a “financially independent” institute, i.e. a financially autonomous institution. A January decision divided the founding rights among three founders: the Executive Council of the People’s Republic of Slovenia, the University of Ljubljana, and the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts. By the agreement on the exercise of founders’ rights, on 19 June 1958 republican funds were transferred to the Boris Kidrič Fund and from there to the institutes. On 21 December 1958, the Executive Council reclassified the Institute as a scientific institution, and in October 1960 it began operating as an economic organization.
This awkward organizational structure marked the 1960s. According to the model, 50% of financial resources were to be provided by public funds, while the other 50% was to come from industry. Such a model did not function in practice, since factories either lacked the money or were unwilling to allocate their own resources for research, while public funds were also steadily decreasing and increasingly took the form of credit. As a result, in the 1960s the Institute mainly carried out basic research and routine work for industrial needs because of the lack of co-financing. The constant search for financial resources was exhausting.
As a solution to these difficulties, intensive discussions on possible institutional links took place in 1969 – among them a potential (re)integration into the University and a referendum (18 July 1969) on a merger with Krka. The latter was supported by the employees of the Institute but strongly rejected by the Teaching and Scientific Council of the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Technology of the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Engineering, since such a move would have removed the entire higher-education and research field from the academic environment.
A final settlement of the founding arrangements was brought by the Act of 28 December 1970, which transferred the founding rights to a consortium of seven industrial companies, while the University and the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts remained co-founders.
Industrial consortium, new arrangements, and closer cooperation with the university (1970–1991)
The transfer of founding rights to a consortium of Slovenian industry brought more transparent financing and more formal contractual cooperation with the economy. The organizational chart from 1972 shows that the Boris Kidrič Institute of Chemistry was divided into a university part and an industrial part.
Under the new agreement, the Department of Chemistry of the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Engineering received the entire right wing of the second floor on Hajdrihova Street, the right to use lecture halls, and the possibility of adding new premises for chemical technology. At the same time, the first four organizational research units were assigned to it. As a result, practical cooperation with the university also intensified during the 1970s: part of the Institute’s activities became even more closely linked to the study and research environment, which benefited both the research infrastructure and staff development.
During this period, interest in working with computers grew sharply, and this development was supported by the arrival of Dr. Andrej Ažman at the Institute, where he collaborated with Dr. Hadži. The scientific rise and the intensity of research work were never as great, either before or after, as during the period of Dr. Ažman and his group, which in 13 years (1967–1980) placed quantum chemistry in Slovenia on the world stage.
At the same time, Dr. Hadži’s research group gained such international recognition in the field of infrared spectroscopy and in theoretical studies of electronic structures and analyses of vibrational spectra (Ažman) that it could simply no longer be overlooked in Slovenia. This significantly influenced the Institute’s funding and made possible the purchase of the 100 MHz Jeol PS NMR spectrometer.
In the following decades, the Institute expanded into broader research areas and gradually modernized its equipment. In the 1980s, important steps were taken toward more advanced analytical work; technological development made it possible to search citations and assess the impact of research publications, and the first comprehensive study of this kind for the needs of the Institute was carried out in 1985.
During this period, the Boris Kidrič Institute of Chemistry also acquired its famous logo, for which the designer Katja Zelinka received a silver medal at the 10th International Designers’ Congress in Brno in 1982. In December 1986, the Institute celebrated the 40th anniversary of its establishment.
Many past and then-current researchers also contributed to long-term cooperation with industry, including Dr. Marta Blinc, Dr. Helena Sočič, Dr. Aleksa Cimerman, Dr. Ljubka Vitez, Dr. Viktor Menart, and the then head of research at Lek, Dr. Miha Kremser. Owing to their efforts, cooperation in biotechnology between Lek and the Institute continues to this day.
After independence: a new name, European integration, and infrastructure (1991–2003)
After Slovenia’s independence, the Institute adopted its current name together with its English version: Kemijski inštitut, National Institute of Chemistry. In the 1990s, participation in European and international programmes intensified considerably, while infrastructure was also modernized. The Institute, which since the 1970s had been organized into research units, now renamed those units as laboratories.
In 1992, the first infrastructure centre was established – the National Centre for High-Resolution NMR Spectroscopy – which over the years grew into one of the key scientific support units in the wider region. During this period, more precisely in 1994, the Institute established its first presence on the World Wide Web. The website was created by Dr. Milan Hodošček. In 1999/2000, this was followed by the Web of Science database. In 2000, the NMR Centre became a European centre of excellence, confirming the international recognition of its infrastructure and expertise.
In 2003, the Institute obtained ISO 9001 certification – the first among Slovenian research institutes under the then-valid standard – which strengthened the systematic organization and quality of processes, especially in the fields of analyses, the environment, materials, biotechnology, and process engineering.
NMR centre of excellence, centres of excellence, and a new research building (2000–2016)
An important milestone also came in 2009, when the Institute was highly successful in the call for centres of excellence and assumed a leading role in consortia connecting Slovenian science and development.
A major infrastructural leap came in 2013, when the Pregl Research Centre was opened – a modern research building with extensive laboratory capacities and state-of-the-art equipment. Among the most notable acquisitions of this period was also an advanced transmission electron microscope with chemical analysis, which at the time of its installation was unique in this part of Europe.
In the same decade, the Institute also achieved significant international visibility with its first publication in the journal Science (through the collaboration of the research group led by Prof. Robert Dominko and co-authors). At the end of 2016, the corporate visual identity was also redesigned.
The last decade: 2017–present
Over the past decade, the National Institute of Chemistry has strengthened its research excellence, modernized its infrastructure, and expanded its cooperation with industry and international partners. The year 2017 was marked by a series of high-impact scientific publications in the most prestigious journals and by the consolidation of cooperation with industry; for certain activities, a GMP certificate was also obtained.
The year 2018 brought important breakthroughs in the life sciences and synthetic biology, as well as the prestigious ERC Advanced Grant for Prof. dr. Roman Jerala (project MaCChines). In 2019, major infrastructure upgrades followed: the Ažman Computing Center was opened and the high-performance computing cluster was upgraded; another important acquisition was a cryo-electron microscope. In the same year, a new 600 MHz NMR spectrometer and a laboratory for testing and developing advanced battery cells were established, while technology transfer into practical applications was also strengthened (e.g. the Hidria Bond technology).
In the following years, research excellence was further confirmed by ERC projects: RNP Dynamics (Prof. dr. Jernej Ule, 2018), MULTraSonicA (Assoc. Prof. dr. Matej Praprotnik, 2019), CCEdit – Proof of Concept (Prof. dr. Roman Jerala, 2020–2022), 123STABLE (Assoc. Prof. dr. Nejc Hodnik, 2020–2025), StableCat (Assoc. Prof. dr. Nejc Hodnik, 2021–2023), and PROFI (Prof. dr. Roman Jerala, 2024–2029). At the same time, important upgrades of laboratories and equipment were underway, as well as new career-support mechanisms: in 2022 the doctoral programme Scientists4Future (COFUND/Seal of Excellence) was launched, and support under the Janko Jamnik project was awarded for the first time; that same year also saw the launch of the popular-science podcast Vzeto na znanje.
An important developmental trajectory began in 2023 with two major initiatives: in June, the project of the Center for Development, Demonstration and Training for Carbon-Free Technologies began, and in September, the project of the Centre for the Technologies of Gene and Cell Therapy was launched, conceived as a bridge between biomedical research for advanced treatment and its translation to patients.
In 2024, this development was complemented by new content and partnerships: the Laboratory for Biorefinery Research expanded its activities, entrepreneurial and communication initiatives were strengthened (MyCol d.o.o., the publication of the Hadži book), and the podcast Papers Illuminated (Člankarnica) was launched.
The year 2025 brought several strategic turning points: key agreements and arrangements for transferring knowledge into practice were signed (the NIC–IJS–NIB–Lek memorandum, an agreement with the University of Nova Gorica, and cooperation with the Vesna Fund), research collaboration with Huawei Technologies Oy Finland began, a protocol visit by the President of the Republic of Estonia took place, and the first phase of construction of the Centre for the Technologies of Gene and Cell Therapy also began. In the field of ERC, two new projects were also obtained in 2025: PROPEL (Dr. Ajasja Ljubetič, 2025–2030) and EditYR (Dr. Tina Lebar, 2025–2030). The opening of the Center for Development, Demonstration and Training for Carbon-Free Technologies is scheduled for June 2026.