The Catalan Institute of Cork Foundation has received 26 inquiries about possible projects related to cork during 2020, there are 16 more inquiries than the previous year and demonstrate the growing interest in cork, a booming material that is in tune with the needs of a planet that is in the midst of a climate crisis.

Most queries, 18 (69%), have been made through our web form. The rest were calls (27%) or visits (4%).

Companies have been the segment most interested in cork with 14 inquiries (54%), followed by individuals (23%), architects (15%) and students (8%).

Construction is clearly the area of greatest interest with 15 inquiries (58%), followed by decoration, storage, innovation, isolation, orientation, protection and a thesis on the subject.

The return of inquiries

The fact of attending to any person or company that wants information to develop projects with cork responds to the foundation's vocation to publicize and promote the use of the material and support the emergence of new applications and projects with cork. From these consultations, research projects emerge and only in 2020, it has worked with 7 research centers and 18 entities or companies. We have been involved in 6 projects, 3 of which we have coordinated, and in 5 incipient studies to assess the viability of projects.

The research and development department completed 4 projects in 2020: GO OTHER, GO Biosorbents, GO UP i Overcome.

This 2021 there are two major approved projects: CORK2WINE i ECOCORK.