CREAF
CREAF is a Catalan public ecological research center founded in 1987, conducting research on biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, global change, and Earth observation. It develops the open-source MiraMon GIS software and supports scientific research, environmental policy, and public science engagement.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1987
- HeadquartersBarcelona, Spain
- Headcount101–250
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What CREAF does
CREAF (Centre de Recerca Ecològica i Aplicacions Forestals) is a Catalan public ecological research center founded in 1987 and headquartered on the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) campus in Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain. It operates as a CERCA-network center with co-founding ties to UAB and CSIC, focusing its scientific program across four domains: Biodiversity, Ecosystem Functioning, Global Change, and Earth Observation. Its core technical asset is MiraMon, a free, open-source GIS platform developed continuously for over 30 years, integrated with cloud data-sharing standards and metadata tooling for geospatial analysis. CREAF researchers have additionally contributed to international geospatial interoperability through editorial work on the OGC WMTS standard.
The center serves three primary constituencies: (1) the scientific research community, which consumes CREAF's peer-reviewed publications, open-access datasets, and long-term ecological monitoring programs; (2) government and policy-makers in Catalonia and beyond, who use CREAF's evidence base for environmental management and climate-adaptation decisions (e.g., the ACCUA water-and-agriculture vulnerability project); and (3) the general public, reached through citizen-science programs, science-communication campaigns (DesFake Clima, 28J identity campaign), and educational outreach. CREAF's business model is exclusively institutional: it generates no commercial product revenue, with funding drawn from the Generalitat de Catalunya, competitive European research grants (including ERC), national Spanish funding lines, and philanthropic/corporate project sponsors such as CatalunyaCaixa. MiraMon is distributed free of charge, eliminating software-licensing as a revenue lever entirely.
CREAF is operationally active in 2025–2026, with a headcount of 101–250, multiple ongoing international alliances (including a June 2026 strategic partnership with Colombia's Instituto Humboldt), and continued accreditation under the Severo Ochoa Excellence and HR Excellence in Research seals. Its competitive position rests on a deep talent bench in Mediterranean and global-change ecology, longitudinal ecological datasets accumulated over decades, and structural embedding within international scientific governance networks (IPCC, IPBES, OGC, EOSC, GEO, EFI, SER and others).
CREAF firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- CREAF
- Legal name
- Centre de Recerca Ecològica i Aplicacions Forestals
- Website
- https://creaf.cat
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1987
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 101–250 employees
- Short description
- CREAF is a Catalan public ecological research center founded in 1987, conducting research on biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, global change, and Earth observation. It develops the open-source MiraMon GIS software and supports scientific research, environmental policy, and public science engagement.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
CREAF industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Environmental and Ecological Research Services
- NAICS
- Environmental Consulting Services (54162), Administration of Conservation Programs (92412)
- SIC
- Forestry (800)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Forestry & Reforestation (BPAGAGAD)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Disaster Risk Reduction & Climate Risk Management (BPADALAK)
Keywords
Where CREAF is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Barcelona
- HQ country
- Spain
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
CREAF business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels5 records
CREAF product offering
Product offeringCore offering
CREAF (Centre de Recerca Ecològica i Aplicacions Forestals) is a Catalan public research center that conducts ecological research and produces applied environmental science for biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, global change, and earth observation. It develops the MiraMon GIS software (free, open-source) and delivers evidence-based environmental research and policy support through scientific publications, citizen science programs, and partnerships with public administrations.
Product overview
CREAF (Centre de Recerca Ecològica i Aplicacions Forestals) is a Catalan public research center focused on ecological research and applications. The organization's core offerings include four main research areas: Biodiversity, Ecosystem Functioning, Global Change, and Earth Observation (remote sensing and GIS). CREAF has developed MiraMon, a free GIS software. The center engages in citizen science, educational programs, and produces annual reports under the CICLES publication. Research focuses span Mediterranean ecosystems, climate change impacts, and environmental monitoring across Catalonia.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- MiraMon GIS Software A free and open-source Geographic Information System (GIS) program developed by CREAF that integrates with various geospatial data formats and supports cloud data sharing standards and metadata management tools. The software is used by researchers, environmental managers, and GIS professionals for geospatial data analysis.
Quantifiable outcome
- DesFake Clima project won Agenda 2030 Barcelona + Sostenible 2026 award for combating climate misinformation in schools
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use CREAF
Customer profileSegments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
CREAF technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature1 record
CREAF partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and supporting.
- Institut Humboldt (Colombia)coreStrategic alliance between CREAF and Colombia's Instituto Humboldt to jointly drive global biodiversity research and conservation efforts.
- Parc Natural de la Serra de CollserolacoreAlliance to consolidate a mixed research and natural environment management station at Collserola, combining scientific research with practical conservation management.
- Generalitat de CatalunyacorePatronage and institutional support from the Catalan Government, one of CREAF's founding members through CERCA research center network.
- Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB)coreHost institution providing the campus location and academic framework. UAB is one of CREAF's founding institutions.
- CSIC (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas)coreSpanish National Research Council partnership providing additional research capacity and institutional framework.
- IRTA (Institut de Recerca i Tecnologia Agroalimentàries)majorCollaboration on agricultural research including ACCUA project studying climate change impacts on water availability and agriculture in Catalonia.
- ETC-LUSIsupportingTechnical collaboration partner in ACCUA project contributing specialized hydrological expertise.
- Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)supportingCollaboration in ACCUA project with the UPC Groundwater Hydrology Group providing technical expertise.
- International Organizations NetworkmajorActive member of: Alternet, EBCC (European Bird Census Council), IPCC, IPBES, European Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (eBMS), European Forest Institute (EFI), Society for Ecological Restoration (SER), Water Europe, Euromontana, IUFRO, MedECC, American Geophysical Union (AGU), EOSC, GEO, Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC)
Scale indicators3 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights6 records
CREAF competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ): German publicly funded research center focused on environmental sciences, biodiversity, and integrated earth system analysis. Closely aligned research portfolio, scale, and funding model to CREAF.
- Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry: Germany-based Max Planck institute studying global biogeochemical cycles and ecosystem functioning. Closely aligned on earth observation, ecosystem science, and modeling capabilities with CREAF.
- Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC): U.S. research institute within the Smithsonian conducting long-term ecological research on ecosystems, biodiversity, and global change. Mirrors CREAF's research domains and citizen-science orientation.
- IIASA (International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis): Austria-based international research organization producing interdisciplinary science on environment, climate, and sustainability for policy use. Comparable international-mandate positioning and public-good funding model.
- IRTA (Institut de Recerca i Tecnologia Agroalimentàries): Catalan public research institute (also part of the CERCA network) collaborating with CREAF on agricultural and water research. Directly comparable governance, funding, and ecosystem within Catalonia.
- UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH): UK publicly funded center running long-term ecological monitoring, biodiversity, and earth-observation research with comparable institutional structure, scientific output model, and policy-facing mandate.
- European Forest Institute (EFI): Pan-European research organization supporting forest-related policy and research, of which CREAF is an active member. Overlaps on forestry, biodiversity, and ecosystem-service research with a European mandate.
Broad incumbents
- ETH Zurich – Department of Environmental Systems Science: Swiss university department conducting ecological, earth system, and climate research. Comparable research outputs but operating through a university rather than a dedicated public research center.
- CSIC (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas): Spain's largest public research body, hosting multiple environmental and ecological institutes with similar funding and governance. Directly comparable in country, mandate, and breadth of ecological research, though much larger and broader than CREAF.
- CNRS (Centre national de la recherche scientifique) – Ecology institutes: France's primary national research body with significant environment and ecology units (INEE). Similar public-mandate research role across European environmental science.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
CREAF social profiles
Digital presenceCREAF financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
CREAF leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
CREAF funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
CREAF M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about CREAF
What does CREAF do?
CREAF (Centre de Recerca Ecològica i Aplicacions Forestals) is a Catalan public research center that conducts ecological research and produces applied environmental science for biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, global change, and earth observation. It develops the MiraMon GIS software (free, open-source) and delivers evidence-based environmental research and policy support through scientific publications, citizen science programs, and partnerships with public administrations.
Is CREAF a public or private company?
CREAF is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was CREAF founded?
CREAF was founded in 1987. It employs 101 to 250 people.
Where is CREAF based?
CREAF is headquartered in Barcelona, Spain, in the Europe region.
Who are CREAF's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC), IIASA (International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis), IRTA (Institut de Recerca i Tecnologia Agroalimentàries), UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) and European Forest Institute (EFI). Broad incumbents are ETH Zurich – Department of Environmental Systems Science, CSIC (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas) and CNRS (Centre national de la recherche scientifique) – Ecology institutes.
Does CREAF have an API?
No public API is recorded for CREAF.
What industry is CREAF in?
CREAF's product category is Environmental and Ecological Research Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is BPAGAGAD, Forestry & Reforestation, with a secondary code of BPADALAK, Disaster Risk Reduction & Climate Risk Management. Its NAICS code is 54162 and its SIC code is 800.