Monitoring Committee of Portugal’s Interface Mission Visits INL

On 1 October 2025, the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory welcomed a delegation from the Monitoring Committee of Portugal’s Interface Mission. The visit aimed to provide the Committee with a closer look at Portugal’s research and innovation ecosystem.

Crucial for Portugal’s advancement in the cross-fertilisation between science and innovation, the Interface Mission is a government programme designed to strengthen connections between research and industry, with a focus on initiatives such as the Technology and Innovation Centres (CTI), which support companies in adopting new technologies, and the Collaborative Laboratories (CoLABs), which bring together universities, companies and other partners to develop solutions with market impact.

The delegation comprised international and Portuguese experts from academia, research, industry and public administration, such as Prof. Dr Vito Di Noto (University of Padua, Italy), Prof. Dr Ralf Wehrspohn (Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany), Dr Martin Zadrazil (South Moravian Innovation Centre, Czech Republic), Prof. Dr Isabel Salavisa (ISCTE, Portugal), Prof. Dr José Ferreira Machado (Nova SBE, Portugal) and Prof. Dr Bernardete Ribeiro (University of Coimbra, Portugal).

Intending to present an overview of the Laboratory, the programme opened with welcoming remarks by INL’s Director-General, Prof. Dr Clivia Sotomayor Torres. Then, Dr Ricardo Ferreira presented INL’s research activities and its involvement in the European Chips Joint Undertaking, especially focusing on the strategic areas for Portugal in the semiconductor area. Finally, Prof. Dr Ado Jório, INL’s Deputy Director-General, highlighted the institution’s innovation progress, particularly in technology transfer and industry engagement.

The group later toured INL’s cutting-edge facilities, including the Micro and Nanofabrication Facility, the Electron Microscopy and X-Rays Facility, followed by the Technology Engineering Group and the 2D Materials and Devices Research Laboratory.

The visit concluded with an open discussion where the Committee expressed appreciation for the opportunity to engage with INL’s researchers and to explore ways of enriching national innovation programmes.

For INL, the event reaffirmed its role as a hub of nanotechnology research and as a bridge between science, industry and society.

Text by Carolina Baptista
Photography by Rui Andrade