At INL – International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory, located in Braga (North of Portugal), scientists and engineers from all over the world work in a highly interdisciplinary environment and strive to make INL become a worldwide hub for the deployment of Nanotechnology, addressing society’s grand challenges.

The INL was founded by the governments of Portugal and Spain under an international legal framework to perform interdisciplinary research deploy and articulate nanotechnology for the benefit of society.

The Research and Technology activities are focused on six clusters: Health, Food, Energy, Environment, ICT and Future Emerging Technologies, which complement each other and provide a base for interdisciplinary interactions between our research.

The full-fledged nanotechnology laboratory enables leading research of the highest international standard.

INL at a Glance 

Statutes

The INL Statutes (2007) anticipate the possibility of opening INL to the membership of other countries and the participation of institutions and experts from all over the world, to establish an international pole of excellence, developing partnerships with higher education institutions and the industry transferring knowledge with added value, generating employment and training specialized professionals.

Organization

The INL Organisational Model is consolidated and formalized in a set of documents funded on the Statutes and Headquarter Agreement.

The Council is the sovereign body of the INL and is composed of representatives of both Member States. The role of the Council is to govern the Organisation by determining the policies at scientific, technical and administrative levels, approving the programme of activities and the budget, based on proposals of the Director-General.

Two steering committees advise the Director-General: the R&T&I Steering Committee that coordinates, strategizes and develops the INL Research, Technology and Innovation activities and promotes the conditions for INL research to be performed at the highest international level and the Corporate Services Steering Committee that supports the development and coordination of Corporate Services activities needed to facilitate a lean and efficient execution of INL core operations.

The Research Office aims to consolidate, assess and articulate the achievements of RTI goals and objectives, helping to place INL with respect to other reputable Research and Technology Organisations, using benchmarked factors, to determine where to go, thus allowing INL to make data-driven decisions. The Research and Technology activities focused on the six clusters – Food, Health, Environment, Energy, ICT and FET – are developed on a complimentary, collaborative and interdisciplinary basis by twenty-four research groups, which vary in size and number of research lines.

The Department of Administration coordinates the Human Resources, Legal Service, and Learning Organisation functions.

The Department of Site Management coordinates the functions of the Estate and Service Management (ESM), Maintenance & Installation (M&I) and Health, Environment & Safety Management (HE&SM).

The Department of Business and Strategic Relations (BSR) handles a set of activities that includes Grant Office, Industry Collaborations, Start-ups and Incubation, Business Development, External Relations.

The Department of IP Exploitation & Knowledge Transfer operates at the intersection of IP, R&D and business activities, focusing on building a balanced IP portfolio and developing and implementing IP strategies with a risk-based approach.

Within the organizational structure of INL, there is also the Coordination & Quality Management Office (CQM), the Corporate Communication & Marketing Office (CCM) and the Information and Communication Systems Office (ICS).

INL Council

The Council is the sovereign body of the INL in which all member states are represented. It is composed of three representatives from each Member State, one of whom must be a scientist.
The role of the Council is to govern the INL by determining its policy in scientific, technical and administrative matters, approving and following up its programme of activities and approving its budget, based on proposals of the Director-General, who is the Chief executive officer of the Laboratory and its legal representative, appointed by the Council.

Members representing the Kingdom of Spain

Mr Gonzalo Arévalo Nieto, Director-General for Research Planning, Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation

Ms Ana Aricha Yanguas, Vice Deputy Director-General for the Internationalisation of Science and Innovation, Secretary General for Research, Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation

Mr Hernan Ruy Miguez Garcia, President of the Materials Science and Technology scientific area, Spanish State Research Agency (AEI)

Members representing the Portuguese Republic:

Ms Madalena Alves, President of the Board of Directors of the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (‘Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia’)

Mr José Higino Gomes Correia, Full Professor of Industrial Electronics at the Universidade do Minho

Mr Pedro Miguel Cândido Barquinha, Associate Professor of Advanced Functional Materials for Micro and Nanotechnologies, NOVA School of Science and Technology

The President of the Council is Ms Madalena Alves

The Vice-President of the Council is Mr Gonzalo Arévalo Nieto

Financial Committee

Guadalupe de Córdoba Lasunción
Ministry of Science and Innovation of Spain
Sub-Directorate General for the Internationalization of Science and Innovation

Ricardo Miguel Lavado Araújo
FCT – Funding Agency for Science, Research and Technology of Portugal
Technology Office – International partnerships

Directorate

Deputy-Director General
Paulo Freitas
deputydirectorgeneral(at)inl.int

Advisory Board

The INL advisory board is the main advisory body to the Council and meets in the days leading up to the Council Sessions.

Members

Yvan Bruynseraede
KU Leuven

Manuel Martín-Lomas
CIC biomaGUNE

Helmuth Möhwald
Max-Planck-Institute of Colloids and Interfaces

Carlos Oliveira
InvestBraga

Mihail C. Roco
National Science Foundation

Francois Rossi
European Commission
Joint Research Centre

Julia Yeomans
The Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics