The International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL), opened in 2009 in Portugal, is an international R&D&I body created by Spain and Portugal. The INL is designed to serve as a platform for scientific and technological cooperation of excellence between the two founding countries and other countries in the field of nanoscience and nanotechnology.
In 2006, an international agreement was signed between Spain and Portugal establishing the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory and its articles of association. A construction budget of €106 million was initially set for the INL. The INL is supported by ERDF funding for construction through the 2014-2020 Spain-Portugal Cross-Border Cooperation Programme (soon to be approved for 2021-2027) and for scientific equipment through the North Portugal Regional Operational Programme (ON.2).
The INL strives to ensure research excellence at the international level in all its fields of activity. Its main objectives are as follows: Its main objectives are as follows:
- Creating robust scientific communities between Spain and Portugal in the field of nanoscience and nanotechnology in close cooperation with other international laboratories in Europe, America and Asia, with a particular focus on Europe, Latin America and the Mediterranean.
- Strengthening the technological infrastructure and capabilities of public-private research and training institutions in the Member States.
- Actively supporting the attraction and retention of talent through training and integration in universities, industry and/or other research centres.
- Creating a research area encompassing a range of actions to reinforce and optimise the added value of scientific research of excellence in the strategic industrial sectors of the Member States.
- Implementing technology transfer models that generate economies of scale to attract private funds for public research in the field of nanotechnology in centres on the Iberian Peninsula and in other countries collaborating with the INL.