What is the ICN2?

The Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia, with its official English translation Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology and acronym ICN2, is a non-profit international research institute located close to Barcelona (Catalonia, Spain). It is devoted to the generation of knowledge, materials and devices in the broad fields of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), health, energy and the environment.

The expertise of the ICN2 lies at the nanoscale, where new properties, interactions and ways to exploit them in everyday life are being discovered. Among its goals is to bring together scientists from diverse backgrounds in the pursuit of better science, better training for the future generation of nanoscientists and better outreach to society, while also seeking out new ways to engage with local and global industry.

ICN2 was accredited in 2014 as a Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence, a recognition renewed in 2018 for another 4-year period. The Severo Ochoa Programme, sponsored by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, aims to identify and support Spanish research centres that are among the world’s best in their specialty.

The trustees of ICN2 are the Generalitat of Catalonia (Catalan Government), the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), where it is based. ICN2 is a CERCA Centre and also one of the founding members of the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST) and the Graphene Flagship.

ICN2 is a global leader in nanoresearch, a place where both fundamental and applied research, as well as efforts to bring technology innovations to market receive strong support. It is a proud creator of opportunities for dialogue and collaboration between researchers, industry, policymakers and society and a research institute committed with equal opportunities, fair selection processes and guaranteeing work/life balance.