First Bilateral Workshop ICN2 - Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology (WIN)

by Chema Arcos

This initiative provided an excellent opportunity to strengthen collaboration and to announce a new seed funding opportunity for researchers from both institutions.

On 18 February, ICN2 organised the first bilateral online workshop with the Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology (WIN), as part of the collaboration agreement signed by the two institutions. The main objective was to introduce a new seed funding opportunity for ICN2 and WIN researchers, aimed at fostering collaborative research teams that can target relevant Horizon Europe funding calls. This event aligns with ICN2's internationalisation strategy under the Severo Ochoa (SO) Centre of Excellence programme.

A total of 24 researchers from both institutions presented their work, engaging in discussions to identify common research interests and develop competitive joint projects. Four priority areas were identified in alignment with Horizon Europe calls:

Health: Medical technologies, primarily for oncology, neurology, and infectious diseases.
Digital, Industry & Space: Focus on digital technologies and semiconductors, with particular emphasis on the MSCA Staff Exchange project.
Climate, Energy & Mobility: Development of clean energy alternatives and remediation strategies.
Food, Bioeconomy, Natural Resources, Agriculture & Environment: Sensor technologies.

The new seed funding call is open until 21 April and will support two projects involving researchers from both WIN and ICN2. The selected projects will be announced on 5 May. On the ICN2 side, the funding will come from the resources obtained through the accreditation as a Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence 2023-2026.

In addition, teams not selected in this round will still have access to the WIN Mobility Fund and the ICN2 SO Outbound Mobility Programme to foster research collaboration. Full details of the call, including the proposal template, are available in the Funding Opportunities section of the ICN2 intranet.

The two institutions also work together through the International Network for Sustainable Nanotechnology (N4SNano). As part of this network, ICN2 is organising this year’s N4SNano Global Summit, which will take place in Barcelona (CosmoCaixa Museum) from June 16 to 18. Stay tuned for more details on the event website!

Overall, this first joint event with WIN was a great success. From ICN2, we sincerely thank all participants of this first WIN-ICN2 bilateral workshop and strongly encourage you to apply for this exciting new funding opportunity!