Meeting of the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory's International Academic Board

• Roberto G.M. Caciuffo, Director of Actinide Research, Joint European Union Research Centre, Institute for Transuranium Elements, Karlsruhe, Germany.
• Thomas Jovin, President of the Department of Molecular Biology, Max Plank Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen, Germany.
• Emilio Mendez, 1998 Prince of Asturias Prize for Scientific and Technical Research, Director of the Department of Physics and Astronomy, State University of New York at Stony Brook since 1st November 2006, Director of the Center for Functional Nanomaterials, which is one of the five nanocentres funded by the US Department of Energy and is being built at the Brookhaven National Laboratory to be ready in April 2007, New York, USA.
• Christopher B. Murray, American Chemical Society's Nobel Laureate Signature Prize 1997, Richard Perry University Professor of Material and Chemical Science and Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania since October 2006, and was Manager of the Nanoscale Materials and Devices Department, IBM, T.J.Watson Research Ctr., Yorktown Heights, New York, USA, where he has worked since 1995.
• Aristides A. G. Requicha, Gordon Marshall Professor of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, Director of the Laboratory for Molecular Robotics (LMR), University of Southern California, named editor-in-chief of the scientific journal IEEE Transactions on Nanotechnology in November 2006, Los Angeles, EUA.
• Mihail C. Roco, Carl Duisberg Prize, Burgers Professorship Prize, Engineer of the Year Award (1999, 2004), President of the Subcommittee on Nanoscale Science of the National Science and Technology Council, USA, Engineering and Technology Coordinator for the Grant Opportunities for Academic Liaison with Industry Initiative of the National Science Foundation (NSF), Senior Advisor for Nanotechnology, NSF, he has worked on the USA’s National Nanotechnology Initiative concept approved in 2004, Arlington, Virginia, USA.
• Heinrich Rohrer, Nobel Physics Prize 1986 for his work with Gerd Binnig on the scanning tunnelling microscope, while working at IBM’s Research Laboratory in Zurich, Wollerau, Switzerland.

The meeting will also be attended by members of the INL’s Setting-up Committee General Assembly, Luis Magalhães (President of the General Assembly and President of Knowledge Society Agency (UMIC), Portugal), Francisco Marcellan (Secretary-General for Scientific and Technological Policy, Spain), João Sentieiro (President of the Science and Technology Foundation (FCT), Portugal), Montserrat Torné (Director-General for Research, Spain), and the Board of Directors of INL’s Setting-up Committee, consisting of professors José Rivas (President), Carlos Bernardo (Executive Director ) and Paulo Freitas.

The International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL) was set up as an innovative international research laboratory under a joint initiative by Spain and Portugal that was decided on at the Summit between the two countries in November 2005. The premise was to develop a laboratory of international scientific excellence that could attract researchers of the highest calibre on a worldwide level and which would be open to members from other countries, both European and from other continents.

The strategic importance of research in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology has recently been reinforced by the approval of conclusions on the development of nanotechnology on the progress made with the implementation of the nanosciences and nanotechnologies Action Plan for Europe at the important EU Council of Ministers for Science held on 20th –21st November 2007 in Braga. Several Joint Technology Initiatives were approved at this meeting, including two pertaining directly to nanotechnologies, namely nanoelectronics (ENIAC – European Nanoelectronics Initiative Advisory Council) and systems embedded in other products (ARTEMIS – Advanced Research and Technology for Embedded Intelligence and Systems). Sizeable investments in Public-Private Partnerships are planned with the objective of guaranteeing the strategic development of these areas in Europe.

The Portuguese Presidency of the EU has made this area a special priority, as is obvious from the Council of Ministers for Science in the EU’s decisions, which refer to the organisation of the High Level Conference on Nanotechnologies held on 20th and 21st November 2007 in Braga. Among the participants were the Portuguese Minister for Science, Innovation and Higher Education, José Mariano Gago, Spain’s Minister for Education and Science, Mercedes Cabrera Calvo-Sotelo, the European Commissioner for Research, Janez Potocnik, and the European Commissioner for Information Society and Media, Viviane Reding. Emphasis was given to the Joint Technology Initiatives, European Technology Initiatives, the International Iberian Nanotechnology Laboratory (INL) and other leading research laboratories in the EU, and to recent developments in nanotechnology, both in industry and scientific laboratories.