The Fondazione Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) is a scientific research centre established in 2003 in order to promote excellence in basic and applied research. IIT’s scientific activities have a strong emphasis on technology transfer. IIT has 1700 people, the majority of which are scientists (81%), with a gender distribution of 42% women and 58% men. About half of the researchers (47%) come from abroad: 33% are scientists from abroad and 14% are Italian researchers returning to Italy. IIT has currently a portfolio of 364 external funded research projects, 180 of which financed by EU funding programs as FP7 and H2020 (of which 28 are ERC grants). IIT’s research activity led to the creation of 18 spin-offs, with additional 30 under due diligence. The Department of Nanochemistry of IIT (headed by Liberato Manna) has a long-standing reputation of development of nanoscale materials for application in a variety of fields, including energy, optoelectronics and medicine. 

The Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas (FORTH) was founded in 1983 and it is the largest Research Organization in Greece (1125 people hired) incorporating 8 Institutes. FORTH researchers have received 27 ERC Grants, 92 Marie-Curie Excellence Awards, numerous international distinctions and hold more than 100 patents. During the FP7, FORTH ranked 15th for competitive funding and until 2017, 10th in the Horizon 2020 program. Science and Technology Park of Crete (STEP-C) established at FORTH the in 1993, hosting to date 20 companies and spin-offs. FORTH will participate with the Ultrafast Laser Micro- and Nano-processing laboratory (ULMNP) of the IESL headed by Dr. Emmanuel Stratakis. It is a multi-disciplinary scientific laboratory with gender distribution of 50 % women and 50% men, that focuses its research on fundamental and applied issues related to materials science and technology and laser interactions with matter. It is amongst the world expert groups in the field of preparation and handling of novel nanomaterials (2D materials and perovskites), their modification with ultrafast lasers and their integration in solar cells or sensing applications.

The Bar-Ilan University, (BIU) founded in 1955, was one of the first comprehensive research universities to be established in Israel. The university has 8 faculties with 17,000 students. The Department of Chemistry was one of the first faculties at the BIU, and to date has a variety of disciplines of chemistry such as computational chemistry, structural biology, magnetic resonance, bio-inorganic chemistry, and nano-materials and devices, alongside the more established fields of medicinal chemistry, organic, inorganic and physical chemistry. In 2007 the Bar-Ilan Institute of Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials (BINA) was established focused in different aspects of nanotechnology. The Device Spectroscopy Lab, placed at BINA is headed by Dr. Yaakov R. Tischler, with a gender distribution 40% women and 60% men, and it is focused on the spectroscopy of nanoscale materials and films and their corresponding devices.