User:Jeylab/Virtual Institute of Nano Films

The Virtual Institute of Nano Films (VINF) is a non profit organisation registered in Belgium on March 22, 2007. Its objective is defragmentation of European research on functional thin films. It reassembles European experts involved in R&D on nanofilms (deposition, characterisation, industrialisation, etc).

History
Under the 6th framework program, the European community funded EXCELL network of Excellence (NoE). The initiative of setting up a NoE on Nanofilms comes from the constatation that European Research in this field is highly fragmented, leading to a lack in cost and speed efficiency to achieve new technology and new products development. As a reaction, the European Commission decided in 2005 to fund EXCELL NoE (project 5157032) to overcome this fragmentation. One of the project main objective was to set-up an independent and self-sustainable organisation to ensure integration of European R&D about nanofilms. The Original consortium made of 12 European leading institutions decided to set it up as non profit association and registered it in Belgium. Statutes and Bylaws were signed by the fouding members on March 22, 2007 by Notary Office and an official decree was published on October 25, 2007.

Missions
VINF defines its goal as to creating value by offering the European scientific institutions and industrial companies the best conditions to stay at the forefront of nanofilms technological development and help them developing and keeping as much as possible the added value of this business in Europe. VINF aims also at filling the gap between academic research and industry.

Activities
To fullfil these missions, VINF developped a series of activity of its own.

Cooperative contracts
VINF and its members undertake joint collaborative research activities in the field of multifunctional nanofilms, focusing on really novel scientific and technological ideas. The institute participates actively in research programmes at the European, national and regional levels.

It’s in this frame that the institute takes part in the Nanoindent project, project aiming at gathering, cataloguing, improving and presenting European activities regarding to Equipments, techniques and Material characterization methods for nanomechanicals tests.

Observatory
VINF experts provide technological foresight, technical survey and research roadmap.

Conferences and workshops
VINF organises Advanced Research Seminars and the VINF Initiatives, a series of workshops throughout Europe to gather key players in nanofilms at the national level.

Every other year, VINF organises the European Conference on Nano Films (ECNF, European Conference on Nanofilm ). The first edition of this evenement took place in Liège, in Belgium, in March 2010. The second one will take place in Ancona, in Italy, in June 2012.

Training
VINF organises the European Post-Graduate Training Programme on Nano Films, a series of modules with advanced lectures and training sessions related to nanofilms science and technology.

Technical services
The institute experts provide customised technical service, from simple tests to integrated studies.

European Technology Platform (ETP) Representative
VINF is a member of NANOfutures, an new generation ETIP (European Technology Integration and Innovation Platform) aiming at integrating the European research on nanotechnologies.

Networking
The institute edits newsletters, organises info days and manages a website to insure efficient networking in the nanofilm field.

Members
VINF is an association of institutions and people which accede to membership through yearly fees. The founding members have the status of Executive Members, meaning they have a voting right in the General Assembly. The members that will join VINF thereafter are referred as Associate Members and have basically no voting right in the General Assembly. It is however possible to upgrade associate members to executive members in some circumstances described in VINF Bylaws.

Current members

 * ArcelorMittal
 * Technical University Munich
 * Cambridge University
 * Chemical Research Center of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
 * Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies
 * Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys
 * Université Libre de Bruxelles
 * []
 * Solvay
 * Technion- Israel Institute of Technology
 * Tekniker
 * Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Sevilla
 * Nottingham University
 * Institute for Spectroscopy Russian Academy of Sciences
 * Nanofab
 * Liège space center
 * Materia Nova research center of Mons University
 * Eurogroup Consulting Belgium

Structure
VINF is governed by a General Assembly composed of all executive members, each of them having a voting right. The General Assembly meets once a year, in March. Day to day management of the Organisation is carried out by VINF General Manager who refers to the Executive Committee. The current Executive Committee, elected in 2007 for 4 years is composed of
 * President: Prof. Marie-Paule Delplancke, Université libre de Bruxelles (Belgium)
 * Vice President: Prof. Elazar. Gutamanas, Technion (Israël)
 * Treasury: Prof. Andrey Solov’yev’, Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies (Germany)
 * Secretary: Dr. Peter Nagy, Chemical Research Center of the Hungarian Academy of Science (Hungary)
 * Head of Marketing and Communication : Dr. Marie Haidopoulo, ArcelorMittal (Belgium)