The Institut Català de Nanociència i Nanotecnologia (ICN2) is dedicated to the development of knowledge, materials and devices in the wide field of health, energy, environment and the technologies of computers and communications. Its experience is in the nanoscale where new properties and interactions, as well as ways of using them in daily life, are constantly being discovered. Amongst its goals is reuniting scientific personnel with different competences in the look for a better science, better teaching and a higher impact on society, at the same time it explores new ways of interacting with local and global industries.

The institute was credited as a Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa in 2014 and the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades renovated this prize in 2018 and 2023. Amongst its patrons are the Generalitat de Catalunya, the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) and the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), where the institute is located. ICN2 is a CERCA center and one of the founding members of the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST).