The goal of the present proposal is to upgrade an existing Center of Excellence (CEITEC), by building on strong and long-term partnerships with two leading Austrian universities and by exploiting Europe’s talent pool in fields of advanced nanomaterials and nanotechnologies . This should lead to increasing scientific capabilities, improving of innovation performance and maximizing chances to obtain competitive funding. Moreover, the innovation culture should be boosted in general, utilized in more intensive cooperation with high-tech companies and spread to substantially increased number of start-up companies in Southern Moravia, primarily SMEs. The project brings together four universities and research institutions participating in CEITEC and representing the Widening country – Czech Republic, all located in the city of Brno (2nd largest city of the Czech Republic), and two leading universities representing the R&D advanced country – Austria, both located in Vienna.