The Institut Catala de Nanociencia I Nanotecnologia (ICN2) is a flagship research institute within the CERCA network of centres created and supported by the Autonomous Government of Catalonia to raise Catalan science to the premier international level. The patrons of ICN2 are the Government of Catalonia (Generalitat), the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), and the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB). Its core activities are Frontier Basic and Applied Research in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Technology Transfer, and Public Outreach. Currently, ICN2 numbers some 200 staff from over 30 countries, of which about 170 are researchers. In addition to the theoretical and experimental groups involved in the project, ICN2´s activities in graphene include thermal management, photovoltaic, biosensors and energy applications, gathering about 40 researchers (permanent staff, postdoc and Ph.D. students). ICN2 achievements were recognised in 2014 with the Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence accreditation, the most prestigious award targeting research centres in Spain.

ICN2 is strongly involved in Graphene and two-dimensional materials research. It includes the theoretical study and development of multiscale computational methodologies (combining ab-initio with tight-binding models) to simulate charge, spin and phonon transport in realistic models of structurally and chemically modified graphene (and two-dimensional)-based materials and devices. Additionally research is engaged in  the development and demonstration of novel graphene spintronic devices, or the use of graphene and other carbon materials in biosensing and bioelectronics applications, such as low cost and large scale technology for the fabrication of graphene solution-gated field effect transistors as well as graphene electrodes, and their characterization in aqueous environment and in cell cultures based on CVD graphene or the use of graphene derivatives for electrochemical biosensors. Finally, hybrid materials including graphene are also investigated for applications in energy (supercapacitors) and photovoltaics.

ICREA, Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies, is a foundation supported by the Catalan Government and guided by a Board of Trustees. ICREA was created in response to the need to seek new hiring formulas that would make it possible to compete with other research systems on a similar footing by focusing on hiring only the most talented and extraordinary scientists and academics.

The Cluster of Excellence ‘Center for Advancing Electronics Dresden’ (cfaed) of Technische Universität Dresden comprises eleven research institutes in Saxony. Further members are the Technische Universität Chemnitz, two Max Planck Institutes, two Fraunhofer Institutes, two Leibniz Institutes and the Helmholtz-Research Center Dresden-Rossendorf. About 300 scientists are working in nine research paths to investigate completely new technologies for electronic information processing. These technologies are inspired by innovative materials such as silicon nanowires, carbon nanotubes or polymers or based on completely new conceptions such as circuit fabrication methods by self-assembling structures, e.g. DNA-Origami. The orchestration of these new devices into heterogeneous information processing systems with focus on their resilience and energy-efficiency is also part of cfaed’s research program. To complement the Cluster, the Collaborative Research Center (CRC) 912 ‘Highly Adaptive Energy-Efficient Computing’ (HAEC) has been integrated in cfaed. Both, cfaed and HAEC, are coordinated by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dr. h.c. Gerhard Fettweis, who holds the Vodafone Chair Mobile Communications Systems at TU Dresden.
Website: www.cfaed.tu-dresden.de

The Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) is a Foundation established in 2003 jointly by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research and the Ministry of Economy and Finance to promote excellence in basic and applied research. The Foundation is intended to promote Italy's technological development and advanced education, consistent with national policies for scientific and technological development, thus strengthening the national production system. The research plan of the institute focuses on Humanoid technologies and Robotics, Neuroscience and Cognition, Nanotechnology and Materials. The Institute has a staff of more than 1300 people, the central research lab being located in Genoa. IIT has a large experience with the management of large research projects and has been involved in more than 100 EU funded projects in the last 8 years. IIT headquarter in Genoa has a 30,000m2 facility equipped with state-of-the-art laboratories for robotics, nanoscience and neuroscience, and a network of 10 state-of-the-art laboratories countrywide. Since September 2013 IIT has launched the graphene research, collected under the umbrella of the IIT Graphene Labs, which currently involves more than 30 researchers working on different aspects of graphene and bi-dimensional crystals science and technology. IIT Graphene Labs is actively involved in realising scientific and technological targets in the field of energy conversion and storage, material production (e.g., chemical vapour deposition and solution processing), deposition and composite production, as well as heterostructures and bio-nanotechnology (e.g., biocompatibility essays, biomolecule-graphene interaction). IIT Graphene Labs has a strong effort in dissemination and technology transfer activities. In particular, the technology transfer program of IIT Graphene Labs is developing through specific agreements with companies.

Founded in 1425, UCL is one of Europe´s oldest universities, with more than 28,000 students. UCL is a key player in fundamental research in Belgium, in Europe and worldwide and is also an official partner of the Graphene Flagship. The UCL research group of Prof. J.-C. Charlier has well versed in fundamental aspects of ab initio, atomistic and property modelling and is strongly involved in the prediction of spin-dependent transport in graphene and other 2D systems (including vdW heterostructures), based on its expertise in first-principles simulations for more than twenty five years.