[How to reach IPC - click here for directions]

IPC, the Institute for Polymers and Composites, is a Portuguese research Centre of the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), hosted by the Polymer Engineering Department at Minho University. Its stated mission is to contribute to the advancement of the science and technology of polymers and composites, helping to generate added-value in the Portuguese plastics and mould-making industries, and to promote in society the awareness of the role and importance of plastic materials.

IPC’s foundational act was a proposal submitted to the FCT call for new Research Units in April 2002. Previously, the researchers involved in that proposal were members of another, larger, research Unit of Minho University. In January 2003, the future Institute for Polymers and Composites was evaluated by a panel of international experts commissioned by FCT. The panel reacted very positively to IPC’s stated mission and previous scientific performance and rated it as “Excellent”.

The organization of the Institute for Polymers and Composites is based in 4 nuclei, next - Processing Studies; np - Design with plastics; NuComp - Polymer Composites and SBP - Structure and Behaviour of Polymeric Systems. These nuclei are groups of researchers with common specific activities, headed by a permanent, PhD-holding, member of the Institute, which have an independent scientific strategy, subordinated to that of IPC. 

In 2005 the Institute for Polymers and Composites coordinated an application, together with CENIMAT (from the New University of Lisbon) and the Unidade de Física de Semicondutores (from Aveiro University), to become one of the national Associated Laboratories, to be named I3N – Institute for Nanostructures, Nanomodelling and Nanofabrication.  On November 16, 2006, the Portuguese Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education officially approved I3N as an Associated Laboratories in the area of nanotechnology.

Therefore, the activities  of IPC research nuclei will move progressively towards nanomaterials and nanotechnology topics, with an anticipated emphasis on:
- multiscale modelling of materials behaviour
- polymer systems with nano and microcontrolled structures
- physical characterization of nanostructures
- microprocessing of polymer systems