Nanotechnology incubator at PIIT Monterrey: Developing innovative entrepreneurship and upholding the traditional manufacturing industry in the region.

The establishment of the Research and Technology Innovation Park (PIIT) in 2006 in Nuevo León Mexico was the cornerstone of the politics for the attraction and retention of technology-based companies to the state. The nanotechnology incubator at PIIT, INANO, built in 2009, brought even closer the triple helix alliance between companies, academic institutions and government, allowing existing and new companies to introduce high value added products to the market. The operating model of INANO is designed to tackle the development of a technology-based product using nanotechnology, even from the idea generation stage up to the final product with high added value. The model of operation considers INANO product development projects that can be addressed in any of the stages IDEA, CONCEPTUALIZATION, FUNCTIONAL PROTOTYPE, COMMERCIAL PROTOTYPE, BUSINESS CREATION, INDUSTRIAL SCALING. It also considers as outputs of the model different strategies ranging from licensing to marketing the product.