The Institute of Nanostructured Materials and Photonics (NMP) is part of the Joanneum Research Forschungsgesellschaft mbH (JR); which is a non-profit research organization of the Province of Styria. The NMP with actually 25 people employed was founded in 1999 and opened in November 2001. During the first 5 years of its existence the initial phase was successfully finalized and the institute managed to become a central partner in the Austrian “nano-scene”. According to the overall concept of the NMP the local industry should be supported to gain access to nanotechnology in an early stage of this broad field, in order to strengthen competitiveness and to sustainably place Styria as an attractive and innovative business location.