INEB is a private non-profit association with the statute of public interest, founded in June 1989 by six institutions, including the University of Porto (UPorto). The Mission of INEB is to generate knowledge, by promoting research, advanced training and technology transfer in Biomedical Engineering. INEB has adopted the motto "Engineering for life", to express our involvement in the development of technologies and devices aimed at improving patients’ quality of life and the continuous learning with living organisms.

Transdisciplinarity is a distinctive feature of INEB. Integrative research, involving specialists in biomaterials, tissue regeneration, nanomedicine, bioimaging, medical signals, geoepidemiology, biology and medicine has brought international recognition to the institute. The clinical applications of work in progress are in orthopedics and dentistry, neurology, obstetrics, oncology, and cardiology. About 200 persons work at INEB, almost 55 of whom hold a doctoral degree and about 100 are post-graduate students. INEB is a dynamic institute with a large majority of young researchers and is strongly involved in postgraduate education through advanced training.

In the past decade, over 30 prototypes, 6 products and 3 spin-offs were generated from the research work of INEB researchers. INEB has also established fruitful collaborations with research institutions, hospitals and companies worldwide. INEB is also a founding member of Health Cluster Portugal (HCP) and a member of the European Networks Nanomedicine (European Technology Platform) and European Institute for Biomedical Imaging Research (EIBIR).

In 2000 the Ministry for Science and Technology has established the IBMC•INEB Associated Laboratory between INEB and the Institute for Molecular and Cell Biology (IBMC). In 2008 IBMC, INEB and the Institute of Molecular Pathology and Immunology of the UPorto (IPATIMUP) formed a consortium – the Institute for Research and Innovation in Health (I3S, Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde). Our laboratories are mainly located at IBMC•INEB, FEUP, Faculty of Medicine of UPorto (FMUP), IPATIMUP and Instituto de Saúde Pública da UPorto (ISPUP).

Mission & Vision

The Mission of INEB is to generate knowledge, by promoting research, advanced training and technology transfer in biomedical engineering.

INEB Vision is to be an international reference in applying engineering for solving problems in the field of health.