Veneto, the region in North Eastern Italy which includes Venice, is one of the most innovative areas in Europe. It has been the leader of the Italian industrial development for the last decades, with plenty of small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) focused on exporting "smart" products and niche technologies. Many of these SMEs use or produce materials that will be affected by nanotechnologies.

Moreover, Veneto universities (Padua, Venice and Verona) have excellent research units concentrated in nanotechnologies applied to materials.

That's why in 2002 the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research decided to create in Veneto a high-tech cluster on nanotechnologies applied to properties of materials: Veneto Nanotech. The cluster is funded by the central government, the regional government of Veneto and local administrations and institutions, for an expected total investment of 55-60 million Euros over 5 years.