Micro- and nanotechnologies have the potential to increase economic growth in every geographical area of Europe and among almost every industry leading to new product innovations, new companies and new jobs. Such innovative ideas based on solutions using micro and nano fabrication technologies require access not only to high end equipment but also the essential highly skilled personnel. It is not possible for SME’s or even most research departments to justify investment in a comprehensive range of technologies and trained personnel, especially when the need is to try out the feasibility of a new idea or develop a one off tool.EUMINAfab aims to overcome such economic barriers and lack of skills by creating the first pan-European research infrastructure for micro- and nanotechnologies for structuring and characterising a multitude of functional materials. The consortium integrates 9 leading academic institutes and three industrial partners from seven European member states. Five networking and three Joint research work packages create the framework for the transnational access activities which are open for users from both industry and academia from throughout European member and associated states. EUMINAfab opens access to more than 50 installations and offers over 1300 user days of access in the project duration of four years. The budget of nearly 7,79M€ with a requested EC contribution of almost 6M€ is thus dedicated to structuring the ERA in the area of multimaterial micro and nanotechnologies.