The Instituto de Magnetismo Aplicado (IMA) was founded in 1989 by the University Complutense of Madrid (UCM) and co-sponsored by the Spanish Railway Infrastructures Company (formerly RENFE, nowadays ADIF). It was the first University Research Institute created in Spain. IMA was founded initially as a small research center with the aim to combine basic scientific research in the field of functional magnetic materials with transfer of technology. IMA has now a large critical mass with more than 40 permanent scientists with different background, around 20 tenured scientists, in addition to one technician and three administrative personnel. This large critical mass ensures the stability of the center and the resources and human power required to develop excellent scientific research and technology transfer activities. In order to give a response to this new situation that overpasses the field of magnetism, the Unit of Functional Materials of UCM (UMAFUS-UCM) was created. With this new structure, IMA is one of the leader research centers for functional materials in Europe.