The Kavli Institute of Nanoscience Delft was established in 2004 at the Department of NanoScience, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Delft University of Technology through a grant by the US-based The Kavli Foundation.
The Kavli Institute of Nanoscience has a staff of 35 professors.
An article in de Volkskrant, a Dutch national newspaper in 2012, claimed that four of the ten most cited scientists in the Netherlands belong to the institute.