IFISC (Institute for Cross-Disciplinary Physics and Complex Systems) is a joint research Institute of the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB) and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) created in 2007 building upon the former Cross-Disciplinary Physics Department of IMEDEA (Mediterranean Institute for Advance Studies) dating from 1995. Its creation foresees that important avenues of scientific development occur at the borders of established fields. As statement of purpose it aims at developing interdisciplinary and strategic research from the established practices of physicists. By interdisciplinary research we mean the general attitude of willing to transfer knowledge, concepts and methods across the borders between well established disciplines. By strategic research we mean focusing in advanced studies in fields with strong future potential, avoiding incremental research as well as the “basic-applied” polarization. We therefore search for windows of opportunity in emerging areas beyond the traditional subjects that defined Physics in the twentieth century. The backbone of our research that unifies, percolates, and is the basis of the rest of our activities is the study of generic phenomena in Nonlinear Physics and Complex Systems, with strong methodological components from Statistical Physics, Dynamical Systems, Computational Methods and Quantum Mechanics. From this source of concepts and ideas, the researchers face the challenge of cooperatively defining and updating specific and projects within a flexible and changing framework.