Florida International University plans to create a high-tech laboratory that uses technology to solve social problems with a $2.3-million grant it won from the National Science Foundation’s Partnership for International Research and Education program. The project was one of 20 selected from a field of more than 500 proposals.

FIU will collaborate with Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton and conduct research with top universities from Mexico, Spain, Argentina, China, India, Japan and France. The IBM International Research Labs and the supercomputing center in Barcelona will also participate in the project.