Starting from the first image we proposed 4 years ago for an International Laboratory on glass-based functional materials in Russia, we present the analysis of 4-year activity. Our analysis highlights how the rationale of the project, with the involvement of a network of foreign research institutions and a key-role of the Russian hosting university, was crucial to overcome successfully the first project steps - including team formation and training, instrument implementation and laboratory installation at the hosting university. We give a few examples of the results - in the area of photonics - showing how the choice we did of specific research lines - joining Glass Science excellence at the Mendeleyev University and world level experience in Materials Science in the network of collaborations - allowed us not only to reach recognized scientific and technological outcomes, but also to open the way for a future sustainability of the International Laboratory and its role for innovation.