The design of new amphoteric catalysts is of great interest for several industrial processes, especially those covering dehydration and dehydrogenation phenomena. Adsorption microcalorimetry was used to monitor the design of mixed oxides of zinc with Group 3 elements (aluminium, gallium, indium) with amphoteric character and enhanced specific surface area. Acid-base features were found to evolve non-linearly with the relative amounts of metal, and the strengths of the created acidic or basic sites were measured by adsorption microcalorimetry. A panel of bifunctional catalysts of various acid-base (amounts, strengths) and redox character was obtained. Besides, special interest was given to In-Zn mixed oxides for their enhanced basicity: this series of catalysts displays important basic features of high strength (q(diff) (SO₂ ads.) > 200 kJ mol(SO₂)⁻¹ in substantial amounts (1 - 2 μmol m(catalyst)⁻²), whose impact on efficiency or selectivity in catalytic dehydration/dehydrogenation can be valuable.