Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) is a Foundation governed by Articles 14 et seq of the Italian Civil Code, financed by the State to conduct scientific research in the public interest, for the purpose of technological development.
IIT is under the supervision of the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Ministry of Education, University and Research and is overseen by Corte dei Conti (national auditing body). More specifically: IIT aims to promote excellence in basic and applied research and to promote the development of the national economy. The construction of IIT’s laboratories began in 2006 and ended in 2009.
Since 2009, the Institute’s scientific activity has been further strengthened with the creation of eleven IIT research centres in Italy (in Turin, two in Milan, Trento, Rome, two in Pisa, Naples, Lecce, Ferrara) and two outstations located abroad (MIT and Harvard in the US) which, together with the Central Laboratory in Genoa, develop the research programmes defined in the 2018-2023 Strategic Plan.
IIT's total staff is comprised of 1606 people from more than 55 countries. Average age is 34 years and 41% of the staff are women. The scientific field is represented approximately by 80% of overall staff. Approximately 45% of scientific staff come from abroad. Of these, 30% consist of foreigners from more than 50 countries and 15% are Italians who returned from abroad.
In 2016, State financing received through the Ministry of Economy and Finance amounted to approximately EUR 96 million (total gross financing totals EUR 98 million, from which EUR 2 million are subtracted for spending review activities), of which 85% was allocated to scientific and technological activities. External resources directly acquired by the Foundation, from 2006 to 31/12/2017, amounted to approximately EUR 197,8 million of which EUR 142,4 million were obtained from competitive projects, EUR 44,2 million from commercial projects and EUR 11,2 million as in-kind contributions.
To date (December 2017), IIT’s production includes 10191 publications, over 160 European projects and 19 ERC (European Research Council) projects, more than 600 active patent applications, 17 established start-ups and 26 under due diligence.
