Home to some of the world’s oldest and most renowned Universities and Polytechnics, Italy is at the forefront of global Research & Innovation driving technological advancements with and for national and international companies.
Highly specialised research entities and competence centers foster collaborations with Industry, ensuring a thriving environment for technological transfer and open innovation.
Knowledge Share Platform - Where Innovation Happens
Knowledge Share (KS) offers foreign investors a unique opportunity to access the excellence of Italian innovation. The platform, a joint project of the Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy - Italian Patent and Trademark Office (MIMIT - UIBM) and Associazione Netval and Politecnico di Torino - funded within the NRRP – The National Recovery and Reislience Plan, NextGeneration EU project - is the largest matchmaking platform for deeptech innovation in Italy.
With a portfolio of more than 2,500 start-up and patent files, investors can explore the outputs of research projects, contact project teams and initiate collaborations. Free access and easy navigation through filters by sector, keyword and more.
CNR boasts a remarkable history, from the first Italian computer developed with Olivetti in 1961 to the recent findings in Photonics on ultra-fast information transfer and data processing. 88 Institutes nationwide specialise in diverse fields such as Engineering, Medical Sciences, Natural Sciences, ICT and Microelectronics.
National Agency ENEA
stands out for its green innovations, from pioneering algae-based biofuels to developing sustainable energy solutions for space missions. With projects such as bioplastics from agricultural waste, ENEA is a driving force in the environmental technologies sector.
Italian Institute of Technology (IIT)
stands as a beacon of applied research excellence. Across its 10 centers, IIT pioneers innovations in Robotics and Human-Robot interactions (IIT created one of the world's most advanced robots, the iCub), Nanotechnology and Materials Science.
National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN)
INFN researchers specialise in Particle Physics and Astrophysics, contributing significantly to the understanding of the universe's fundamental laws. INFN played a key role in the discovery of the Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider.
Collaborative technological hubs
In order to match technology demand and supply, Italy has established modern collaborative hubs for Industry and Academia, promoted at the institutional level and funded by dedicated public funds:
8 COMPETENCE CENTERS in which Public Research supports companies in the innovation of products and services through the adoption of Industry 4.0 technologies through advanced skills and pilot plants.
5 NATIONAL RESEARCH CENTERS Champions on Key Enabling Technologies Created and financed under the NRRP, the Centers gather the excellence of Research and Industry scattered throughout the national territory. Structured as “Hub & Spokes” the Hub coordinates the research activities carried out by qualified Spokes throughout the Country. The Centers aim to create nationwide supply chains for Industrial Research.
Italy is a High Performance Computing Superpower
The new pre-exascale Supercomputer Leonardo makes Italy the 1ˢᵗ Country in Europe (4ᵗʰ in the World) for computing capacity.
Source: The European House Ambrosetti elaborations on Top500 Supercomputers ranking (2022).
The Big Data Technopole in Bologna hosts Leonardo accessible to companies to develop new applications in areas such as artificial intelligence, medicine, drug and material design, bio-engineering and weather forecasting.
Italy is home to the world’s most powerful non-governmental supercomputer, ENI’s HPC5 that serves as a research supercomputer for energy applications (e.g., magnetic confinement fusion, superconducting magnets, plasma studies, solar technologies) and for clinical purposes such as identifying the most promising drugs in the fight against Coronavirus (EXSCALATE4CoV project).
A highly productive Research system
Italian scientific Research ranks as the most productive globally, securing the 1ˢᵗ place worldwide with 72.8 publications and 1,594 citations per 100 researchers.
In addition Italy ranks as the 1ˢᵗ country in the world for patent productivity at the European Patent Office (EPO) demonstrating the exceptional quality and reliability of results from the Italian R&D system.
Sources: Elaborations on SCImago, OECD, and EPO data (2022).
N.B.: for the productivity measure (ratio between the number of patents and total applications) only countries with ≥500 patent applications at EPO have been considered.
A leading role in the most relevant scientific fields
Italy is among leading countries worldwide by number of scientific citations (6ᵗʰ in the world, 2ⁿᵈ in Europe)
Source: SCImago (2022).
Critical node in European and international networks
In Italy there are approximately 4,000 R&D entities and businesses that are engaged in over 1 million collaborations within EU's Horizon projects. Italy ranks 2ⁿᵈ in Europe for participation and recognition in the following Horizon Programs:
European Innovation Council Pilot
SME Instrument
Seal of Excellence
Italy ranks 2ⁿᵈ globally (1ˢᵗ in Europe) in the Green Complexity Potential Index, that measures a Country's ability to enhance competitiveness in the production and export of goods and technologies for the Green Transition.
Italy's innovative drive in the Green Transition also emerges from extensive participation in recent Important Projects of Common European Interest (IPCEI) for Batteries and Hydrogen, characterised by the highest level of public funding (over 2 billion euros) and highest number of entities involved.
Sources: Cordis EU Research Results e Horizon 2020 Statistics; Green Transition Navigator, based on University of Oxford studies (2022).
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