One of CNR institutional duties is the carrying out of research activities in pursuit of excellence and strategic relevance within the national and international ambit, through its network of research institutes.
The network of CNR research institutes, which are distributed all over the national territory, is multidisciplinary: it has competences in the field of health and biology, of computer science, of environment and climate, of chemistry and physics, of behavioural, economic and social sciences.
During the last few years, there has been a process of reorganization through unifications and divestments in CNR research network. In 1999, there were 314 research bodies (Institutes and Centres) operating within University and in synergy with them. The process of reorganization, which ended in 2002, led to the creation of 110 institutes, divided into centres and territorial sections.

The geographical division of the new institutes centres is distributed as follows:

• 31 institutes in the North
• 45 institutes in the Centre
• 31 institutes in the South

List of Institutes       Elenco Istituti