The National Research Council is the greatest research
public body of our Country.
It was founded on November 18 of 1923; in 1945, it became a public body.
It has mainly carried out training, promotion and research coordination
activities in every scientific and technological sector.
In 2003, following the legislative
decree of 4 June 2003 No. 127 , CNR became a "national public
organization committed to carry out, promote, spread, transfer and improve
research activities in the main sectors of knowledge growth and of its
applications for the scientific, technological, economic and social
development of the Country.
Mission
To perform research in its own labs both promoting innovation and
competitiveness of the industrial system and providing technologies
and solutions to emerging public and private needs. To promote the internationalization
of the research system; to advise the Government and other public bodies
on strategic themes for the Country and the collectivity; to contribute
to the qualification of human resources.
These are the strategic points of the mission of CNR (Italian National
Research Council), whose aims can be summed up by the Eighty five projects
on acquired strategic subjects such as Energy & Transportation,
Earth & Environment, Agriculture & Food, Medicine, Life Sciences,
Molecular Design, Materials & Devices, Advanced Manufacturing Systems,
Information and Communication Technologies, Cultural Identity, Cultural
heritage which are the tasks in which the Italian National Research
Council is engaged. Cooperation with Universities and industrial companies
is a systematic choice with the general aim of "creating value
for the Country by competences through scientific research".
Since 14 July 2004 Prof. Fabio Pistella has
been CNR Chairman.
Some data (reference 2005)
Resources
CNR has more than 8200 employees of whom more than 4 thousand researchers
active in almost 100 Institutes, working in the main fields of scientific
and humanistic research. In addition to these ones there are more than
3000 junior scientists completing their training at CNR. This patrimony
of human resources, ideas and knowledge makes CNR, in terms of publications,
one of the major contributors to Italian scientific production, with
a respected position in the international context. In a synthetic framework
it can't be omitted also the CNR capacity of playing also a role as
"financial resources amplifier". An annual contribution of
approximately 550 million euros is by the Institutes of CNR "amplified"
by a factor two through the acquisition of financial resources coming
from competitive bids, cooperation with industry, European commission
research projects and similar "external sources", with an
amplification factor of 1,8 so that the overall available resources
total about a thousand million euros. Thematic project oriented research
is accompanied by "curiosity driven" research which is evaluated
through a peer review system. On the basis of the new funding mechanism
15% of the budget is allocated to spontaneous, free theme, curiosity
driven research; another 15% to the development of new research capabilities,
while 70% is allocated to strategic themes set by the Italian National
Research Program for R & D activities performed in cooperation with
universities, other research institutions and industrial companies.
In particular, 20,5% of the funds is allocated to Earth & Environment;
5% to Energy & Transportation; 7% to Agriculture & Food; 15%
to Medicine; 5% to Life Sciences. Moreover, 9% of the funds is allocated
to Molecular Design; 19% to Materials & Devices; 6% to Advanced
Manufacturing Systems; 7% to Information & Communication Technologies;
4% to Cultural Identity; 3% to Cultural Heritage.
Cooperations
The role of public research bodies such as CNR is therefore of fundamental
importance in a country like Italy where the contribution of SMEs to
the GDP is prevailing.
Nevertheless, international cooperation is a priority for CNR Institutes:
besides a large number of bottom-up types of cooperation, a peculiar
very positive characteristic of the scientific community, agreements
are operating at international level with similar organisations in other
countries such as the French CNRS or NSF in USA. CNR is an active partner
of ESF joining all the mechanisms for grants to be given to research
proposals, in particular when young researchers are involved. A specific
mechanism named "short term mobility" is operating to support
visits of young researchers in labs abroad.
Cooperation is also growing with institutes in newly industrialised
countries such as India and China. An important example is bioinformatics,
an interdisciplinary field of particular potential impact. CNR has been
among the first European Research Institutions to adopt the European
Researchers Chart not only to underline the special status of its researchers,
but also as a concrete step in the direction of preparing the creation
of the European Research Area.
The introduction of a new evaluation system is a qualifying element
of the new organization, in harmony with European Union evaluation systems.
The evaluation system is multilevel encompassing:
- Self evaluation by Institutes also through "Institute
Councils"
- Evaluation within CNR by an Evaluation Committee with fully external
Members
- External evaluation accomplished by CIVR, a High Level Committee
evaluating research activities for the entire Italian System.
It's also multiphase including "ex ante", in itinere"
and "ex post" evaluation.
The adoption of evaluation criteria is of primary importance in promoting
cooperation with the industrial system which is implemented through
Framework Agreements with Association of industries such as Farmindustria
or Federchimica, acting these associations as "switchboard and
decoders" in order to multiplicate innovation opportunities and
technology transfer.
In the cooperations, rejuvenation through injection of "cave enabling
technologies" of the so called mature sectors (such as textile,
clothing, tiles, furniture) has been very effective.
An important role is also played by CNR in the so called "technology
districts", a new up-to-date edition of the "industrial districts"
that have been a success case of the Italian entrepreneurship in the
Seventies and in the Eighties. The new approach is based on the development
of high-tech technologies which can be inserted in different traditional
divisions, rejuvenating them and making them more competitive.
CNR is strongly interested in reinforcing and expending cooperation
with similar agencies in other countries to pursue a world level strategy
of a knowledge bond society to the enforcement of which research is
a basic component.
