Description

General objectives

The overall goals of the Department include both the development of scientific thematic at the edge of knowledge and technological applications with significant economical outcomes. The main objectives are the following: o Study of the functionalities, processes and properties referring to atomic and molecular condensed states; o Development of the fundamental knowledge and of the technological use of matter; o Development of components, devices and systems through multi- and inter- disciplinary activities, particularly thanks to the synergy of different disciplines such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology and engineering.

In particular, the Department intends to fulfil its mission by achieving the following goals (though some of them depend on the real availability of human and financial resources):
1) to strengthen competitiveness and innovation of the Department's facilities and research centres, through the selection of projects and strategic plans coordinated at national level and recognised at international level;
2) to strengthen the interaction among Department's Institutes and Italian Universities in order to make easier the access of University groups to the Department's laboratories and to highly increase the number of students and young researchers at CNR;
3) to strengthen the R&D links among CNR and industrial companies, particularly for long-medium term and high risk R&D, mainly in the field of hardware and technology and process development;
4) to assign resources based on the careful evaluation of the scientific results, of the impact of research and of the success in the technological transfer of results;
5) to collaborate with other research Institutions for defining priorities and middle-term strategies
6) to strengthen the links with the committees responsible for the activities at the "large scale facilities" for developing research initiatives of interest for the National Scientific Community;
7) to strengthen the collaboration with other CNR Departments in order to create national networks able to compete with public and private excellence centres at international level.

Main collaborations

The high quality scientific results of the research groups of the Department were possible thanks to the network of national and international collaborations developed through direct contacts as well through the joint participation to international projects. At national level it is worth mentioning agreements with academic partners, such as the "Consorzio Nazionale Interuniversitario per le Scienze fisiche della Materia" (CNISM) consisting of a systematic collaboration with associated Universities. This collaboration envisages the participation of researchers and university professors to CNR programs and activities in the field of science of matter. Collaborations with industries are also important, such as, with "Finmeccanica" and the National Association of Electrotechnical and Electronics firms (ANIE). Many important collaborations are carried out also with other public research centres such as the Italian Space Agency (ASI), the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and the Environment (ENEA), the National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN) and the "Centro Fermi". There also collaborations with Italian and foreign industrial groups, particularly significant for the economical and social outcome. Just to mention some: "Alenia Aeronautica", "Ansaldo Superconduttori", "Barilla", "Carlo Gavazzi Space", "Centro Ricerche FIAT", "El.En.", "Galileo Avionica", Microgate, "SACMI", "Selex Sistemi Integrati", STMicroelectronics, Technobiochip, and, at international level,: IBM (USA), Freescale Semiconductors (USA), Lucent Technology (USA), Infineon Technologies (Germany), AMD (Germany), Philips (The Netherlands), Microlas/Lambda Physik (Germany).

Summary of expected results

The main results expected from the Department include:
1) the development of an increasing number of research initiatives within the CNR-University cooperation;
2) the start-up of new applied research programs in the context of the CNR-Industry interaction;
3) the establishment of a working group for the coordination of project initiatives of interest of the Institutes of the Department;
4) the establishment of a working group to address and improve the relationships with the advisory board of the international large scale facilities;
5) participation in CNR cross-departmental projects on strategic issues for the National economy.