A University network for universities

The INSTM Consortium was founded in order to provide organisational, technical and financial support to its affiliate universities, to encourage their participation in scientific activities, and, in accordance with domestic and international programmes involving Italy, to disseminate knowledge in the field of materials science and technology.

INSTM coordinates and supports its member universities' activities, participating in the identification and promotion of pertinent sectors in which to focus their research activities, and launching appropriate long-term research programmes. It also helps them to approach large-scale research facilities, and fosters and coordinates applications for funding to Italian and international agencies. It also plays an important role as intermediary between its affiliates and industry or research institutes in Italy and further afield, and it can facilitate exchanges with foreign laboratories.

Knowing that the development of materials science requires huge interdisciplinary participation, INSTM advocates a policy of cooperative union. To this end, it works together with agencies and companies in both the public and private sectors to bring important initiatives to fruition. It is important to note, however, that INSTM is not a research agency, nor can it substitute for any of its affiliated universities – its organisation and function is, in all respects, similar to that of a network. Furthermore, as INSTM is legally recognised as a private organisation, its activities can be managed with greater flexibility, allowing it to accomplish what individual academic institutions would find extremely difficult, or even impossible to achieve.