The Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) or National Research Council, is an Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 public organization set up to support scientific and technological research

Research

Research can be defined as the scientific search for knowledge, or as any systematic investigation, to establish novel facts, solve new or existing problems, prove new ideas, or develop new theories, usually using a scientific method...

. Its headquarters are in Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

.

History

The institution was founded in 1923. The process of improvement of the national scientific research, through the use of specific laws, (see Law 59/1997), affects many research organizations, and amongst them is CNR, whose "primary function is to carry on, through its own organs, advanced basic and applied research, both to develop and maintain its own scientific competitiveness, and to be ready to take part effectively in a timely manner in the strategic fields defined by the national planning system".

Reorganization

With the issuing of the legislative decree of 30 January 1999, n. 19, which defines "The reorganization of the National Research Council" the central role of CNR in the Italian research system is confirmed.

In particular CNR is defined (see Article 1 of the above mentioned decree 19/1999) as a "national research organization, with general scientific competence and with scientific research institutes distributed across Italy, which carries out activities of primary interest for the promotion of science and the progress of the country".

CNR has the legal status of a public organization, and defines for itself autonomous rules and regulations, in accordance with the existing laws and the Civil Code

Civil code

A civil code is a systematic collection of laws designed to comprehensively deal with the core areas of private law. A jurisdiction that has a civil code generally also has a code of civil procedure...

.

Mission

The new CNR has the following mission and activities:

• It promotes and carries on research activities, in pursuit of excellence and strategic relevance within the national and international ambit, in the frame of European cooperation and integration; in cooperation with academic research and with other private and public organizations, ensures the dissemination of results inside the country;
• in the scope of its triennial plan of activity and in the frame of the collaboration with universities and other private and public organizations, CNR defines, manages and coordinates national and international research programs, in addition to supporting scientific and research activities of major relevance to the nation;
• it promotes the valorization, the precompetitive development and the technological transfer
  Technology transfer
  Technology Transfer, also called Transfer of Technology and Technology Commercialisation, is the process of skill transferring, knowledge, technologies, methods of manufacturing, samples of manufacturing and facilities among governments or universities and other institutions to ensure that...
  
   of research results carried on by its own scientific network and by third parties with whom cooperative relationships have been established;
• it promotes collaboration in scientific and technological fields, and in the technical regulations field, with organizations and institutions of other Countries, and with supranational organizations in the frame of extra-governmental agreements; it provides, upon request from government authorities, specific skills for the participation of Italy in organizations or international scientific programs of an inter-governmental nature;
• it carries on, through its own program of scholarship
  Scholarship
  A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...
  
  s and research fellowships, educational and training activities in Ph.D. courses, in advanced after-university specialization courses, and in programs of continuous or recurring education; CNR can also perform activities of non university related higher education;
• it provides supervision over those organizations designated to issue rules and regulations (see Law of 21 June 1986, n. 317), activity of dissemination of technical specifications in the frame of its institutional tasks, and, on demand, activities of certification, test and accreditation for Public Administration
  Public administration
  Public Administration houses the implementation of government policy and an academic discipline that studies this implementation and that prepares civil servants for this work. As a "field of inquiry with a diverse scope" its "fundamental goal.....
  
  ;
• provides technical and scientific support to Public Administration upon their request;
• in the frame of fulfilling its institutional activities, CNR can supply private law services to third parties.

For the execution of these activities and any other activity related to them, CNR can stipulate agreements and contracts, establish or participate in consortia

Consortium

A consortium is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations or governments with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for achieving a common goal....

, foundations or societies with private or public parties, Italian or foreign.

In addition, through agreements or participation, CNR can implement programs, directives and regulations of the Regional governments or other Public Administrations, aimed to the dissemination of the research results in the economic system; it can also contribute to the realization of the conditions needed for the establishment of highly innovative enterprises.

Finally, CNR can participate in international research centers, in collaboration with analogous scientific institutions of other Countries.

See also

• Istituto per la Protezione delle Piante
  Istituto per la Protezione delle Piante
  The Istituto per la Protezione delle Piante , or 'Institute of Plant Protection', is part of the Food Department of the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche , an Italian government organization with the aim of supporting scientific and technological research...
  
   - Institute of Plant Protection
• Institute for Chemical-Physical Processes

External links

• www.cnr.it, homepage of the CNR website.