The statutory mission of the Academy of Engineering and Technology (Itatec) is to promote technology and applied sciences through initiatives aimed at: fostering the exchange of knowledge among universities, research organisations and industry, thereby supporting the development of shared national positions; providing assessments and recommendations to policymakers and society; promoting technical and scientific culture; and representing its reference community in international fora.
The Academy engages with a broad network of stakeholders, including, notably, its reference scientific community, with which it interacts both informally and through the establishment of working groups; representatives of related disciplines (such as economics and the social sciences); other academies with which joint working groups may be established; political institutions; the media; foundations; and professional associations with an interest in engineering and the technical sciences.
Academic and industrial experts regularly provide technological know-how to institutions and society. For these contributions—often delivered through ad hoc working tables with variable participation—to be effective, they must be optimised, coordinated and made continuous.
Selection of Members
The authority of academies is based on the selection of members according to criteria of excellence, independence and plurality. In Itatec:
i) the selection of ordinary and junior members is based exclusively on merit. Moreover, Itatec is the only European academy that includes a category of junior members (under 40 at the time of appointment) who—during a limited five-year term—have the same rights and duties as ordinary members, and may also be elected to the Presidential Council.
ii) members participate in the Academy in a personal capacity, independently of their home institution.
iii) all ERC sub-panels relevant to engineering and applied sciences are covered: the composition of the Academy ensures representativeness of the relevant scientific domains, reflecting the diversity of current scientific views and providing multidisciplinary coverage of the topics under analysis.
iv) plurality is further ensured through the presence of representatives of sector stakeholders, starting with leading technology industries (technology producers, integrators and users), brought together in the "College of Counsellors". This ensures that, in addition to scientific soundness, all levels of technological maturity (TRL) up to industrial production, economic impact and operational sustainability are considered. The presence of stakeholders alongside a majority of members elected on merit is a distinctive feature of engineering academies and fosters dialogue between research and industry, ensuring that proposed policies and innovations are not only theoretically robust but also practically implementable. Together, these two categories of members form a stable pool of independent experts capable of representing prevailing positions within the engineering and technical-scientific community.
The "Working Academy" Model and Impact
Experience from leading foreign academies indicates that, to produce solid and consistent scientific outputs—i.e., to operate as a so-called "working academy" (as in, for example, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and Sweden)—an academy must have its own scientific staff. Such staff can support members by consulting the literature and gathering information through informal networks, drafting documents, organising working group meetings and managing advisory working tables with the participation of the Academy.
Furthermore, to achieve effective impact, advisory activity must be carried out in a systematic and continuous manner—not only in response to emergencies and independently of changes in government. This requires ongoing engagement by the Academy with politics (Executive, Parliament and Regions) and with society at large.
Operational Areas and Future Prospects
Once Itatec has secured adequate funding and a suitable technical-scientific staff structure, its ambition is to:
- Strategic support to Government: establish a format for the regular presentation of confidential analyses and recommendations on major applied science policy issues, also involving academic and industrial representatives external to Itatec.
- Long-term consultation platforms: facilitate broad consultation fora operating over extended timeframes (across legislative terms), accompanying policy initiatives.
- Analyses and projects: carry out analyses and projects, both exploratory initiatives of its own and work commissioned by various Ministries, through its thematic networks and working groups. For some projects, it may be useful to cooperate with other institutions, for example with the Accademia dei Lincei on topics bridging basic and applied research.
- Outreach and communication: develop diversified outreach and communication activities targeted at policymakers, the media and the general public.
Last but not least, an integral part of Itatec’s mission is to represent Italian engineering and technology in international fora. Active involvement in the "European Council of Applied Sciences, Technologies and Engineering" (Euro-CASE) enables Italy to participate fully in the European Commission’s scientific advisory mechanism, the "Scientific Advice Mechanism" (SAM). Under SAM, the European Commission, in support of its policy activities, draws on the independent scientific recommendations of the five European academy networks—including Euro-CASE—channelled through a high-level group of seven Chief Scientific Advisors. As SAM’s work is intended to lead to EU policy and legislative proposals, the opinions requested from academies typically concern applied science issues (e.g., vehicle emissions, glyphosate, cybersecurity, agricultural biotechnologies), making Euro-CASE a central actor among the 100 European academies participating in SAM.
Link: Atto di fondazione