Identity
The Foundation
The E. Amaldi Foundation was established on March 28, 2017 by the Italian Space Agency and the Hypatia Research Consortium, with a clear goal: to propose a new way of understanding applied research and technology transfer, starting from the space sector, as a tool for the country’s economic development.
Our model of reference is the German Fraunhofer Institute, an international benchmark in technology transfer and applied research, which over more than sixty years has made a decisive contribution to Germany’s industrial growth. Like Fraunhofer, the E. Amaldi Foundation aims to be an experimental model in which private contribution works alongside public funding — one that can be replicated in industrial districts beyond the aerospace sector.
What we do
We translate the expertise and technologies developed in the space sector into concrete value for companies, institutions and territories, along three lines:
– we help non-space companies adopt space-enabled solutions (Capacity Building);
– we connect international organizations with Italian SMEs and space-sector spin-offs (International Matchmaking);
– we provide analysis, reporting, strategic advisory and training to support companies, institutions and investors (Data & Intelligence)
Mission and Vision
Our vision is to be a scalable example of best practice, acting as an accelerator of innovation and a creative force for networks between forward-thinking private companies and the public sector. We want to develop applied research results — from both public and private actors — and make them available to all, while also carrying forward our own internal research activities.
We are strong advocates of Open Innovation, and we help create a world in which, at competitive costs, companies can acquire innovation by expanding their network and supporting research.
Values
We rely on the participation of both private and public actors, and we aim to be a virtuous experimental model in which the private contribution outweighs the public one — a “best practice” of public-private partnership designed to be replicable in industrial districts beyond the aerospace sector. Following the Fraunhofer Institute model, our goal is to develop applied research results in the context of technology transfer and make them available to others, while also carrying out our own research activities.
Access to the Foundation is open to companies, research institutes, and any organization wishing to share its scientific, economic and social goals.
Edoardo Amaldi
The Foundation is dedicated to Edoardo Amaldi, who for over 40 years held the chair of Experimental Physics at Rome’s La Sapienza University and is regarded as one of the most important figures in 20th-century Italian physics. Amaldi always championed science and knowledge as tools for unity and growth in civil society: his commitment to peace and disarmament among scientists led him to play a decisive role in the founding of CERN, INFN and the European Space Agency. It is this vision — science as an engine of shared development — that inspires the Foundation.