About FBK

Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK) is a multidisciplinary research institution specializing in the fields of technology, innovation, the humanities and social sciences, based in Trento.
Established by law by the Autonomous Province of Trento, Fondazione Bruno Kessler is a private entity whose mission is to promote and contribute to the advancement of knowledge with a focus on the fields of science and technology that allow for greater and more immediate economic and social benefits.

Active since 2007, Fondazione Bruno Kessler takes up the legacy of the Istituto Trentino di Cultura, founded in 1962 by Bruno Kessler. It is a research institution that, from the year of its founding to the present, has grown to a staff of more than 620 researchers, developers and support staff, 150 doctoral students, 200 visiting professors and PhD candidates, as well as 700 affiliates and accredited students.
At FBK, there are more than 70 foreign researchers and they come not only from major European countries but also from non-European countries such as the United States, China and India, Brazil and Argentina, Algeria, Iran, Pakistan and Australia.

The campus now spreads over a total area of over 40,000 square meters, of which 5,000 are laboratories. It consists of two hubs, one dedicated to technologies and innovation, located at Povo, on the hills of Trento, the other dedicated to the humanities and social sciences, in the heart of the city.
The two hubs host an ecosystem consisting of 12 research centers, 7 laboratories and 2 libraries, around which businessesjoint laboratories and spin-offs revolve.

 


FBK and Artificial Intelligence

Since the 1980s, developing a direction that goes back to the Istituto Trentino di Cultura and its pioneering efforts in Artificial Intelligence experimentation, with the first top experts of the time, Fondazione Bruno Kessler has focused on integrative, widespread, reliable AI, becoming a leading player in national and European research.

It has always conducted research on sensors, photonic, optical, micromechanical, and electronic devices, at the forefront of biomedical research, space exploration, digital industry, and the environment, now pushing into quantum applications. Bringing quantum technologies – with immediate and far-reaching effects on all fields of science – into the Italian manufacturing network will be one of FBK’s challenges of the next decade.
In the area of sensors, critical for all AI-based developments, Fondazione Bruno Kessler is a world reference in the production of silicon-3D detectors used in fundamental physics experiments. Such production of excellence is possible thanks to the Clean Room – a nearly 1,500-square-meter laboratory, even more sterile than an operating room, where 1mm silicon wafers are processed to obtain radiation detectors, MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems), for materials characterization and
micro-nanofabrication – and the silicon processing skills of its technicians. 


Mission

The Mission of Fondazione Bruno Kessler can be summarized in two main points:

1. Scientific research of excellence

2. Impact on Society

FBK aims at excellence both in fundamental research for the advancement of knowledge, and in the more mature fields of science and technology that allow a greater and more immediate economic and social impact.


Office Term Plan 2024-2027

For the coming years, the Foundation has given itself tangible and measurable goals that will allow to monitor progress toward its commitments, and has been strengthened by a new organization that brings together its 12 research centers in the areas of AI for Health, AI for Industry, AI for Society, and Sensors for AI.
The 2024-2027 office term is characterized by unprecedented opportunities and challenges to be intersected with the very high level of expertise that the Foundation, thanks to its history and resources – researchers, technical staff and PhD students, laboratories, scientific and business partners – is able to provide.


Governing bodies

President

  • Ferruccio Resta (CV e Bio)

Secretary General

  • Andrea Simoni (CV)

Board of Directors

Scientific Committee

Founders and Supporters Board

  • Autonomous Province of Trento (Founder)
  • Comune di Trento
  • Comune di Rovereto
  • Camera di Commercio, Industria, Artigianato e Agricoltura della
  • Confindustria di Trento
  • Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Trento e Rovereto
  • Federazione Trentina della Cooperazione

For all information on the overall organization visit FBK Amministrazione Trasparente