About FBK
Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK) is a multidisciplinary research institution specialising in the fields of technology, innovation, and the humanities and social sciences, based in Trento.
Established by law by the Autonomous Province of Trento, the Bruno Kessler Foundation is a private organisation whose mission is to promote and contribute to the advancement of knowledge, with a particular focus on those fields of science and technology that yield the greatest and most immediate economic and social benefits.
The organisation’s institutional and executive structure is set out in the section on the Foundation’s governance, together with a detailed organisational chart on the FBK Transparency website.
Established in 2007, the Bruno Kessler Foundation carries on the legacy of the Trentino Institute of Culture, founded in 1962 by Bruno Kessler. It is a research institution which, since its foundation, has grown to a workforce of almost 800 people, comprising researchers, developers and support staff, 199 PhD students, and 250 affiliates and accredited students.
There are more than 65 foreign researchers at FBK, hailing from both European and non-European countries.
The campus now covers a total area of over 40,000 square metres, 5,000 of which are dedicated to laboratories. It comprises three hubs: one dedicated to technology and innovation in Povo, in the hills of Trento; one dedicated to the humanities and social sciences in the heart of the city; and one dedicated to laboratories for technologies and services for sustainability, located in Rovereto.
The hubs are home to an ecosystem comprising 12 research centres, 7 laboratories and 2 libraries, around which businesses, joint laboratories and spin-offs operate.
FBK’s mission is to approach the age of artificial intelligence with quality, wisdom and scientific rigour, helping society to manage its impacts.
Since the 1980s, the Bruno Kessler Foundation has focused on integrative, widespread and reliable AI, becoming a leading player in national and European research. In the field of sensor technology – which is crucial for all AI-based developments – the Bruno Kessler Foundation is a global benchmark in the production of 3D silicon detectors used in fundamental physics experiments. This high-quality production is made possible by the Clean Room – a laboratory covering almost 1,500 square metres, which is even more sterile than an operating theatre, where 1mm-thick silicon wafers are processed to produce radiation detectors and MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) for material characterisation and micro-nano-fabrication – and by the silicon processing expertise of its technicians.
For the coming years, the Foundation has set itself concrete and measurable objectives that will enable it to assess the commitments it has undertaken, bolstered, moreover, by a new organisational structure that brings together the 12 research centres in the areas of AI for Health, AI for Industry, AI for Society and Sensors for AI.
The 2024–2027 term is characterised by unprecedented opportunities and challenges, which must be addressed by drawing on the exceptionally high level of expertise that the Foundation – thanks to its history and resources, including researchers, technical staff, PhD students, laboratories, and scientific and industry partners – is able to provide.
