The INFN has a significant impact on Italian society. For decades, its activities have been selecting, and continue to select, highly qualified researchers and research managers. It is no coincidence that many professionals trained at INFN have gone on to lead other major Italian research centers and have been called to direct leading scientific institutions abroad, from Europe to the United States.
Another key element is the training of young people: every year, around a thousand undergraduates, Ph.D. candidates, and research fellows take part in INFN’s activities. A considerable percentage of physics graduates carry out their thesis work within the institute’s research programs. Moreover, with the establishment of the Gran Sasso Science Institute, an international graduate school of advanced studies has been created.
INFN also has a positive impact on the Italian economy, thanks to its close collaboration with hi-tech companies, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). These partnerships are developed both within national projects and, above all, in large international programs. A particularly significant example is the contribution of Italian companies to the construction of the most technologically advanced components of CERN’s LHC particle accelerator in Geneva.
Equally important are the benefits in the medical-health and technological fields deriving from the technologies and know-how developed by INFN to carry out its experiments. There are many examples: one of the most important is the development in Italy of technologies for cancer treatment using protons and carbon ions (hadron therapy). In this field, INFN has accumulated more than ten years of direct experience at its laboratories in Catania and has built the hadron therapy machine for the CNAO center in Pavia.
INFN also plays a leading role, both nationally and internationally, in the spread of GRID, the high-performance computing network, and in the development of its applications to other scientific disciplines, e-commerce, and cultural heritage. In addition, the institute is actively engaged with its instruments in the analysis and study of cultural heritage and the environment.