The Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia was born in September 1999 through a merger of former Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica, Osservatorio Vesuviano and three other institutions: Istituto Internazionale di Vulcanologia, Istituto di Geochimica dei Fluidi and Istituto di Ricerca sul Rischio Sismico.
INGV was meant to gather all scientific and technical institutions operating in Geophysics and Volcanology and to create a permanent scientific forum in the Earth Sciences. INGV cooperates with universities and other national public and private institutions, as well as with many research agencies worldwide. The new institution, currently the largest European body dealing with research in Geophysics and Volcanology, has its headquarters in Rome and important facilities in Milano, Bologna, Pisa, Napoli, Catania and Palermo.
The main mission of INGV is the monitoring of geophysical phenomena in both the solid and fluid components of the Earth. INGV is devoted to 24-hour countrywide seismic surveillance, real-time volcanic monitoring, early warning and forecast activities. State-of-the-art networks of geophysical sensors deliver a continuous flow of observations to the acquisition centers of Rome, Naples and Catania, were the data are analyzed around the clock by specialized personnel. In addition to being analysed for research and civil defence purposes, the data supplied by numerous monitoring networks are regularly distributed to the public institutions concerned, to the scientific community and to the public.
INGV operates in close coordination with the Ministry of University and Research and with Civil Protection authorities, both at national and local level. INGV also cooperates with the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the frame of large research programs of national and international relevance.
INGV pays special attention to Education and Outreach through publications for schools, scientific exhibitions and dedicated Internet pages.
In addition to this and strictly connected to the mitigation/monitoring/assessment activities, INGV is further involved in activities concerning the monitoring of Cultural Heritages in seismic areas. In this framework, an instrumental research laboratory has been established as INGV-branch within the Università della Calabria (UniCal) in Cosenza (CS, Italy), whose main purpose is to study and monitor the response of urbanized/building areas, structures and artefacts to seismic stress, by considering the surface geology, the topography and the elastic properties of soils, as well as the health conservation status. The INGV laboratory team provides a multidisciplinary expertise concerning different fields of investigations, such as the analysis of seismogenetic sources, the geological-geotechnical setting of the area and site seismic effects evaluation, proximal remote sensing techniques (e.g. terrestrial laser scanner, ground-based radar systems, thermal cameras), high-resolution aerial and satellite-based remote sensing methodologies (e.g. aeromagnetic surveys, synthetic aperture radar, optical, multispectral and panchromatic measurements), static and dynamic structural health monitoring analysis. This know-how, together with a multi-sensors technological infrastructure, allows effectively planning both material and structural surveys of Cultural Heritages within their surrounding environments. In turn, the analysis of experimental measurements, coming from different sensors and sources, provides both the assistance to the planning of specific actions for the mitigation of the environmental risks and the implementation of guidelines for consolidation / restoration / prevention activities.
Along with its main core business relevant to the Cultural Heritage monitoring, the INGV Laboratory gives fundamental support to programs for risk mitigation at National, European and global scale. It operates in close collaboration with several stakeholders, such as MIUR, Physics Department of the Università della Calabria (UniCal), Advanced Computer Systems (ACS) company, SISMLAB s.r.l. company, ECOTEAM company, MIBAC Calabria and many others.
The University of Calabria (Università della Calabria, UNICAL) is a state-run university in Italy. Located in Arcavacata, a hamlet of Rende in the suburb of Cosenza, the university was founded in 1972. Among its founders there were Beniamino Andreatta, Giorgio Gagliani, Pietro Bucci and Paolo Sylos Labini. It currently has about 35,000 students, 800 teaching and research staff and about 700 administrative staff.
Since its very beginning the University of Calabria has clearly set out the strategies for the development of its international dimension. In the past twenty years several bilateral agreements were established by the University of Calabria with European and other foreign universities. Such agreements aim at encouraging cooperation in the fields of research and didactic activities. Emphasis to international relationships among higher education institutions was provided by the launching of European programmes such as ERASMUS, in the 80s, which paved the way to student mobility activities. In particular, double level degrees were created as a relevant didactic offer to students participating in these exchanges. Among these we can mention the conventions established by the Faculty of Economics with the Manchester Metropolitan University (UK) and with the University of Applied Sciences Fachhochschule Bochum (Germany), and by the Faculty of Political Science with the Universidad de Jaen (Spain).
Apart from the participation in programmes co-financed by the E.U., the University of Calabria has established contacts with international organisations such as FAO, UNESCO of the United Nations, and OECD. Internationalisation will be further implemented through other trans-national research and didactic projects as a form of mission embedded by the University of Calabria. As an interesting outcome to these mobility experiences, international students who live and study on a permanent basis on campus created a small but lively community. Currently a special program for foreign postgraduate students is being implemented.
The high quality of the research activities carried out at the University of Calabria is significantly represented by two national Excellence Centres promoted by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research, namely the High-Performance Computing Centre and the Centre of Nanostructured Materials for Photonic and Optoelectronic Applications. The top-level quality of the research has also been acknowledged by the high rating of the National Committee for the Evaluation of Research (CIVR). The University of Calabria is currently developing research projects in cooperation with other Italian universities, both public and private, through the creation of a network linking it to the Italian innovation system. Over the last few years, several research projects have been funded by the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research and by Research Institutes and Agencies (CAR, ASIA, ENEMA, INN and INFO, later merged with CAR) as well as by the European Commission and countless public and private institutions on a regional and national scale. The University has also entered into a number of agreements with international institutions, for research activities both at a European and extra-European level, and for researcher training, such as in the case of doctoral courses. On this subject, it is worth mentioning the internationalisation activity of doctoral courses enabling graduates to obtain joint postgraduate degrees in co-tutorship with renowned European or Mediterranean universities. Research and/or study agreements have been established with the universities of other countries, such as: Albania, Argentina, Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Cuba, Denmark, Ecuador, Far Oer, the Philippines, France, Germany, Japan, the U.K., Equatorial Guinea, Iran, Kosovo, Lebanon, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Romania, Russia, Senegal, Slovenia, Spain, Taiwan and Tunisia. A number of research initiatives feature immediate application in industrial production processes and in managerial activities in the public and private sectors. For this reason, several research activities are carried out in collaboration with leading national and international companies and scientific institutions such as Finmeccanica Group, with which a partnership for strategic collaboration has been established. Other partners include: Ferrovie dello Stato, Enel, Ferrari, Sibarit-Osas, Alenia Spazio, the European Space Agency, the Space Research Institute, CERN, Abastumany Observatory, and Big Bear Observatory, just to mention a few. Moreover, many national and European research projects coordinated by professors of the University of Calabria have led to the development of patented innovations; the University promotes the initial stage of valorisation of the patented products by means of the Liaison Office which maintains continuous contacts with the business world. Some projects have also generated research spin-offs.
Advanced Computer Systems A.C.S. S.P.A. (ACS) is an Italian software house. Their core business is realization of the turn-key ground solutions for Earth Observation multi-mission payload data. These EO data acquisition, processing, archiving and distribution systems are implemented at ground receiving stations over the world. They are all designed and developed by ACS Space. The specific know how has been growing in parallel with the capacity to develop remote sensing data applications. These study natural and anthropic phenomena. The ACS Environment applications include monitoring of vegetation, volcano eruptions, desertification; forest mapping, detection of marine pollution, environmental risks and disaster prevention, cartography and DEM production, urban expansion control in coastal zones, applied Interferometry, Web-based user applications, EO Image Information Mining. Both Space and Environment rely on internal highly specialized team (ACS Studio) for visualization of scientific data and real time 3D navigation. Visit Virtual Reality pages to see what else they are capable of. Through Research & Development projects, ACS transfers technology matured in the Space to other domains.
SISMLAB is a University of Calabria Spin-Off company, operating since 2005 in the field of structural monitoring. Our activity is founded on scientific studies, led by Universities and R&D institutes and directed to propose new methodologies in monitoring damage degrees and to measure movements and deformations in small and big building frames. This is done using automatic measuring systems made of fibre optic sensors and central recording units. Those techniques, applied to already existing and new buildings allow to recognize critical conditions affecting part of or the which building frame, and make it possible to plan maintenance activities.
SISMLAB is a growing reality characterized by a team of engineers, CICPND certified and SINCERT recognized, thanks to whom is able to provide specialized expertise.
SISMLAB cooperates with Italian and foreign partners and with some of the Italian Universities. This cooperation is oriented to develop new experimental methodologies of structural check and new advanced monitoring systems implementation.
The firm which is involved in the field of structural monitoring (such as bridges, buildings, tunnels, dams, etc.) using innovative tools, provide a check service to prevent buildings from frame damages and cracks.
A maintenance service is also provided for buildings which can be considered important from an historical, architectural and artistic point of view.
Provided services include: a) Structural monitoring, including bridges, buildings, Geotechnical engineering - Foundation structures and several other application fields; b) Non-destructive test on building materials; c) Research & Development activities.
The Ecoteam Studies Center arises, in the world of local politics, as an agency of territorial development that provides specialist advice to local economic growth. Carrying out its activities since 1992, it has managed to create a resource system that is daily used in the areas where ECOTEAM operates. They range from Europe, as holders of "best practices", to the entire national territory and, from Italy to Eastern European Countries. The mission of the ECOTEAM group is to be a valid support partner for Public Administrations, in all issues and tasks related to the design and the management of complex projects / programs involving the use of public resources from European or National Communities. ECOTEAM plays a proactive role through local dissemination actions of socio-economic and socio-institutional partnership. Moreover, it provides management and technical support activities for helping public stakeholders to define development programs at local and national levels. The objectives that ECOTEAM intends to pursue are: a) the construction of a "value network" on the entire national and European territory; b) the coaching of local administrations in the implementation, management and evaluation of complex programs with international verified practices; c) the organization of a common space of research and study on problems related to development policies; d) the promotion of information campaigns addressed to local authorities about the opportunities offered by the EU, thus creating publications, magazines, newsletters and information bulletins; e) the implementation of networking projects and promotion of local partnerships; f) the realization of economic and financial feasibility studies, Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), Integrated Strategic Projects (PIS), the Integrated Territorial Planning (ITP), market research and specialized training.