Promoted by the Region of Emilia-Romagna, IFAB was founded in late 2019 in the centre of Italy’s Data Valley, where the new European hub of HPC research – the Big Data Technopole – is taking form. The Foundation intends to act as an independent and influential point of reference for the scientific and cultural debate on human development, sustainability and new science that is taking place globally. It aims to achieve this by joining the biggest national and international high-performance computing networks and operating as a “bridge” between technology, research and their concrete applications in the industrial and social spheres.

IFAB acts as a bridge between high-performance computing technologies and services and the needs of businesses and society, paving the way for innovative and pioneering projects such as the ones the Foundation selects in its Calls for projects, or which take shape within national and international networks like the National HPC Centre and the EuroCC Italy Competence Centre, of which IFAB forms part.

The Foundation’s mission is divided into 3 goals:

• Reinforcing, enhancing and promoting scientific research and its cross-disciplinary implications, with particular focus on Big Data and Artificial Intelligence.
• Designing scenarios related to economic and social transformations in connection with the great challenges of our times: climate change, the health crisis, the exploitation of resources, the management of complex urban systems, and the application of conventional and innovative technologies.
• Dissemination of the role and potential of Artificial Intelligence and Big Data in addressing global problems and other issues, with an impact on people’s lives. The goal is to increase the awareness of the importance of these new technologies among the general public, entrepreneurs and politicians.

To pursue these goals, IFAB promotes, manages and carries out cross-disciplinary and applied research, training and dissemination on behalf of the country, contributing to making Bologna and the Emilia-Romagna Region, where it is located, the European Hub of Big Data and Artificial Intelligence for a new inclusive, sustainable, open and human form of development.

HPC, Big Data and Artificial Intelligence are rapidly evolving technologies with enormous potential for developing industry and solving complex problems in lots of sectors: medicine, energy, transport, aerospace, procurement, climate, etc.

The IFAB mission is to bring together this world connected with high-performance computing, made up of technology infrastructure and advanced expertise, with that of businesses – also small and medium-sized – and public authorities that want to prioritise innovation, viewing new technologies as enabling assets for the resolution of problems and the creation of opportunities.

In addition to these main activities, IFAB also carries out cross-disciplinary and applied research, training and dissemination activities:

• Reinforcing, enhancing and promoting scientific research and its cross-disciplinary implications, with particular focus on Big Data and Artificial Intelligence.
• Designing scenarios related to economic and social transformations in connection with the great challenges of our times: climate change, the health crisis, the exploitation of resources, the management of complex urban systems, and the application of conventional and innovative technologies.

Dissemination of the role and potential of Artificial Intelligence and Big Data in addressing global problems and other issues, with an impact on people’s lives. The goal is to increase the awareness of the importance of these new technologies among the general public, entrepreneurs and politicians