Considering Italy for your next step in research or technology? Then Fondazione Bruno Kessler, better known as FBK, is one of the institutions worth knowing about in Trentino.
Based in Trento, FBK works across technology, innovation, the humanities and social sciences, combining scientific research with applications in industry and society. It is also one of the organisations that helps explain why a relatively small Alpine province has developed such a visible research and innovation ecosystem.
Active since 2007, Fondazione Bruno Kessler carries forward the legacy of the Istituto Trentino di Cultura, founded in 1962 by Bruno Kessler. Today it operates across two main hubs: one dedicated to technology and innovation in Povo, on the hills above Trento, and another focused on the humanities and social sciences in the city centre.
Local roots, international research
FBK is one of the key institutions in Trentino’s research system, bringing together science, technology and social research in an international environment.
Today the Foundation includes:
- more than 620 researchers;
- 170 PhD students from 25 countries;
- more than 700 affiliates and accredited students;
- over 40,000 square metres of facilities, including 5,000 square metres of scientific laboratories;
- 12 research centres, 7 laboratories and 2 libraries, surrounded by companies, joint laboratories and spin-offs.
For researchers, doctoral candidates and technology professionals looking at Italy from abroad, those numbers matter because they show something that is not immediately obvious from Trentino’s size: this is a research environment with significant scientific infrastructure and international connections.
Trentino and AI: a relationship that goes back to the 1980s
Artificial intelligence is not a recent addition to FBK’s work. Its roots go back to the 1980s and to pioneering AI research carried out by the former Istituto Trentino di Cultura. Since then, FBK has developed a broad approach to AI and today describes itself as a leading player in national and European research in the field.
AI now cuts across many areas of the Foundation’s work, including industry, health, cybersecurity, data science, agriculture and environmental applications. The emphasis is not only on producing research, but also on turning it into technologies that can be used outside the laboratory.
Where research meets industry
A good example is FBK’s Digital Industry Center. Its work spans sectors including manufacturing, aerospace, rail, automotive, energy and agriculture, with research on areas such as autonomous systems, industrial data analysis, predictive maintenance, robotics and artificial intelligence.
Technology transfer is built directly into the Centre’s mission, with research priorities shaped partly through collaboration with companies. For someone interested in applied research, that distinction matters. FBK is not only a place where technologies are studied. It is also a place where researchers work with companies and institutions to test how those technologies perform in real-world settings.
Cybersecurity is part of the picture too
FBK also has a dedicated Cybersecurity Center, working on areas including cyber-risk management, trust management and technologies designed to improve the security of digital systems and infrastructures. Part of its mission is to make advanced cybersecurity methods accessible to organisations that may not have specialist expertise in-house, including SMEs.
Again, the common thread is application: research that can move from scientific work into organisations, services and infrastructure.
What does applied AI look like in practice?
One example is AIWCAS 2025, the second edition of the Artificial Intelligence for Weather and Climate Autumn School, held in Trento from 27 to 30 October 2025.
The programme brought together 25 participants selected from more than 80 applications from universities, public bodies, research institutions and professional organisations in Italy and abroad. Lectures and hands-on sessions explored how AI can be used in weather and climate science, including nowcasting, climate downscaling, high-performance computing and ways to reduce computational costs.
It is a small but useful example of FBK’s approach: AI is not treated as an abstract field, but as a tool to solve specific scientific and technical problems.
A place to build a research career, not just visit one
For an international researcher or technology professional, FBK is interesting for another reason too: it sits inside a wider local ecosystem.
The University of Trento, research centres, technology companies, public institutions and innovation hubs are all concentrated within a relatively small province. FBK itself hosts researchers, doctoral candidates, visiting scholars, companies and spin-offs around its two hubs. That creates a different kind of environment from a large metropolitan research district. You can work on artificial intelligence, cybersecurity or industrial technology in an international setting, while living in a compact Alpine territory where research institutions and companies are physically close to one another.
For anyone exploring research careers in Italy, that combination makes Trentino worth a closer look.
