The Trieste AREA Science Park is composed of two neighbouring campus developments located near the exit from the motorway linking Venice

Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

 to Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

 and Slovenia

Slovenia

Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...

. It covers 50 hectares, extendable to 150, in the magnificent natural setting of the Carso plateau.

Operational since 1982, the AREA Science Park was founded with the initial aim of providing a link between the business community and the many high-level international scientific institutions in Trieste

Trieste

Trieste is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of land lying between the Adriatic Sea and Italy's border with Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south and east of the city...

. It is now the most important multi-sector science park in Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 and one of the foremost in Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

.

The park has about 23,000 sq metres of laboratory space equipped with specialised apparatus, experimental and safety equipment, in addition to offices and service facilities (Conference Centre, meeting rooms, teaching labs, cafeteria, etc.). An additional area of about 1,500 sq metres is currently available for new activities. The following services are also available: information and computer

Computer

A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...

s, legal, fiscal and accounting consultancy, engineering and plant technology, occupational health and safety, marketing and promotion, information and assistance on EU programmes.

There are incentives for small and medium-sized companies entering into research contracts with the AREA Science Park. They may be direct (contributions to cover costs, in capital or towards interest payments) or in other forms of support (purchase of hired instruments, fellowships, assistance and consultancy services). "Research laboratories whose aim is to promote industry in technologically advanced sectors with a substantial and highly-qualified workforce" intending to establish themselves in the AREA Science Park may also have access to financing provided by Autonomous Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia.

Intensive training of school-leavers and graduates has so far led to jobs for over 100 young people in the research and productive structures within the Science Park or outside it. The fellowships awarded by the Consortium privilege training in the institutes, centres and companies of the Area itself. Under the programmes included in the European Commission Objective 2, the Consortium supervises the training of graduates in the sector of innovation transfers to create solid bonds between the world of research and small and medium-sized companies.

The Science Park currently has 38 established units, divided into the following sectors:

• highly-specialised research and training centres;
• research and development and service centres of outside companies;
• new companies originating from the availability of specialised services, know-how and facilities encouraged by the Park;
• the special ELETTRA
  Elettra
  ELETTRA Synchrotron Light Laboratory is a national synchrotron laboratory located in Basovizza on the outskirts of Trieste, Italy.The facility, available for use by the Italian and international scientific communities, houses several ultra bright light sources, which use the synchrotron and free...
  
  Laboratory project.

External links

• AREA Science Park Official Site