SISSA Medialab

What SISSA Medialab does

SISSA Medialab S.r.l. is the in-house commercial subsidiary of SISSA (Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati), a public international graduate school headquartered in Trieste, Italy. Founded in 2005 and operating with 21 employees, the company facilitates scientific knowledge production, dissemination, and dialogue between scientists and citizens. Its primary asset is an editorial portfolio of seven scientific journals publishing over 6,000 papers annually, supplemented by a series of specialized books and an integrated suite of science-communication services.

The company's offering is structured around six interconnected service areas: Journals & Books (the publishing core); Schools (school visits and teacher training); European Projects (participation in 15+ EU-funded training, dissemination, and public engagement initiatives); Masterclasses (advanced training for researchers, journalists, museum staff, and entrepreneurs); Thematic Projects (end-to-end content production for science communication); and Other Services encompassing consulting, multimedia production, editorial products, software development, press office activities, and event organization. Underlying technology is not disclosed as a proprietary platform; the service portfolio is operations- and content-driven rather than software-platform-driven.

SISSA Medialab generates revenue through a mix of recurring streams (journal subscriptions and publication-related charges) and project-based professional services (EU project subcontracts, consulting, training, and events). Customers are concentrated in the academic and research ecosystem: universities, research schools, academic publishers, researchers and scientists, with secondary segments in science journalism, schools, museums/cultural institutions, and innovation-oriented entrepreneurs. Geographic reach is domestic Italy with European extension via EU project participation; the company is a private limited liability entity (S.r.l.) wholly owned by SISSA, with no external equity or debt capital indicated in the available sources.

Name

SISSA Medialab

Legal name

SISSA Medialab S.r.l.

Website

https://medialab.sissa.it

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

SISSA Medialab is the in-house commercial arm of SISSA graduate school in Trieste, Italy, providing scientific publishing (7 journals, 6,000+ papers/year), training, and science communication services to academic institutions, researchers, journalists, schools, and museums across Europe.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Scientific Publishing and Research Communication Services

NAICS

Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services (5416), Other Scientific and Technical Consulting Services (54169)

SIC

Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721), Books: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2731), Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)

akta.pro primary industry

Social Sciences Scholarly Publishing (EDAGAFAD)

akta.pro secondary industry

Research Administration & Grants Management Support (Pre/Post-Award, Compliance) (EDAEALAO)

Keywords

• Scientific publishing services
• Academic journal management
• Science communication training
• Research dissemination consulting
• Public engagement programs

Headquarters

HQ city

Trieste

HQ country

Italy

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Scientific Publishing Services: Operates 7 scientific journals and publishes over 6000 papers annually, likely generating revenue through publication fees, institutional subscriptions, and open access charges.
2. Professional Services: Consulting, multimedia production, editorial products, software development, press office activities, and event organisation services provided to academic and research institutions.
3. Training and Education: Masterclasses and advanced training courses for researchers, journalists, museum staff, and entrepreneurs; Schools programs for bringing young people closer to science.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

SISSA Medialab is an in-house company of SISSA that facilitates the production of scientific knowledge, its dissemination, and the dialogue between scientists and citizens. It operates 7 scientific journals publishing over 6,000 papers annually, runs advanced masterclasses, manages 15+ European projects, delivers school outreach programs, and offers consulting, multimedia production, editorial products, software development, press office, and event organisation services to academic and research institutions.

Product overview

SISSA Medialab offers a portfolio of scientific knowledge production and dissemination services, not a unified software platform. The core offering consists of six interconnected service areas: Journals & Books (7 scientific journals publishing 6,000+ papers annually), Schools (educational outreach programs), European Projects (15+ EU-funded initiatives), Masterclasses (advanced training), Thematic Projects (science communication content production), and Other Services (consulting, multimedia, software development, press office, and events). These services work together to facilitate dialogue between scientists and citizens.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered minor.

• ALPSP (The Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers)minorOthersProfessional membership association for scholarly publishing professionals. ALPSP represents and supports organizations involved in academic and professional publishing.
• ECSITE (European Network of Science Centres and Museums)minorOthersEuropean network connecting science centres, museums, and science communication organizations. Supports public engagement with science across Europe.
• EUCUNETminorOthersNetwork organization related to science communication and public engagement in Europe.
• STM (International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers)minorOthersInternational association representing leading STM publishers worldwide. Provides industry standards, advocacy, and networking for scientific publishing.

Scale indicators4 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• OpenEdition: OpenEdition is a French infrastructure for open access scholarly publishing in the humanities and social sciences. It is comparable as a European non-commercial publisher with a journal-portfolio model focused on academic dissemination and open science.
• IOP Publishing: IOP Publishing operates a portfolio of peer-reviewed scientific journals and books in physics and adjacent sciences. Its journal-driven revenue model and society-publisher heritage make it a direct functional peer to SISSA Medialab.
• PLOS: PLOS is a nonprofit open access scientific publisher operating multiple high-profile journals. It is closely comparable in mission (open science dissemination) and journal-based business model, though at significantly larger scale.
• EDP Sciences: EDP Sciences is a scientific publisher jointly owned by learned societies, publishing journals across the physical sciences and mathematics. It is directly comparable as a society-affiliated scientific journal publisher operating in European academic markets.
• MDPI: MDPI is one of the world's largest open access journal publishers, operating hundreds of peer-reviewed scientific journals. It directly parallels SISSA Medialab's model of running a multi-journal scientific publishing operation with high paper throughput.
• Frontiers Media: Frontiers is a leading open access scientific publisher with a portfolio of journals across major research fields. It is directly comparable in journal-centric academic publishing, APC-based revenue, and scale of papers processed annually.

Broad incumbents

• Wiley: Wiley is a major global publisher with an extensive scientific, technical, and medical journal portfolio. It is comparable as a broad incumbent competing in the same scholarly publishing space across multiple disciplines.
• Springer Nature: Springer Nature is one of the largest global academic publishers, with thousands of journals and books across all scientific disciplines. It is comparable as a broad incumbent that competes for the same authors, papers, and institutional read/publish agreements as SISSA Medialab.
• De Gruyter: De Gruyter is a scholarly publisher operating hundreds of journals and books across the humanities and sciences. It is comparable as a European-headquartered academic publisher with similar journal-publishing operations and society publishing partnerships.
• Elsevier: Elsevier is the world's largest academic publisher, operating thousands of journals and a broad portfolio of information products. It is relevant as the dominant incumbent that SISSA Medialab's journals compete against for high-quality submissions and institutional subscriptions.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/sissa-medialab

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about SISSA Medialab