ICSC - Centro Nazionale di Ricerca in HPC, Big Data e Quantum Computing

What ICSC - Centro Nazionale di Ricerca in HPC, Big Data e Quantum Computing does

ICSC - Centro Nazionale di Ricerca in HPC, Big Data e Quantum Computing is an Italian non-profit foundation (Fondazione) established by Decreto Direttoriale n.3138 of the Italian Ministry of University and Research on December 16, 2021, designated as the country's national research center for High Performance Computing, Big Data, and Quantum Computing under Italy's PNRR (Piano Nazionale di Ripresa e Resilienza) mandate. The organization operates a Hub & Spoke governance model comprising one infrastructure spoke (Spoke 0) and ten thematic research spokes covering physics and space, Earth and climate, environment and natural disasters, materials and engineering, medicine and omics, digital society, and quantum computing, coordinated by 51 member institutions including CINECA, INFN, INAF, CMCC, and major Italian universities.

The foundation deploys and operates national-scale HPC infrastructure (including access to the Leonardo supercomputer hosted at CINECA), superconducting quantum processors at four Italian sites, federated data infrastructure for scientific datasets, and digital twin capabilities (VisIVOLab). It provides services to research institutions, universities, public administrations, and enterprises, supporting over 200 innovation projects through its Innovation Fund and cascade calls, and runs the IT4LIA AI Factory, one of Europe's first AI Factory platforms. Major enterprise partners include Unipol, ENI, Thales Alenia, Intesa Sanpaolo, ESA, IBM, and HPE.

ICSC is funded primarily by a €319,938,979 PNRR grant and operates with a lean direct staff of 24 employees, relying on its member institutions for distributed research execution. Revenue mechanics include grant disbursements, Innovation Fund allocations to cascade projects, and usage-based HPC service agreements. Go-to-market combines direct institutional sales, competitive cascade grants, and the AI Factory training channel. Certifications include ISO 9001, ISO/IEC 27001/27017/27018, and UNI/PDR 125:2022 (gender equality), and the organization has signed international agreements including a May 2026 MoU with the Republic of Serbia for cross-border collaboration on supercomputing, AI, and quantum computing.

Name

ICSC - Centro Nazionale di Ricerca in HPC, Big Data e Quantum Computing

Legal name

Fondazione ICSC - Centro Nazionale di Ricerca in High-Performance Computing, Big Data and Quantum Computing

Website

https://supercomputing-icsc.it

Company type

Private

Founded year

2021

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

ICSC is Italy's national non-profit research center for HPC, Big Data, and Quantum Computing, funded by €320M in PNRR grants and operating through a Hub & Spoke model with 51 member institutions and 11 thematic spokes to serve Italian researchers, enterprises, and public administrations.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Casalecchio di Reno

HQ country

Italy

HQ region

Europe

Offices9 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. PNRR Government Funding: Funded by Italy's National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) with an investment of €319,938,979 for developing national HPC, Big Data, and Quantum Computing infrastructure
2. Innovation Fund & Cascade Grants: Through Innovation Fund and Bandi a Cascata, supports over 200 research and innovation projects, providing funding and resources to external researchers and enterprises
3. HPC Services & Computing Access: Provides computational services, storage, and AI/HPC resources to research institutions, universities, public administrations, and enterprises through service agreements

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

ICSC operates as Italy's national research infrastructure providing High Performance Computing, Big Data analytics, and Quantum Computing services to research institutions, universities, public administrations, and enterprises. Its distributed Hub & Spoke model coordinates 11 thematic Spokes delivering supercomputing access, quantum processors, AI/AI Factory services, digital twin ecosystems, and federated scientific data infrastructure, supported by €319,938,979 in PNRR funding and 51 member institutions.

Product overview

ICSC operates as a national research center structured as a Hub & Spoke model with 11 Spokes (Spoke 0 for infrastructure plus 10 thematic research areas) providing integrated HPC, Big Data, and Quantum Computing services. The core offering includes distributed supercomputing infrastructure (HPC), quantum computing platforms, and big data analytics services. Key initiatives include the IT4LIA AI Factory (among Europe's first AI Factory platforms) and the ECHO-TWIN Digital Twin project. Research spans genomics and precision medicine (Spoke 8), climate and Earth sciences (Spoke 4), environmental disaster mitigation (Spoke 5), and quantum technologies (Spoke 10). The center supports over 200 innovation projects through Innovation Fund and cascade calls, with training programs for HPC, AI, and quantum computing.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• IT4LIA AI Factory: The Italian AI Factory project, one of the first European AI Factories, coordinated by ICSC to accelerate AI adoption across Italian research, industry, and public administration.
• ICSC 4 Startup
• ECHO-TWIN

Products and services

• HPC (High Performance Computing) Infrastructure Services
• Quantum Computing Services
• Big Data Analytics and Data Services
• IT4LIA AI Factory
• Training and Education Programs

Quantifiable outcome

• First quantum measurement on computer in Italy achieved using hybrid algorithm on superconducting quantum processor
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration5 records

AI capability11 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

15 partnerships are on record, tiered core and major.

• CINECAcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 16 December 2021CINECA is the primary infrastructure operator hosting ICSC's HPC systems including the Leonardo supercomputer. Francesco Ubertini, President of CINECA, serves as Vice President of ICSC, indicating deep operational integration.
• INAF (Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerINAF collaborates on Spoke 3 (Physics and Space) and hosts the VisIVOLab laboratory in Catania for scientific visualization, HPC, AI and digital twin applications. Research Manager Ugo Becciani represents ICSC.
• INFN (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerINFN operates data centers including Frascati National Laboratories and contributes to quantum computing research through Spoke 10. Co-leader Simone Montangero of Spoke 10 has affiliations with INFN.
• CMCC (Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCMCC leads Spoke 4 (Earth and Climate), providing climate modeling expertise and research leadership for climate change impact assessment and prediction.
• University of Napoli Federico IIcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHosts quantum computing laboratory with superconducting quantum processor (5+ qubits) in dilution cryostat. First quantum measurement in Italy conducted here as part of Spoke 10.
• IFAB (International Foundation Big Data and Artificial Intelligence)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborates on IT4LIA AI Factory project and hosts events at IFAB headquarters in Bologna. Marco Becca serves as Director General of IFAB.
• HPE (Hewlett Packard Enterprise)majorGTM or Marketing PartnerHPE promotes Fabbrica ITALIA initiative to connect scale-ups, system integrators, technology partners, service providers, universities and research centers to accelerate AI adoption in Italy. ICSC participates as partner.
• ESA (European Space Agency)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerESA collaborates on space applications and Earth observation projects. Tommaso Ghidini, Head of ESA Mechanics Department, participates in ICSC events and projects.
• UnipolmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerLeading insurance company collaborating on Hammon project for climate risk assessment. Contributes to Spoke 4 (Earth and Climate) and Spoke 5 (Environment and Natural Disasters) innovation projects.
• ENImajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEnergy company partner contributing to materials and engineering research through Spoke 7, and climate/energy projects through Spoke 4. Bernardino Tirri represents ENI in ICSC activities.
• Thales Alenia SpacemajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerAerospace company collaborating on space applications and Earth observation projects including RC (Reactive and Adaptive Earth Observation) project for satellite constellation design.
• Intesa SanpaolomajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMajor Italian bank contributing to ICSC projects and representing financial sector involvement in HPC innovation. Paolo Panzarini and Martina Monteduro represent the bank in ICSC activities.
• NQSTI (National Quantum Science and Technology Institute)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational quantum technology institute collaborating on quantum computing research with Spoke 10. Fabio Beltram serves as scientific coordinator of NQSTI.
• Serbia (Republic of)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMemorandum of Understanding signed in Belgrade between ICSC and Republic of Serbia for collaboration on Supercomputing, AI and Quantum Computing technologies.
• EuroHPC JU (European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEuropean partnership for HPC infrastructure. Renè S. Chatwell, JU EuroHPC Programme Manager for Quantum Computing, participated in ICSC infrastructure inauguration events.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights7 records

Regional players

• Poznan Supercomputing and Networking Center (PSNC): Poland's national HPC and networking center affiliated with the Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences. Comparable as an EU national HPC service provider with research and innovation mandate.
• IT4Innovations National Supercomputing Center: Czech Republic's national HPC center operating the Karolina and LUMI systems; comparable as a smaller European national supercomputing center serving research and industry.

Direct peers

• Jülich Supercomputing Centre (JSC): Germany's national supercomputing center at Forschungszentrum Jülich, operating JUWELS and participating in EuroHPC. Comparable mission in HPC, quantum and AI for research and industry.
• CSCS (Swiss National Supercomputing Centre): Switzerland's national HPC center operating the Alps supercomputer and providing national compute services. Closely comparable as a federally-backed national supercomputing service provider.
• NCSA (National Center for Supercomputing Applications): US-based national supercomputing center at the University of Illinois, providing HPC resources for academic and industry research. Comparable as a publicly-funded national-scale HPC and data services provider.
• Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC-CNS): Spain's national supercomputing center and a EuroHPC hosting site operating the MareNostrum system. Closely comparable as a national HPC research center with European mandate and tier-1 supercomputing scale.
• Leibniz Rechenzentrum (LRZ): Supercomputing center of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences, operating the SuperMUC-NG system and serving German academia. Comparable in scale, mission and tier-1 national HPC service provision.
• CINECA: Italy's largest non-profit computing consortium and the host operator of the Leonardo supercomputer underpinning ICSC's infrastructure. Functionally a partner rather than a competitor, but it is the closest national peer in Italian HPC.

Broad incumbents

• EuroHPC Joint Undertaking: European public-private partnership coordinating supercomputing infrastructure across the EU; an ICSC strategic partner that also functions as the overarching tier above national HPC centers like ICSC.
• INRIA: France's national research institute for digital science and technology, operating large-scale compute infrastructure for AI and HPC research. Broader in scope than ICSC but comparable as a national digital research backbone.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/supercomputing-icsc

Compliance5 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles12 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about ICSC - Centro Nazionale di Ricerca in HPC, Big Data e Quantum Computing