Collaborations
The PhD in ICT program collaborates with a wide and well-established network of national and international companies and industrial partners that actively contribute to the funding, co-supervision, and enhancement of PhD students’ research activities.
Partner companies include Leonardo S.p.A., Thales Alenia Space Italia S.p.A., European Space Agency (ESA), Micron Semiconductor Italia S.r.l., Pure Power Control S.r.l., Reiss Romoli S.r.l., S.EL.M.E.C. S.r.l., SPEE S.r.l., TEKNE S.r.l., Consorzio Radiolabs, ATLANTE S.r.l., BCC Studio S.r.l., and Cythero – Immersive Technologies.
These collaborations have led to co-funded scholarships through national (DM 352/2022, DM 630/2024, DM 118/2023) and regional (PR FSE+ Abruzzo 2021–2027) calls. Industrial partnerships cover a broad range of application domains: aerospace and defense (Thales, Leonardo, ESA), sustainable energy and power electronics (Atlante, Pure Power Control, Selmec), automotive and smart mobility (Tekne, Spee), microelectronics (Micron), ICT and telecommunications (Radiolabs, Reiss Romoli, BCC Studio), immersive reality and digital twins (Cythero), and innovative public services (Gran Sasso Acqua).
These collaborations foster a continuous dialogue between academic research and industrial innovation, enhancing both the educational quality and the employability of PhD candidates, who often continue their careers within the partner companies.
On the academic and scientific front, the PhD Board collaborates with several international centers of excellence, including:
- Aarhus University (Denmark)
- Aalborg University (Denmark)
- Arctic University of Norway (Norway)
- Bilkent University (Turkey)
- CINVESTAV – Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional (Mexico)
- CY Cergy Paris University (France)
- European Embedded Control Institute (France)
- European Space Agency (ESA)
- IFP Energies Nouvelles (IFPEN) (France)
- Mid Sweden University (Sweden)
- Middlesex University (United Kingdom)
- National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (Japan)
- Nokia Bell Laboratories (USA)
- Polytechnique Hauts-de-France (France)
- Royal Institute of Technology – KTH (Sweden)
- University of Alicante (Spain)
- Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (Spain)
- Università della Svizzera Italiana (Switzerland)
- University College Dublin (Ireland)
- University College London (UCL) (United Kingdom)
- University of California, Berkeley (USA)
- University of Groningen (Netherlands)
- University of Rennes I (France)
- University of Salamanca (Spain)
- VU Amsterdam (Netherlands)
These collaborations enable applied research experiences, prototype development, industrial theses, and postdoctoral opportunities. They also promote international mobility and joint PhD programs, strengthening the global profile of the program.
In 2024 and 2025 alone, the PhD Board approved six international co-tutelle agreements with Polytechnique Hauts-de-France, Mid Sweden University, CY Cergy Paris, University of Groningen, and CINVESTAV.
At the national level, considering only the 40th and 41st cycles, the PhD Board collaborates with institutions such as INAF, CINECA, USRC (Special Office for the Reconstruction of the Municipalities of the Earthquake Crater), VITALITY, Gran Sasso Acqua, as well as with several Italian universities and national PhD networks (in Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technologies, and Autonomous Systems), thereby expanding interdisciplinary training and research opportunities.
Overall, the PhD program’s partnership network constitutes a virtuous ecosystem of applied research, technology transfer, and innovation, capable of training researchers with a solid scientific background and a strong ability to engage with industrial and institutional stakeholders.
