The Centro Ricerche Fiat was established in 1976 as the Fiat Group’s major source of expertise in innovation. Today it is a centre of excellence in the international research arena: it develops effective, innovative solutions at competitive prices, ensuring smooth technology transfer by further increasing the professional qualification of personnel through training.
This enables the Centre to play an active role in supporting technological growth for the Group, its partners and the communities where it operates in such fields as motor vehicles and componentry, energy, safe and environmentally-friendly mobility, telematics, innovative materials and relevant technologies, mechatronics and optics.
With a staff of 865 employees, the CRF currently operates in Orbassano on the outskirts of Turin and in its three branches in Bari, Trento, Foggia. It also has a controlling interest in the C.R.P. – Plastics and Optics Research Centre in Udine, whose work focuses on advanced research in the field of optics and plastics for lighting systems. It also collaborates with more than 150 universities and R&D centres and over 750 industrial partners worldwide.
Extremely significant results were achieved in 2007, as witnessed by the 42 new patent applications it filed, bringing the total number of patents held by the Centre to over 2,200, with a further 700 patent applications currently pending. Over 20 projects were approved as part of the EU’s Seventh Framework Program, a number that confirms the CRF’s important position in European research.