A Blueprint for the Future

ICTP Director Atish Dabholkar has unveiled an ambitious strategic plan for the Centre, mapping out strategic priorities for the next five years and beyond.

"ICTP's vision for the future must respond to new opportunities and realities of the 21st century while keeping true to the foundational inspiration that we share with the ICTP's founders Abdus Salam and Paolo Budinich," said Dabholkar.

That vision must take into account a delicate balancing act between ICTP's need to emphasize the unity of pure and applied science and the growing need to ensure equitable opportunities with new technologies.

ICTP's Strategic Plan 2025 puts forth the vision of 'ICTP 2.0', with three strategic priorities:

• The creation of International Science Alliances to build collaborations with national agencies, foundations and private donors to engage with the ICTP global community in equal partnership for more effective delivery;
• Nurture the International Consortium for Scientific Computing (ICOMP), a global partnership created in 2024 to make computational sciences accessible to the broader scientific community, with ICTP as the central node;
• Reinforce existing scientific competencies of ICTP in the core areas of research and programmes, modernise both scientific and physical infrastructure, and build upon these core strengths to attract the best talent to ICTP.

"Through the implementation of this plan, ICTP will continue to serve as a lighthouse for global science, dedicated to advancing theoretical sciences and building scientific capacity to pursue new opportunities and tackle planetary- scale challenges together," explained Dabholkar.

Important steps have already been taken towards ICTP's strategic goals, including new partnerships with major foundations like the Simons Foundation International, KFAS and the Arab Fund; with countries like South Africa and Brazil; with national and international agencies like CECAM or Cineca; and with corporations like IBM and Quantinuum.

ICTP 2.0 goes hand in hand with an active fundraising campaign to build resources and strengthen infrastructure to a caliber commensurate with the quality of the scientific research and programs being practiced at the Centre in Trieste, and through its affiliates around the world. The new Euler-Lagrange Lecture Hall Complex has already been completed and the modernization of the Marie Curie Library has commenced thanks to a transformative public-private partnership. A major matching grant from the Simons Foundation International will assist ICTP in purchasing and renovating its Adriatico Guesthouse, transforming it into a world-class International Science Complex. Other resources are being sought for additional projects and an endowment to support research and programs.

ICTP's new strategic plan can be downloaded below.