The Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) is Italy’s research center for advanced science and technology, headquartered in Genoa with a distributed network of centers across the country. Established to promote excellence in fundamental and applied research, IIT integrates disciplines such as robotics, nanotechnology, materials science, life sciences, and computational sciences. Its mission is to generate scientific knowledge and translate it into technological solutions with societal and industrial impact. IIT contributes to the national research system through shared research infrastructures, training of young researchers, and strong collaborations with universities, industry, and international partners, supporting innovation and technology transfer.

Giorgio Metta is a robotics scientist and Scientific Director of the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT) in Genoa, Italy. He earned an MSc in Electronic Engineering (cum laude) and a PhD from the University of Genoa. After research experience at MIT’s AI Lab, he built a career at the interface of humanoid robotics, embodied AI, and bioinspired systems. He coordinated the long term development of the iCub humanoid robot, now a widely used open research platform worldwide. His work spans robot perception and control, learning from experience, and human robot interaction, and he has led numerous international and industrial research projects while publishing extensively in the field.