In October 1993 five
Italian universities - “Ca’ Foscari”
Venice, Lecce, Milano, Firenze, and “La Tuscia”
Viterbo - signed the constitution act of the Interuniversity
National Consortium "Chemistry for the Environment"
(INCA). The main objective was to gather several
competencies and create a coordinated network of
chemists working in the field of environment protection.
The Italian ex-Ministry for University, and Scientific
and Technological Research (MURST) recognized the
Consortium as a legal personality, with a the decree
of September 6th,1994. Due to the quality of the
network, in 1995 the number of member universities
quickly increased to 21. Nowadays the Consortium
has 31 members and 80 Research Units.
The Consortium was born with the first aim of
disseminating principles and areas of interest
of Green/Sustainable Chemistry (GC), a discipline
which also considers economical and ethical issues
of our society.
The Consortium aims to a major involvement and
commitment of chemists in scientific research
for environment protection through the adoption
of the principles of Green/Sustainable Chemistry.
Valorisation and finalisation of intellectual
resources and technological know-how of the Consortium’s
members are put into effect identifying the most
recent and emergent scientific opportunities in
Green Chemistry, a field in fast evolution. Particular
attention is turned to the interaction with the
industry, including the SMEs, to favour the transfer
of the acquired acquaintances from the research.
Particular objectives of the Consortium are:
· Organisation and administration of Advanced
Research Laboratories beyond those of its Research
Units which operate within Universities and public
and private enterprises.
· Coordination and development of scientific
collaborations between such Research Units and
work groups of the public and private enterprises
in the field of Green/Sustainable Chemistry.
· Sharing of instrumentation and laboratories
necessary to support the activity of doctoral
studies (i.e. Ph.D.) and development of related
programs.
· The promotion, through grants and courses,
of education and training of experts in Green
Chemistry.
· Performance of scientific consulting,
as independent organism, regarding Green/Sustainable
Chemistry issues, including the applications of
UE norms (ecolabelling, environmental risk assessment,
etc).
In order to focus on sustainable development
of our Country, the Consortium became one of the
main scientific interlocutors of Italian governmental
institutions (ex-MURST, Ministries for Environment,
for Industry, etc.) and European Union (EU), of
public and private institutions (CNR, ENEA, etc.),
and of public and private enterprises. The Consortium
represents the connection between theoretical
acquaintances, technological applications, education
and information. Among its objectives the Consortium
wants to strengthen the Italian position in the
scientific programs of the EU.
