The Istituto per le Tecnologie Didattiche (ITD) is a research Institute of the National Research Council (CNR) of Italy, founded in 1970. It has two branches in Genova and Palermo. The ITD is the only Italian institute exclusively devoted to research in the field of educational technology.The institute carries out strongly interdisciplinary basic and applied research studies. In fact, its researchers integrate contributions and models developed in various disciplines, such as computer science in its broader sense, cognitive science, pedagogy, school curricula subjects’. Educational technology research studies at the ITD focus on specific learning contexts such as: the school system, university, in-service training. The ITD’s main research issues are concerned with: improving math and science education, promoting inclusion of disabled and disadvantaged people, improving lifelong learning processes through virtual communities, using digital games to foster reasoning skills and strategic thinking, entrepreneurship education, etc. Research activities can be classified under at least four main frames of reference: • the pedagogical perspective deals with teaching/learning process issues, e.g. science teaching, and aims to design technology-mediated environments in response to such issues; • the computational perspective explores the potential of technology and how it modifies its relationship with knowledge as to ""what"" (possible topics to be studied and ""how"" (new ways of representing scientific concepts through visualization, manipulation and interaction opportunities made available by technology); • the cognitive perspective studies cognitive abilities that the use of computer-mediated environments either promotes or inhibits; • the social and cultural perspective analyzes how learning changes in different contexts, such as institutions, corporations, informal learning environments, communities of practice, etc. and how technology can change organizational styles, curricula and methodologies. The international context, in particular the European one, is strategically crucial for the educational technology sector. Since the early EC programmes, the ITD has participated in many projects and has collaborated with major European centres, often as the project leader.