Our history
EURAC was founded in 1992 on the initiative of the Provincial Government of South Tyrol as an institution constituted under Civil Law. In its first year of operation, at the Institute’s original headquarters in Bolzano, Via Weggenstein 12, only twelve staff worked in three departments: Language and Law, Minorities and Autonomies, and finally, Alpine Environment.
One of the first large project assignments for the young, rapidly growing research institute was the development of a feasibility study for setting up a University in Bolzano in 1993. This preliminary work by EURAC led to the establishment of the Free University of Bolzano in 1997. EURAC was additionally responsible for the expansion of the International School of Tourism Management (now the Degree Course in Tourism Management at the Free University of Bolzano) and the foundation of Bolzano's Design Academy, which is now the Faculty of Arts and Design of the Free University of Bolzano.
In 1994, a fourth research department (Management and Corporate Culture) was added, and then in 2002 the Department of Genetic Medicine. Part of EURAC (the Departments of Alpine Environment and Management and Corporate Culture as well as the Management and Services Units) moved to offices at Piazza Duomo 3 in 1996, as the main offices at Via Weggenstein no longer offered sufficient space for the growing number of staff.
By the end of the 1990s, the number of staff employed had risen to 75, and EURAC had project partners in Germany, Austria, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Tibet. In 2001, after having been split between two buildings for several years, EURAC moved into a single building in Bolzano's refurbished former GIL building at Viale Druso 1. 
After 2005 our research centre in South Tyrol increased its activities in the area of technologies and sciences with the foundation of the Institute for Applied Remote Sensing and the Institute for Renewable Energy. July 2007 saw the foundation of the Institute for Mummies and the Iceman. This institute coordinates research into the man found in the ice, develops new procedures, and incorporates into its studies findings from research into other mummies.
The latest developments focus on the medical sector. In autumn 2009, in collaboration with the South Tyrol Health Authority, the Centre for Biomedicine was created which is broadening out the research activities of the Institute for Genetic Medicine (now re-named The Institute for Genomics and Population Medicine). At the same time, EURAC launched the Institute of Alpine Emergency Medicine. This latest addition is concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of accident victims and acutely ill patients in mountainous regions.
Today EURAC comprises eleven institutes, employing more than 200 experts. The research is constantly expanding, and negotiations are already underway with the Autonomous Province of Bolzano to increase the size of the building.
Since 2009 EURAC has had three representative offices outside the region: in Rome, Sarajevo and Pristina. Their task is to attract research commissions to South Tyrol and, in the case of the Balkan office, to translate the results of local research into reality.