How public bodies contract for research they cannot specify in advance
Research procurement has a structural problem: the buyer is purchasing an answer to a question, and if the answer were known the contract would be unnecessary. Public bodies deal with this by buying in phases. A feasibility or concept phase is awarded to several suppliers in parallel, each paid a modest fixed sum; a subset is then funded to prototype; a smaller subset again reaches demonstration. Each phase is a competition among the survivors of the last, so a bidder should read the notice for the phase structure and the progression criteria before pricing anything.
Intellectual property is the term that decides whether the contract is worth winning. Arrangements range from full assignment of results to the buyer, through a licence to the buyer with the supplier retaining ownership and the right to commercialise elsewhere, to background and foreground IP splits that must be catalogued before work starts. Development-focused schemes often deliberately leave ownership with the supplier so that a market can form around the result, while procurement of research for internal use tends toward assignment. The two produce very different bid economics.
Evaluation weights the proposal's scientific and technical merit, the team's record, and the credibility of the risk assessment, and it rewards candour about what might fail. Deliverables are reports, data and demonstrations rather than products, so acceptance criteria are written around defined technical readiness levels or measurable milestones. Where human participants, animals, personal data or dual-use technology are involved, ethical approval and export control clearance are conditions precedent with their own timetables, and they are a common cause of a project starting months after award.
This section describes how this category is bought generally, across the public buyers that publish it. The figures elsewhere on this page are measured for this market alone.
Who buys research & development in Italy?
GlobalGov holds 108 research & development records from 90 distinct buying organisations in Italy. The most frequent publishers are Enea (3 records); Istituto Nazionale per l'Analisi delle Politiche Pubbliche (3 records); ASL Roma 2 (2 records); ASL Teramo (2 records); Giunta Regionale della Lombardia (2 records); IRCCS Lazzaro Spallanzani (2 records). Between them the 6 largest account for 13% of everything published, so buying here is spread across many separate authorities.
| Buying organisation | Records | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Enea | 3 | 2.8% |
| Istituto Nazionale per l'Analisi delle Politiche Pubbliche | 3 | 2.8% |
| ASL Roma 2 | 2 | 1.9% |
| ASL Teramo | 2 | 1.9% |
| Giunta Regionale della Lombardia | 2 | 1.9% |
| IRCCS Lazzaro Spallanzani | 2 | 1.9% |
What are research & development contracts worth in Italy?
88 of the 108 records publish a contract value. The median is $959,698 and the largest single published value is $68.3M. By size, 45 between $100k and $1M, 38 between $1M and $10M, 5 above $10M. The remaining 20 publish no value at all, so every figure here describes the priced subset only, and values are as stated by the buyer rather than as finally awarded.
| Contract size | Records | Share of priced |
|---|---|---|
| under $100k | 0 | 0.0% |
| between $100k and $1M | 45 | 51% |
| between $1M and $10M | 38 | 43% |
| above $10M | 5 | 5.7% |
How long do bidders get to respond to research & development tenders in Italy?
Across the 30 Italy research & development notices that publish both a publication date and a closing date, the median response window is 36 days. A quarter of them allowed 31 days or fewer and a quarter stayed open for more than 38. Not one of them closed within a fortnight of being published, so the window on this market is consistently workable.
How often are research & development tenders published in Italy?
Italy publishes about 2 notices a month in this category, 28 in the last twelve months. Over the last three years there were 30, spread across 45 separate months of activity since 28 June 2016. June is historically the busiest month. The most recent was published 8 September 2026.
How does Italy compare with other research & development markets?
Among the 35 countries where GlobalGov holds a comparable research & development market, Italy ranks 20th by number of records. The largest is Australia (13,059 records against 108 here). Within Italy itself, research & development is the 50th largest of the 69 procurement categories tracked here.
Where do the Italy research & development records on this page come from?
These 108 records are collected from 2 official sources: TED (107), UN Global Marketplace (1). GlobalGov is an independent aggregator and is not affiliated with any of them; each record links back to the notice on its issuing portal. The set is rebuilt nightly, and the counts on this page were taken on 2026-10-01.
Open Research & Development tenders in Italy
Showing 9 of the 9 notices open in this category today. Openness uses the same definition as the Italy market page: active, not marked awarded, cancelled, closed or expired, and either closing in the future or published within the last 90 days with no stated closing date.
Italy – Laboratory reagents – GARA GENETICA MEDICA ED.2
Italy – Research, testing and scientific technical simulator – TERIN 444 - Fornitura per l'Aggiornamento del Banco a Rulli F93 con l'integrazione del secondo asse di prova e adeguamento dell'impianto antincendio
Italy – Laboratory reagents – Procedura aperta – suddivisa in 6 lotti – per la fornitura di reattivi diagnostici e il noleggio di apparecchiature per il settore di biologia molecolare del Laboratorio Centrale di Patologia Clinica del Comprensorio sanitario di Bolzano
Italy – Laboratory, optical and precision equipments (excl. glasses) – ID.25REA004 - FORNITURA IN SERVICE DI ISTOPROCESSORI E RELATIVO MATERIALE DI CONSUMO.
Italy – Laboratory, optical and precision equipments (excl. glasses) – FORNITURA CON POSA IN OPERA DELLE ATTREZZATURE E IMPIANTI FUNZIONALI ALLA REALIZZAZIONE DEL LABORATORIO ANALISI SUI SISTEMI DI PRODUZIONE, STOCCAGGIO E UTILIZZO DI IDROGENO APSU/H2SMARTLAB NEL CAMPUS DI BASOVIZZA DI AREA SCIENCE PARK
Italy – Design and execution of research and development – Servizio di aggiornamento, implementazione ed estensione della piattaforma CliniKa®
Italy – Design and execution of research and development – Miglioramento in ottica ERAS® del percorso paziente Cardiochirurgico e analisi delle performance delle sale chirurgiche dell’Ospedale Civile Giuseppe Mazzini di Teramo
Prequalification for Architectural, Engineering and Works Management Services for the Redevelopment of the Adriatico Science Complex, Trieste, Italy
Other procurement categories in Italy
Medical EquipmentWaste ManagementPharmaceuticalsManagement ConsultingFinancial AdvisoryVehicle MaintenanceVehicles and FleetArchitecture and EngineeringCatering ServicesHospital ConstructionSoftware DevelopmentCivil ConstructionCommunity DevelopmentRoads and Highways InfrastructureGround TransportLaboratory EquipmentCommunications PrEvent ManagementAgricultural EquipmentIct EquipmentFreight and LogisticsOffice FurnitureMaintenance & RepairBuilding MaterialsBuilding ConstructionFuel SupplyTelecommunicationsFacilities and CleaningSecurity ServicesTraining and Capacity BuildingCurriculum DevelopmentMail CourierOil Gas UpstreamUniforms ClothingFood Aid and NutritionWater Supply ProjectsPrinting PublishingRoad & InfrastructureDatabase ManagementHelpdesk SupportStaffing AugmentationScientific ResearchRenovation RehabilitationElectrical InstallationWeapons SystemsSite PreparationMilitary LogisticsFinancial ServicesAudit and AccountingIT ConsultingEnergyHealthcare ServicesWarehousingTraining & EducationSchools and UniversitiesResearch and StudiesPower TransmissionNetwork InfrastructureTransportationCybersecurityEnvironmental ServicesConsultingSanitation SewerageLegal ServicesSurveillance & IsrAi Machine LearningMonitoring EvaluationAdult Literacy
Research & Development procurement in other markets
Never Miss a Italy Government Contract
Finding Italy tenders usually means a local portal, a local registration and someone who reads the language. Get an alert you can read when a new research & development opportunity is published there.
Start Free Trial