The LINKS Foundation – Leading Innovation & Knowledge for Society is a non-profit private Foundation founded in 2018 with the aim to boost the interaction between research and the business world towards the internationalization of the local socio-economic system. LINKS promotes, conducts, and strengthens innovation and research projects processes, improving products implementation as well as the study of new approaches and models. LINKS is the result of the merge of two distinguished research and innovation institutions: ISMB (Istituto Superiore Mario Boella), focusing on ICT, and SiTI (Istituto Superiore sui Sistemi Territoriali per l’Innovazione), focusing on Territorial Systems and Smart Cities. Similarly, to ISMB and SITI, this Foundation has been founded by Compagnia di San Paolo and Politecnico di Torino.

LINKS relies on technological and process competences of around 160 researchers working in close cooperation with companies, academia and Public Administration. It is organized in Research Areas focused on core sectors of ICT that are capable of managing the whole value chain, from basic technology up to its practical implementation (proof-of-concept). Additionally, LINKS extends its activities to process innovation, employing excellences and results of Research Areas into Strategic Programs that are interdisciplinary by nature and are aligned with the priority themes of the European agenda, including Smart Energy, Smart City and Smart Health.

LINKS Foundation is also involved in several industrial cooperation activities with both large enterprises and SMEs, as well as in various higher-education initiatives in partnership with academic institutions.

Due to its expertise as an ICT research centre, LINKS Foundation main tasks are related to the development of both the replication and the control tool –thus leading task 3.4 and 5.4- using the inputs of the rest of the task of WP3 and WP5. In addition, they are in charge of the revision and adaption of the ICT infrastructure on the demo-sites to the SHIP2FAIR control tool.