Founded in July 1961 as a Research Centre for Nuclear Research, Demokritos is today the largest multidisciplinary Research Centre of Greece with approximately 180 Researchers in tenured and tenure-track positions and over 500 Research Personnel working in projects funded mainly by grants from State Funds, the European Union and Private Industries.

The Centre consists of five independent Institutes focusing on different scientific fields. It is governed by the Board of Directors and is supervised by the General Secretariat of Research and Innovation, which is in the Ministry of Development & Investments.

The Institute of Informatics and Telecommunications (IIT) focuses on research and development in the areas of Telecommunications, Networks, Web Technologies and Intelligent Systems. The Institute pursues both long-term basic research as well as applied research by implementing well defined R&D projects. At the same time it plays an active role in training new research personnel providing scholarships at graduate and post-doctoral level and their employment in research projects. Particular emphasis is given to the exploitation of research results and its dissemination to the public.

The main strategic objective of IIT is to excel in research and innovation required for the development of the knowledge society.

The activities and know-how of IIT are focused mainly in the following areas:

• Telecommunications & Networking
• Intelligent Information Systems

To succeed in its mission, the Institute : collaborates internationally with industry, commercial companies, as well as Research Institutes and Universities, participates in international standardization efforts, disseminates its research results through publications in international scientific journals and conferences, takes part in workshops, public initiatives and popular activities, coordinates or participates in numerous collaborative research projects, exploits its research results by filing patents and forming spin-off companies or pursuing cooperation with technological companies.