Up until now research carried out by the Foundation has been based on sourcing external consultants. The Scientific Committee decides the research projects every year and identifies the professional requirements that are needed for each study. These are usually presented, initially during a conference or congress and then published.

The Foundation’s aim is to improve and to capitalise on the local intellectual resources by issuing grants or holding vocational training at its offices. The people who are chosen are then placed in the organisation itself to carry out research. The degree of their success will be of fundamental importance for the Foundation’s management of human resources.

The Foundation was founded and is based in Courmayeur. So, the reciprocal and important link between the Foundation and the Aosta Valley Region is only natural. This relationship is the result of years of dialogue with the regional administration. The Foundation has in fact dedicated particular attention to the Region and its development through its research activities in the Valley and for the Valley.

The Foundation’s decision to carry out a large part of its activities in the Aosta Valley and in particular in Courmayeur, even though other realities appeared more attractive from a public appeal perspective, gives an idea of the emotional attachment and the responsibility that the Institution has towards its home ground, as well as the Region’s intrinsic resources.

On top of this, the choice of concentrating activity in the Valley has two merits. The first, obviously, is creating specific “programmes” concerning the Valley, in the Valley itself. The other involves considering the Valley as a useful and educational laboratory where research dedicated to mountain environments, within wider based programmes, can be implemented and evaluated. In fact, today, it is unthinkable for research to restrict its operations in isolation from other scientific realties. Over recent years the necessity for coordination and interaction between national scientific research projects has become paramount.