The Foundation for Research & Technology – Hellas (FORTH) is a research center in Greece, supervised by the Ministry for Education through its General Secretariat for Research and Technology. It consists of eight research institutes, which are located in various cities of Greece: Heraklion, Rethymno, Patras, Ioannina and Chania. The Foundation’s headquarters, as well as the central administration offices are located in Heraklion, Crete.
Established in 1983, FORTH is today internationally known and one of the largest research organizations in Greece. FORTH’s research and technological focus is on areas of scientific, social, and economic interest, such as: astrophysics, computer science, molecular biology, lasers, telecommunications, microelectronics, robotics, biotechnology, materials, medical engineering, applied and computational mathematics, biomedical research, Mediterranean Studies, and historical studies. FORTH also operates Crete University Press, an independent non-profit publishing house.
Institutes
FORTH currently consists of the following research institutes:
- Institute of Applied Computational Mathematics – IACM
- Institute of Astrophysics – IA
- Institute of Chemical Engineering & High Temperature Processes – ICE/HT
- Institute of Computer Science – ICS
- Institute of Electronic Structure and Laser – IESL
- Institute of Mediterranean Studies – IMS
- Institute of Molecular Biology & Biotechnology – IMBB
- Biomedical Research Division – BRD (formerly an independent institute, now part of IMBB)
- Institute of Petroleum Research – IPR
From 1987 to 2000, the Chemical Process Engineering Research Institute (CPERI) based in Thessaloniki was also part of FORTH. In 2000, CPERI was separated from FORTH to become a founding member of a new research center, the National Centre for Research and Technology-Hellas (CERTH).