The National, Inter-University Consortium for Telecommunications - CNIT is a non-profit consortium, established in 1995, bringing together 41 public Italian universities to perform research, innovation and education/training activities in the field of the Information and Communication Technology.

CNIT operates 49 research units, one for each member university, plus eight other units belonging to institutes of the National Research Council (CNR, the largest public research institution in Italy) that reached a cooperation agreement with CNIT. CNIT also operates seven national laboratories: Photonic Networks & Technologies (located in Pisa); Radar & Surveillance Systems (located in Pisa); Multimedia Communications (located in Napoli); Smart, Sustainable and Secure Internet Technologies and Infrastructures (located in Genova); Wireless Communications (located in Bologna/Cesena/Ferrara); Network Assessment, Assurance and Monitoring (located in Rome). More than 1,300 professors and researchers, belonging to the member universities, collaborate within CNIT, together with more than 75 CNIT own employees. CNIT participated in hundreds of research projects, including EU coordinated projects, ERC grants and Italian nation-wide initiatives. In the Horizon 2020 European program the CNIT has obtained 61 projects and coordinated 15 of them, while in Horizon Europe the CNIT has obtained 24 projects and coordinated 9 of them. CNIT has also a significant experience in the organization of scientific events and conferences.

The innovation and technology transfer of research results towards end-users and industry is a primary mission for CNIT. CNIT also promotes the collaboration between member universities and other educational institutes as well as technical and scientific collaborations with national and international research institutes and industries.

CNIT is active in many aspects related to 5G: i) participates in and coordinates various EU H2020 projects on 5G, four of which ranked first in their respective rankings; ii) was elected member of the 5GPPP; iii) takes part in the ministerial 5G experimentation in the Milan metropolitan area; iv) participates in EU H2020 projects on 5G applications, including autonomous vehicles and intelligent transport systems.