IIT research activities have been set up in departments hosted in the IIT Central Research Lab (CRL), in Morego and nine research centres located throughout Italy.

The CRL is designed to be one of the largest multidisciplinary research laboratories in the world. The location of the institute is close to Genova airport, about 15 minutes by car from the city center. The building is a facility of about 30000 sqm (including external space) distributed over 5 floors and the underground level, fully equipped with power stations, air conditioning, Industrial scale UPS and others services etc.

The 8 IIT Centers develop scientific objectives expressed by the research platforms listed in the 2009-2011 strategic plan and significantly enrich the technological portfolio of the Institute. The Centers are integral part of the IIT and are located within the premises of Italian academic institutions, following the intention of collaborating, through its research personnel and instrumentation, with the Italian research system.