Italy is world leader in the dimensional stone sector for production of stone, machines, tools, technology and know-how. IS.I.M. (International Marble Institute) was set up in Italy in 1996; it is the first Italian multipurpose and non-profit organisation created for the following purposes:
- training and updating in the technical, managerial, pre/para/post - university technical and entrepreneurial level, for which ISIM promotes research into and the acquisition of public and private financing and scholarships for citizen of European countries and developing nations;
- organising and managing periodic and /or special courses, seminars and work experiences in Italy and abroad to upgrade the cultural, scientific, technical and managerial level of Italian and foreign operators interested in the stone sector and its allied industrial and economic sectors;
- setting up programs and projects of technical assistance and consultancy to valorise and develop technical - economic work in the International stone and allied sectors, by organising researches, mineral and industrial development projects, conventions, specialised exhibitions and contacts between associations , entrepreneurs, Italian and European Institutions and developing countries in order to promote better business and professional co-operation and to favour exchanges of technology and know-how between industrialised and developing countries;
- organising and managing specialised, interdisciplinary training courses to augment and more widely circulate the most advanced techniques for the better use of natural and human resources while respecting the environmental aspects, product quality and the safety of the world stone workers and operators;
- carrying out every kind of didactic and multimedia activity that increases sector education, including tests, informative material, standards, recommendations, specifications and manuals aimed at intensifying the exchange of technical, scientific and state-of-the-art knowledge in the stone sector;
- promoting the F.I.M.M. (International Federation for Stone and Machinery).
