The institute was first proposed after the earthquake in L'Aquila of 2009, when the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) organized several meetings to plan the economic revitalization of the area. A proposal was made to establish an educational institution for the purposes of teaching and research which would make use of the National Laboratories of Gran Sasso of the National Institute of Nuclear Physics located right near the capital of Abruzzo.