The  SNA is an institution which, as well as dealing with the training of public sector managers, also promotes scientific research on important issues for the Public Administration at national and international level.

The SNA has the task of:

• fostering research aimed at promoting  and supporting the innovation and reform process of the Public Administration;
• promoting research activities of excellence with practical aspects on the training of public sector managers;
• offering technical and methodological support to the Presidency of the Council of Ministers and to other public administrations requiring consultancy on specific subjects of an institutional nature;
• collaborating with the top Italian and foreign universities and research centres for the study of  important subjects regarding the public sector and the development of “best practice” in the national Public Administrations. 

The  research activity promoted by the SNA is also aimed at providing information, under a contents and methodology profile,  for the courses supplied by it, with the precise objective of valorising the relationship between didactics and scientific research,  promoting  an interdisciplinary approach to the different topic dealt with in the training programmes and   facilitating the exchanges between the world of the Public Administration and the private sector. In particular some of the research studies innovative courses which are tried out on the students  attending the courses for new managers or ongoing training courses, to assess the efficacy  of the new methodologies formulated by lecturers and researchers. 

Within the various disciplinary perspectives, the research programmes tackle questions of modernization and innovation in Italy, which involve strategic and organizational changes of the Public Administration,  also in consideration of  the many  levels of government.

For the diffusion of research activities the  SNA is in charge of:

• guaranteeing the diffusion of the results of research of particular value, facilitating their publication;
• organising seminars, round tables and other events on subjects relative to the Public Administration;
• promoting  partnerships with academic institutions and research centres in order to develop joint research on specific arguments or broader scientific projects concerning the Public Administration;
• actively participating in international research circuits and the European Centre for Public Administration  (PEAP) of Strasburg.

The final research reports can be consulted on the SNA’s website and are diffused by their publication in volumes and CD-ROM produced by the SNA.