Politecnico di Milano finances its own research by external fund raising.

According to the Italian daily business newspaper Il Sole24Ore, in 2008 Politecnico di Milano was the second ranked Italian University in terms of Research/External Funds (79.4% of funds raised from outside).

The financing comes by participation in national and international calls for proposals (also including foundation competitions) by its researchers, with support by the Research Service and the Fondazione Politecnico. Moreover, the Politecnico finances its own research with research contracts which have been stipulated with companies.

The Research Service offers a broad range of services to the Politecnico researchers in order to facilitate the work of securing research funds.

In particular, the following services are offered:

• Information on the financing opportunities for Politecnico di Milano
• Support for securing and managing national and international financing (support for drawing up proposals; centralized administrative management and their formalization; processing of standardized homogenous operating modalities)
• Gathering data on research activities carried out in the various sites of Politecnico di Milano
• Administration management of the central processes concerning university research (for example: research assessments, calls for proposals and internal selective procedures etc.)