ITHACA undertakes comprehensive operational and research activities in the field of geomatics for the analysis, evaluation and mitigation of damages caused by natural or man-made catastrophes. Its main objectives are:

Port-au-Prince, Haiti, February 2010. ITHACA staff was deployed in Haiti after the January 12th 2010 earthquake.

• To develop local competence in the rapidly growing field of geomatics, increasingly requiring more specific technologies and know-how. The Politecnico di Torino and Si.T.I. have been tasked with developing pilot projects to be tested and evaluated in real situations;
• To generate knowledge that has impact on both the University technological environment and the private sector, fostering the realization of partnerships between researchers and enterprises or other highly technological research centres;
• To facilitate an international exposure of the academic work by creating links to international organizations and by using technologies and tools developed at an international level. Thus, ITHACA could represent a starting point for students operating within its structure, as well as for lecturers having to relate themselves with other actors abroad;
• To support the capacity of the UN World Food Programme to prepare for and respond to humanitarian emergencies by providing support through various projects. The instruments and methodologies developed and implemented by ITHACA help the WFP to rapidly build highly detailed maps that will guide and inform its humanitarian operations.