science-policy interface: the italian experience

Over the last 15 years, in the framework of the Italian early warning system, managed directly by the civil protection authorities, the gap between science and policy have been positively bridged with the Knowledge Centres: a national strategy, with a formal architecture that has build a dialogue between scientific community and responsibility services.
The applied research, tailored on operational user needs, has been funded and supported leading to the development of advanced applications in coupled meteo-hydrological modelling, satellite rapid damage analysis, hydraulic modelling, levees vulnerability estimation etc.
Similar interface models are being created in the European institutions (DRMKC, European Commission) or in the international expert Agencies ( Research Panel, WMO).
The general positive dialogue among science and policy, in a mutual enrichment, is presented in this paper.