APRE, the Agency for the Promotion of European Research, is a non-profit research organization.
For over twenty-five years, APRE, in close collaboration with the Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR), has provided its members as well as businesses, government agencies, and private individuals, information, support and assistance for participation in national and European programmes and collaborative initiatives (today, with particular reference to Horizon 2020) in the field of Research, Technological Development and Innovation (RTDI) and in the transfer of research results.

APRE was created in 1989 as a joint initiative of the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR) and some public and private bodies in order to meet the growing demand for information on European research programmes. First reality of its kind, APRE has been supporting the scientific and the industrial community for over 20 years in the path to Europe, and today, to the World, through offering information, training and assistance activities on the participation rules of the Framework Programme of the European Commission.

APRE  hosts the Italian National Contact Points for Horizon 2010

The National Contact Point (NCP) network is acknowledged by the European Commission and provides advice and assistance in all aspects of the EU RTDI programme. It is set up across all the Member States,  Associated States of the European Union and third countries.

The role of the NCP is extremely important in the dissemination of information and in the inter-sectoral and transnational assistance to the European projects proposer.