CEFRIEL was founded in 1988 with the sponsorship of some prominent Italian persons: Marisa Bellisario, Ottorino Beltrami (at the time President of Assolombarda), and two professors of Politecnico di Milano: Francesco Carassa and Maurizio Decina (prof. Decina has been the first scientific director of CEFRIEL).

CEFRIEL first site was in Milano-Bicocca, where it started its activities in October 1988 with post-graduate education programs. In particular, CEFRIEL kicked-off the first Italian Master in Information Technology, which was run for 20 editions. At the beginning of 1990s, CEFRIEL began to actively participate to EU international research programs. Around the mid of 1990s, CEFRIEL started the first innovation projects with companies and public authorities.

The growth of CEFRIEL personnel was in line with the growth of overall activities. Since the beginning, the best PhDs from universitities and the best students from the Master IT editions have been employed together with experienced professionals. In this way a unique competence mix have been created with the ability to merge the academic and scientific knowledge and the typical industrial and business competences.
In 1966, CEFRIEL moved to its current site, via Fucini 2, which was the building of Bracco industries in the 1920s (see the picture).
 

The current site of CEFRIEL in a picture of the 1920s.
On the rear, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci and the Politecnico di Milano.