The National Research Council (CNR) is the largest research institution in Italy, performing research in strategic areas ranging from medicine to engineering, from materials to energy, from Human sciences to ICT. One of the most recently founded Institutes is the SPIN Institute, an evocative name as well as an acronym for SuPerconductors and INnovative materials and devices (www.spin.cnr.it). SPIN head-quarters are located in Genova but operative units are established in Napoli, Salerno, L’Aquila and Chieti. The mission of SPIN is to bring together most of the Italian research groups active in cooperative phenomena, ranging from superconductivity to magnetism, from ferroelectricity to charge/orbital ordering. Materials of interest for SPIN range from oxides to pnictides, from organic crystals to organic inorganic hybrids, both in the bulk form, as well as at surfaces, interfaces or nanostructures. In addition to more “traditional” research lines, focused on thin film deposition and device realization (Genova, Napoli and Salerno), SPIN shows a strong and recently established modelling activity, based in Chieti, headed by Dr. Silvia Picozzi (SP)   https://sites.google.com/site/silviapicozzi/.