For more than three decades the Istituto G. Caporale has been a leading player on the national and international stage in crucial areas of interest in the field of veterinary public health.

In the Italian context the Institute takes part in innumerable projects of 'ongoing' research and 'targeted' research. These projects are financed by the Ministry of Health and the National Health Fund in order to promote and finance high-quality scientific research in the biomedical and health fields, and thus create a scientific base for planning interventions aimed at improving the state of the nation's health.

'Ongoing' research is scientific research, programmed on a three-year basis, directed at developing fundamental knowledge over the long term in specific sectors of biomedicine and public health. Institutions which qualify for this funding are recognized as 'Health Care Institutes of a Scientific Character' (IRCCS). Grants for this type of research are awarded on an annual cycle in favour of public and private institutions whose research activity has been recognized by the state as oriented towards the pursuit of public objectives.

'Targeted' research activity, on the other hand, implements priority objectives in biomedicine and health which have been identified by the National Health Plan, and is conducted by the Regions, the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS - the Italian National Institute of Health), the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Prevention (ISPESL), the Agency for Regional Health Services (ASSR), the Health Care Institutes of a Scientific Character and the Experimental Zooprophylactic Institutes.

Also at national level, the Institute is participating as Coordinating Body in a major project for the creation of a system of eLearning for agriculture in the Mediterranean countries, financed by the Ministry for Universities and Scientific and Technological Research (MURST) with allocations from the Basic Research Investment Fund (FIRB).