The Nexa Center for Internet & Society is born from the activities of an initially informal interdisciplinary group – with expertise in technology, law and economics – that grew up in Torino from 2003 and that has conceived, designed and implemented a number of initiatives: Creative Commons Italia (2003-present), CyberLaw Torino (2004), Harvard Internet Law Program Torino (2005), SeLiLi, free legal advice on open licenses for creators and programmers (2006-present), COMMUNIA, the European Commission-funded thematic network of 50 partners aimed at studying the digital public domain (2007-2011) and LAPSI, the European thematic network on legal aspects of public sector information (2010-2012). On the basis of such experiences, the Nexa Center aims at becoming one of the main actors working on Internet research worldwide. More specifically, the Nexa Center wishes to become a point of reference in Europe, interacting with the European Commission, regulators, local and national governments, as well as with business and other institutions – careful at preserving its academic and intellectual independence and with a special attention to the policy implications of its activities.