The need of creating the CISSC springs also from the positive experiences lived inside inter-disciplinar groups already working at the University of Pisa. Among these we cite the Inter-disciplinar Group of Theoretical Biology “Vito Volterra”, coordinated by Prof. Giovanni Prodi and constituted by researchers studying different disciplines who, since 1993, were used to meet regularly to discuss themes relating to theoretical biology.
We recall also the Series of Seminars on Complex Systems held at the Institute of Biophysics of CNR, which got together computer scientists, mathematicians,phisycists and biologists, and the fruitful experiences of collaboration with theDomus Galilæana carried out by people which at present are members of CISSC.
An other reason which drove to organise these activities in an official structure was the founding of the ARCO, an association having as fundatorsthe Tuscan Universities (Firenze, Pisa and Siena), the University of Bologna and the INOA (National Institute of Applied Optics). The scientific purposes of the ARCO are analogous to those of the CISSCand the collaboration between the ARCO and the CISSC has already started.