The IISTA was officially created in 2011 (BOJA nº148. 29/07/2011. pp. 8-10) by the transformation of the ANDALUSIAN INSTITUTE FOR EARTH
SYSTEM RESEARCH (Centro Andaluz de Medio Ambiente, CEAMA) with the general aim of promoting scientific and technological knowledge as well as development and innovation in the fieldsphere of Earth Systems: Atmosphere, Hydrosphere, and the Earth’s Crust and its ecosystems, taking into account its involvement in socio-economic and environmental development and favouring its transfer to public administrations as well as to public and private organizations and businesses.
The institute was established with the vision of contributing knowledge to society and to become integrated into the Andalusian knowledge System (Sistema Andaluz del Conocimiento), fostering its interaction with different agents, undertaking quality research, promoting its transfer to the production sector, and committing itself to the modernization of human resources and the tools of the Andalusian Government.
At present, the IISTA has a solid group of excellent research teams with several years of experience together in projects of research, development, and innovation (RDI), and offers a good system of laboratories and field equipment with plans to be expanded in the immediate future.