The institute is part of the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, which partially funds these organizations.

The Institute shares the space with the Complutense University of Madrid and the State School Council.

[2] All the members of the Institute were reunited for the first time on January 6, 1938, at the University of Salamanca, and, together, they were briefly entrusted with the task of guiding and directing the cultural and research policies in Spain, until the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) was established.

[7] Currently, the Institute of Spain is made up of ten national Royal Academies, based in Madrid and Barcelona.

[1] The Royal Academies that currently make up the IdE are the following, according to seniority priority (by date of incorporation into the IdeE): According to the internal regulation of the Institute of Spain, the institution can make agreements with other academies of national, regional, provincial or local level, officially established and recognized, to make them associated academies.