Its main objective is to develop and promote research that will help bring about scientific and technological progress, and it is prepared to collaborate with Spanish and foreign entities in order to achieve this aim.

CSIC plays an important role in scientific and technological policy, since it encompasses an area that takes in everything from basic research to the transfer of knowledge to the productive sector.

[5][6] From its 1939 foundation to his 1966 death, its head was José María Albareda, one of the first members of the Opus Dei and a close friend of its founder, Josemaría Escrivá.

José María Albareda was ordained a priest in 1959, and at his death was succeeded as head of CSIC by Manuel Lora-Tamayo, minister of Education from 1962 to 1968.

The science community and society at large can access them, which is justified by their importance and strategic nature, and for this reason they receive each year many national as well as foreign researchers.