Scientific research is one of the strengths of the University of Florence. The research projects are supported by external funding (EU and public funds, as well as private sponsorships) besides state funding from the Ministry of University and Research (MIUR), which accounts for one-tenth of the total. The University of Florence is one of the most active Italian universities in terms of projects and related grants within the Technology Research and Development Framework of the European Union. Applied research is another aspect of the activities. It is carried out predominantly in cooperation with the industry, through individual agreements signed with the various departments, mainly for industrial research as well as biomedical, technological and natural science experimentation. The University of Florence works together with the National Research Council (Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche) according to a framework agreement for common research programmes.