St. Petersburg Institute for Informatics and Automation of the Russian Academy of Sciences was founded in 1978.

The Institute main research areas currently are:

• models and methods of information processes in complex engineering systems; 
• prediscovery and applied scientific research aimed at the acquisition of new knowledge theoretical basis for building software and hardware information processing in real time;
• theoretic basics in developing the software-hardware complexes, oriented to the information processing in real-time; research fundamentals, models and methods aimed at investigating information processes in various complex (socio-, eco-, bio-, geo- and other) systems;
• theoretic basics in developing information technologies for intelligent automation systems of control, manufacturing, research, including the applicability to nanotechnologies and biotechnologies;

There are several laboratories, including Laboratory of Information Technologies in Systems Analysis and Modeling. It works on :
System analysis, poly-model multi-objective efficiency estimation in complex technical-organizational systems (CTOS), development of methodological and methodical basics for the theory of CTOS structure-dynamics control at different phases of system's life cycle.

The other laboratory is Research Group for Information Technologies in Education. It deals with information technologies in education and the development of computer science-educational center of SPIIRAS.

Today in the Institute a corresponding member of Russian Academy of Sciences, 41 PhD and 60 candidates. For scientific achievements received state awards 25 employees of the Institute, among them 13 Honored Scientist of Russia, 7 laureates of the Government of the Russian Federation. In postgraduate study 21 post-graduate students, has a doctorate.