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The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) was set up in 1964 to provide scientists from the developing countries with opportunities to conduct research and to study new developments in physics and mathematics. The scope of the activities has since been broadened to include applied and related fields of science.

Historically, scientists from the South have suffered from inadequate facilities and professional isolation. As a result, many have migrated to the North to advance their careers. By providing scientists from the South with on-going opportunities for research, learning and interactions with the world scientific community, ICTP has been a major force in stemming scientific brain-drain from developing countries.

Thanks to the generous funding from the Italian Government, ICTP has been able to initiate and implement various schemes of support and assistance to scientists from developing countries. Some of these schemes such as the Associateship Programme are centered in ICTP, but some of the training activities take place in developing countries themselves.

The Centre also enjoys support from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). UNESCO also serves as the Centre's leading administrative agency.

In addition, ICTP obtains programmatic funding from a number of organizations, including:

 The European Commission: The European Union (EU) is a family of democratic European countries, committed to working together for peace and prosperity. Its Member States have set up common institutions to which they delegate some of their sovereignty so that decisions on specific matters of joint interest can be made democratically at European level.

 The Swedish Agency for Research Cooperation with Developing Countries (SIDA-SAREC): SIDA, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, is a government agency that reports to Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs. SIDA is responsible for most of Sweden's contributions to international development cooperation. The goal is to improve the standard of living of poor people and, in the long term, to eradicate poverty.

 The Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS): Founded in the year 1976, the goals of KFAS are to promote intellectual development by providing scolarship for training, supporting Prizes for researchers, authors, and translators in different scientific fields. KFAS also performs other activities that may share in achieving development in the State of Kuwait and other Arab and Islamic countries.