The school operated from 2001 to 2005 , finally merging its teaching programme with Domus Academy and subsequently ceasing operating as an independent entity when its initial 5-year endowment run out; the new Telecom Italia ownership decided not to renew the funding. Its exhibition design unit (E1) was spun off to form an independent company, Interaction Design Labs, currently operating in Milan. Among the academic advisors of Interaction Ivrea were figures like John Maeda, Joy Mountford, John Thackara, Bill Verplank, Nathan Shedroff, Bill Moggridge (co-founder of IDEO) and David Liddle (co-founder of Interval Research). Interaction Ivrea has exhibited work at the Victoria and Albert's musem in London and at Salone del Mobile in Milano. It was part of the Convivio Network of Excellence European research project.
While the Institute also did a measure of outside consulting work and hosted visiting researchers, its main activity was the Interaction Design Master course. Graduates of Interaction Ivrea now work throughout the design spectrum. Notable examples of projects developed at Ivrea during its years of operation are the prototyping boards Wiring and Arduino, the graphics software prototyping environment Processing, the CICCIO inflatable environment and the Interaction Design Primer design manual. Ivrea alumni and ex-faculty now work in Domus Academy, the Delft University of Technology and the Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design.