Emergency services were called to the CSIRO on Thursday morning, with smoke filling one of the Black Mountain campus buildings.
A small fire in a lift shaft of the building 301 on Christian Road in Acton has since been extinguished.
A CSIRO spokeswoman said, luckily, no one had been inside the building at the time.
"The area has been cordoned off while further investigations are carried out," she said.
The fire brigade and ACT ambulances had departed the campus by mid morning.
It is the second time this month they have responded to reports of smoke at CSIRO Black Mountain.
