CITRIS – Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society
The mission statement:
The Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS) creates information technology solutions for many of our most pressing social, environmental, and health care problems.
CITRIS was created to “shorten the pipeline” between world-class laboratory research and the creation of start-ups, larger companies, and whole industries. CITRIS facilitates partnerships and collaborations among more than 300 faculty members and thousands of students from numerous departments at four University of California campuses (Berkeley, Davis, Merced, and Santa Cruz) with industrial researchers from over 60 corporations. Together the groups are thinking about information technology in ways its never been thought of before.
CITRIS works to find solutions to many of the concerns that face all of us today, from monitoring the environment and finding viable, sustainable energy alternatives to simplifying health care delivery and developing secure systems for electronic medical records and remote diagnosis, all of which will ultimately boost economic productivity. CITRIS represents a bold and exciting vision that leverages one of the top university systems in the world with highly successful corporate partners and government resources.
I mentioned CITRIS as an aside (News: Summarization and Visualization) yesterday but then decided it needed more attention.
Its grants are limited the four University of California campuses mentioned above. Shades of EU funding restrictions. Location has a hand in the selection process.
Still, the projects funded by CITRIS could likely profit from the use of topic maps and as they say, a rising tide lifts all boats.