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Albany, NY - With today's rapid advances in communications technologies, it's becoming much easier to share information, build knowledge, and develop relationships with groups of people who share common interests and goals.

The resulting "knowledge networks" have now become the subject of the largest research grant in the six-year history of the University at Albany's Center for Technology in Government.

The $1 million National Science Foundation award will focus the Center on knowledge networking in the public sector, taking into account the variety of relationships, policies, information, processes, and technology tools organizations use to achieve collective goals.

"We're excited to embark on this investigation into the rapidly-expanding field of knowledge networks and especially pleased that NSF has recognized the importance of information sharing in the public sector," Center Director Sharon S. Dawes said of the three-year study. "We're honored to have such a prestigious research organization recognize the value, quality, and impact of our work."

The Center will study seven initiatives led by New York State and local agencies that depend on sharing knowledge and information across multiple organizations. The goals of these initiatives include the ability to evaluate the effectiveness of services to homeless people, the design of the state's central accounting system, and information needed to make sound investments in new technologies. The study will result in an enhanced conceptual model of knowledge network formation and operation in the public sector, as well as recommendations for practitioners about planning and implementing successful knowledge networks. 

The Center has been dedicated throughout its brief history to improving the business of government through investigations into the policy, management, and technology issues faced by local, state, and federal public sector agencies. Its knowledge networking project is one of just 31 investigations awarded a total of $50 million in grants by NSF through its Knowledge and Distributed Intelligence (KDI) program.

The goal of KDI research is to: create networked systems that increase the availability of information, develop a better understanding of the nature of intelligence, design new ways of advancing knowledge through discovery, and provide a forum for multidisciplinary research about knowledge investments. 

"The investigations conducted by the Center for Technology in Government are wonderful examples of the kind of work that is leading the University at Albany to the forefront of public research universities," added University Vice President for Research Christopher F. D'Elia. "They demonstrate the vital link between scholarship and practice that is so crucial to our mission."

The mission of the Center for Technology in Government at the University at Albany is to foster public sector innovation, enhance capability, generate public value, and support good governance. We carry out this mission through applied research, knowledge sharing, and collaboration at the intersection of policy, management, and technology.