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Center for Technology in Government receives $90,000 to study information-sharing initiatives overseas 

Albany, NY - The University at Albany's Center for Technology in Government (CTG) today announced receipt of a $90,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to explore IT innovation in complex multiorganizational government settings. The project, a collaboration with European Union (EU) initiatives, expands CTG's government IT (information technology) research to an international stage. 

"This is a great opportunity for the Center and UAlbany to expand our global reach with research colleagues in the European Union. Every collaborative partnership that we participate in broadens our base of knowledge and increases our capacity to support the work of government right here in Albany," said Sharon Dawes, director of the Center for Technology in Government.

For the past two years, the Center has explored how government agencies share information across organizations and levels of government. This work, supported by a $1.2 million grant from NSF, has focused on initiatives designed to improve public safety and public health. The new research endeavor enables CTG to compare the results of this research with two different EU projects.

The EU projects include an IT project for urban regeneration called IntelCities, headquartered in Manchester, England, and an effort to create open source software standards that could be adapted and used by European governments called COSPA. These two projects, along with CTG's information integration research, tackle the global research question of how IT innovation takes place in intricate, multiorganizational government settings.

"Governments all over the world are faced with unprecedented challenges of sharing information among various agencies and programs. The example used most often these days is homeland security information; local police must share information with county sheriffs and state police and federal law enforcement and vice versa. We've been studying how that information sharing takes place," said CTG Deputy Director Anthony Cresswell. "With this grant, we can look at similar information sharing initiatives in other countries."

This latest international research project builds on CTG's growing portfolio of international research that includes the project New Models of Collaboration for Delivering Government Services and hosting research exchanges with scholars and government officials from all over the world. 

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. 

The University at Albany-SUNY has a broad mission of excellence in undergraduate and graduate education, life-enhancing research and scholarship, and a commitment to public service. A University at Albany education brings the world within reach to students through nine schools and colleges, and an honors college. A student body of more than 17,000 students has a global connection to more than 140,000 alumni. For more information about this internationally ranked institution, visit www.albany.edu. For UAlbany's extensive roster of faculty experts, visit www.albany.edu/news/experts.php.