Planning Grant: I/UCRC for Architecting Socio-Technical Ecosystems

Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh PA

Investigators

Abstract

The Center for Architecting Socio-Technical Ecosystems will focus on accelerating understanding of socio-technical ecosystems by organizing research around certain core themes: Business Opportunities, Technical Design, Governance Regime, Collaborative Infrastructure, and Interactions and Simulations. Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and the University of Michigan (UM) are collaborating to establish the proposed center, with CMU as the lead institution. Socio-technical ecosystems are emerging as unprecedented engines of innovation. The proposed center would examine important issues around the development and use of information technology solutions/software, right alongside with examining the structure, dynamics, and governance of the groups that create these solutions. The two universities are taking advantage of existing strengths in computer science and the social sciences surrounding technology. The problems addressed by the center are compelling and address a growing need as for-profit and non-profit entities weave their ways through a complicated collaboration and IP landscape to create new solutions, and to catalyze their adoption by users. The proposed center will enable rapid progress on theory development, empirical results, technology design, and tools for analysis and support. The proposed center has the potential to improve the software industry. Innovation at the social technical interface has the potential to improve US industries. These new products and services could be disruptive technologies in the market place. Students and faculty members will gain valuable experience by interaction with industry partners. Both institutions have diversity plans in place and view a diverse student body and faculty as important to programmatic success.