About Us

Early conceptual development for the Advanced Research and Technology Collaboratory for the Americas (ARTCA) took place back in 2004, at the first Latin American VIP Summit on Grid Computing, held in San José, Costa Rica. The event, co-sponsored by the Costa Rica Ministry of Science and Technology, Tabor Communications, SUN Microsystems, Intel and the Costa Rica USA Foundation, brought together renowned industry, academic and government leaders from North, Central and South America, as well as Europe. One hundred and thirty participants representing ten countries and more than sixty institutions attended the two day event. The Summit served as an opportunity for cross-cultural technology discussion and transfer. It also became the impetus for a grass roots effort to establish a Latin American Alliance for advanced computing and research collaborations in support of the people of the Americas.

Four years later, ARTCA was established to help build and support effective collaboration between universities, research centers, and industry in the interest of the region´s scientific and economic growth. Initial ARTCA partners came from Costa Rica and the United States and quickly spread to collaborators from all of the Americas. The overriding objective is to promote interdisciplinary, inter-university and international cooperation, and enhance research and development supported by advanced computing, to develop human resources and technologies that will address complex societal issues throughout the hemisphere.

Guiding Principle

Believing that interdisciplinary and cross-cultural research is essential to modern life and that advanced computing can improve research and teaching by democratizing access to knowledge and learning, ARTCA generates a complete scholarly and pedagogical arsenal to positively affect the human condition and experience by serving as “expert brokers”. ARTCA identifies and develops cohorts of disciplinary scholars, and industry and government leaders working on particular domain issues and partners them with experts in advanced computing to broaden the scope and effectiveness of research in the Americas.

Vision

The Advanced Research and Technology Collaboratory for the Americas (ARTCA) facilitates research addressing some of the most pressing challenges facing the natural sciences, medicine, technology, and the human sciences today. It is a conduit that links research projects across North, Central, and South America, built by a collaboration of high-end research institutions, industry, and nonprofit organizations.

Mission

To connect researchers together and provide technical resources, to stimulate interdisciplinary research and education. ARTCA encourages researchers, educators, and nonprofit leaders to work together on projects that can improve the quality of life for citizens of the Western Hemisphere. ARTCA deploys advanced Internet Communications Technology (ICT) to transcend the intellectual, institutional, and financial barriers that can impede collaborative work. Emphasizing the economic and social benefits of knowledge and technology transfer across the Americas, ARTCA seeks a durable network for sharing knowledge, technology, and discoveries.

ARTCA takes no institutional positions on matters of a country´s national research and technology policy. ARTCA carries out its mission by:

• Maintaining a broad and diverse membership, including special programs to promote interest and develop expertise in the next generation of research and technology leaders;
• Convening meetings throughout the Americas where academic scholars, government officials, industry and nonprofit leaders, and other prominent thinkers on research and technology come together to discuss and debate major hemispheric issues;
• Sponsoring Independent Task Forces that produce reports with both findings and policy prescriptions on the most important hemispheric research and technology policy and implementation topics;
• Facilitating collaborative discovery and exploration by researchers and research funding agencies through the Americas; and
• Providing up-to-date information and analysis about events in the Americas in terms of research and technology policy, as well as ongoing projects, through its website.

Structure

ARTCA is currently led by an Advisory Board and a Steering Committee which meet annually. An Executive Management team with the support of the Steering Committee sets the overall direction and strategy of the effort, with both the technical and administrative support of the Office of Science, Technology and Innovation of the Organization of American States and a Project Coordinator.

This post is also available in: Spanish