The New York University Center for Advanced Technology was founded in 1993 with the goal of accelerating the development and dissemination of multimedia technologies and applications. Designated one of fifteen New York State Centers for Advanced Technology by the New York State Office of Science, Technology & Academic Research, the Center uses its multimedia technology expertise to augment the efforts of faculty, staff, and researchers working in new media. The Center is a focal point for partnerships among NYU faculty, the wider academic community, and leading members of industry. Working with companies and organizations in information technologies, finance, education, entertainment, and communications, the Center develops multimedia technologies, tools, services, and products.

Organization Overview

The New York University Center for Advanced Technology (CAT) plays a unique role in the life of the university. It is an umbrella for three blocks of activities: (1) it facilitates activities in several research organizations; (2) it provides a platform for discussions regarding technology and its impact, and (3) it promotes economic development in the greater New York area.

Within the University
The CAT provides a seamless interface between academic research in the university and the uses of technologies. Basic research takes place in university-based research laboratories and departments. Some of this research is carried out in partnership with academic and industrial laboratories throughout the world. The CAT stimulates these activities, develops demonstrable prototypes based on selected technologies, tests uses of these technologies, captures feedback needed for further technology enhancement, and then facilitates their use inside and outside of NYU.

The CAT provides support for a set of loosely allied research groups within the University, thus developing the kinds of synergies that enable the multi-disciplinary nature of a university to flourish. The following examples illustrate the types of activities being carried out in some of these research groups.
· The Media Research Lab is co-managed by the CAT and the Computer Science Department. It has a long-established record for carrying out research relating to multimedia and its applications, and it is generally recognized as having on of the premier academic graphics departments in the country. Work within the Lab has included such topics as: development of animation technologies, 3-D displays, and alternative interfaces for electronic devices.
· The Digital Economy Initiative at the Stern School of Business carries out business related research regarding the digital economy, its components and its impact. Projects include: analyses of competitive strategies, the formation and analysis of electronic communities, data mining and knowledge discovery, and leveraging data to improve economic value.

Additional NYU collaborations are taking place with the School of Medicine (digital libraries, computer-based education, virtual microscopy), the School of Dentistry (virtual anatomy), and the Library (digital library). International research partnerships include: SmartLabs (UK), WAAG (Netherlands), and the Interactive Institute (Sweden). Industrial research partnerships include: Microsoft and CCS (Japan). Within the near future we expect to be able to announce that research partnerships with the NYU Center for Teaching Excellence, Educational Testing Service and Hewlett-Packard are fully operational.

The fruits of these activities are already self-evident. They have been important factors in attracting world-class faculty to NYU. They have also attracted new research funding into the University.

Discussion Platforms
The Center for Advanced Technology supports a broad range of activities designed to foster discussions regarding technology, its uses and its role in the economy and society. These activities include partial support for the informal colloquia held with the Center for Law and Technology, an on-going forum bringing together NYU faculty teaching technology-related subjects, as well as sponsoring or co-sponsoring seminars and speakers in various parts of the University. This activity is likely to be expanded to include collaboration with the Center for Teaching Excellence in an on-going colloquium on effective use of educational technologies.

Business and Economic Development
A portion of the CAT's activities focuses upon business and economic development. Supported by a major grant from New York State, the CAT works to help accelerate the transfer of technologies into the New York economy and to encourage non-New York technology companies to increase their local involvement.