History
ICTAS is designed to create a seamless path from fundamental research through applied research and development to technology transfer.
The creation of ICTAS represents an ambitious plan that has been evolving at Virginia Tech since 1997. Based on detailed analyses of factors that contribute to national rankings and on benchmarking at top-line universities, the paradigm of ICTAS has emerged as a vital vehicle to move the university in its research rankings.
ICTAS is entrepreneurial in nature. It presents a strong link to economic development for the entire Commonwealth. It is problem oriented with the goal of finding solutions. It provides better resources to solve larger problems and to obtain better results. ICTAS presents a case for advancement of humankind through collaborative research and it represents a strong link between all of the research universities in Virginia.In April 2000, the newly inaugurated president of Virginia Tech, Charles Steger, stated the goal of raising the university into the ranks of the nation's foremost universities by 2010. Virginia Tech would become an institution that would attract the world's best teachers and researchers and, hence, provide the finest education for our students and ensure a path to vibrant economic development in Southwest Virginia and the Commonwealth.
The best chance Virginia Tech has to achieve this ambitious goal is to leverage the colleges existing strengths and build on the synergies of our talented faculty within these colleges to pursue multidisciplinary research.
ICTAS is modeled after other successful university research institutes around the nation.