The Columbia Institute for Tele-Information (CITI) is a university-based research center focusing on strategy, management, and policy issues in telecommunications, computing, and electronic mass media. It is a Sloan Foundation industry research center.

Founded in 1983 at Columbia University, the institute is the first research center for communications economics established at a US management school. Its location in New York City provides a unique foundation for these activities. Research collaboration among academic, corporate, and public sectors is vital in analyzing the complex problems associated with managing communications enterprises, systems, and policy in environments of rapidly changing technology and regulation.

In April 2000, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation selected the institute as its fifteenth academic center for industry research and the only one for the field of telecommunications. This enables CITI to substantially expand its program of research on the telecommunications sector.

The Sloan Foundation's main objective is for each of its centers to build an academic base of observations and knowledge in order to make practical contributions to the industries studied and accelerate U.S. economic development and global competitiveness. It aims to foster academic-industry collaboration and to develop scholarly expertise by educating the next generation of doctoral students.

The telecommunications industry is one of the largest and most dynamic in the world today. Driven by technology, entrepreneurship and policy, the sector has expanded horizontally and vertically. It is converging with mass media and is becoming the marketplace for e-commerce. It is the centerpiece of a networked economy and society, requiring a complex platform for which society increasingly spends a good share of its capital, expertise, and attention. Of the ten largest companies in terms of market capitalization in 1999, eight are part of the IT industry.

We are only at the early stages of this change. Telecommunications, until recently, part of public utilities, are now a key element in an economic transformation which rivals the industrial revolution. The interlinking of computers through the Internet is a prime technological force in this new revolution.

Even with the U.S. telecommunications sector as successful and dynamic as it is, CITI's academic attention will help evaluate its current position and strategies for the future, and provide neutral input into public policy development.

The Institute's research activities are determined by the Columbia Business School in accordance with University principles, and the advice of an Advisory Board drawn from industry, universities, government, and other sectors. All research is public.

The Institute is part of Columbia University's important role in communications research. The Columbia Institute for Tele-Information is unique among American research institutes on telecommunications. It draws upon the excellent resources of several university departments. The School of Engineering and Applied Science is a technology center focusing on the integration of telecommunications networks. The School of Journalism is designed to study the impact and applications of new technology for Journalism. The Institute for Learning Technologies (Teacher's College) both studies and develops new technology applications to provide new and better means for education. The University also supports a broad array of academic departments involved in communication related areas which includes the School of Law, the Film School, the Chazen Institute, and the School of International and Public Affairs.

Opportunities At CITI
Other Columbia Communications Activities