The IBM Alberta Centre for Advanced Studies (CAS) was formed in 2005 in collaboration with the Government of Alberta, Advanced Education and Technology and the University of Alberta to engage in projects of mutual interest to the province and IBM. Renewed in 2009, IBM Alberta CAS expanded beyond its initial three year scope to include the University of Calgary with an updated project portfolio which is strongly aligned with Alberta’s research agenda and IBM’s Smarter Planet, Cloud and Cognitive Computing strategies.

The mission of IBM Alberta CAS is to enable strategic, multidisciplinary collaborations of mutual interest and benefit between Alberta’s research community and IBM’s worldwide research and development staff. As a member of the IBM Worldwide CAS community, IBM Alberta CAS provides a means for global outreach and leadership for Alberta’s research community.

The pillar themes of the IBM Alberta CAS Innovation Framework include modeling and simulation based research in Health and Bio-Systems, Energy and Environmental Systems and Service Systems with underlying infrastructure aspects of high performance computing, sensor networks, visualization, analytics, big data and cloud computing. Since its inception, IBM Alberta CAS has delivered over $12 million of cash and in-kind funding contributions (from all sources) to Alberta researchers and continues to make a very positive impact on research and economic development in the province.

Alberta researchers are currently engaged in initiatives with IBMers from IBM CAS Canada Research and Academic Partnerships in Toronto and Ottawa, IBM CAS Research Triangle Park in North Carolina, IBM’s T.J. Watson Research Centers in New York and Massachusetts, IBM’s Almaden Research in California and IBM’s Brazil Research Center. Discussions are active with other IBM laboratories.