New Opportunities for Expanded Technology Support and Deployment

caBIG™ was built for and by the biomedical research community. The path to more integrative science is being paved by the vital collaboration of the caBIG™ community, collaboration that to date has resulted in the development of more than 40 software tools and inclusion of nearly 1,000 participants. As the initiative expands and becomes more deeply embedded into scientific and clinical workflows, that collaborative development and adoption approach continues and expands as well.

To this end, NCI is augmenting its traditional support mechanisms for the adoption of caBIG™ infrastructure and tools with the caBIG™ Enterprise Support Network, a collection of four new offerings: Service Providers, Knowledge Centers, Program Offices, and Enterprise Adopters. In addition to ongoing tool development, adoption and workspace participation, these new programs will form a support network that will expedite and increase the integration of caBIG™ technology at cancer and academic medical research centers, as well as pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.

The increasingly complex and collaborative nature of scientific research has fueled a growing demand across the cancer community for greater application support, more assistance with tool integration and more hands-on training and education resources. Participants in the caBIG™ Enterprise Support Network will now have the opportunity to serve as mentors, knowledge experts and service providers for current and future caBIG™ adopters.

The support network will be based on the following:

• Ongoing Funding for Development, Adoption and Participation

  NCI will continue to fund the creation of new and customized software tools by developers and adopters. In addition, NCI will offer funding opportunities for caBIG™ participants to bolster progress within specific workspaces on a selective basis as specific community and scientific research needs warrant. Funding opportunities to support these activities will continue to be announced on the caBIG™ website and distributed through the caBIG™ Announce Listserv. Click here to view the current funding opportunities.

• Service Providers

  These caBIG™-designated third-party organizations will deliver software application and infrastructure technical support to end-users and IT professions. Service Providers will offer help desk and troubleshooting support as well as critical on-site services (e.g., installation and configuration, training, data transformation and migration, server hosting and maintenance). They will be compensated via fee-for-service arrangements they establish with their clients, not through direct NCI funding.

• Knowledge Centers

  These external domain experts will serve as caBIG™ points of contact for education, outreach, training, and deployment in specific technology areas. Each will serve as an all-purpose consulting and service resource for a particular domain workspace, offering the more personalized attention that some caBIG™ users and high-end technologies require. caBIG™ envisions that the Knowledge Centers will work closely with the Service Providers to provide a mix of deep technical skills and focused consultation.

• Program Offices

  While the Knowledge Centers will provide domain-specific services across the whole caBIG™ community, Program Offices will act as internal “caBIG™ teams” within individual institutions. Tasked with facilitating and expediting the adoption of caBIG™ technologies within their host institution, the Program Offices would be appropriate for institutions that are eager to deploy and use a variety of caBIG™ tools but that lack the initial staffing resources to ensure smooth rollouts and long-term best practice usage. Program Offices will also be able to call upon the domain expertise of the Knowledge Centers and the deep technical support skills of Service Providers.

• Enterprise Adopter Program

  To encourage expansion of the caBIG™ adopter pool, NCI will provide short-term but comprehensive support and services to install and introduce an individual caBIG™ application within selected institutions. The Enterprise Adopter Program will give new users access to the higher levels of support and resources that are often required with first introducing new and powerful software tools. The Enterprise Adopter Program will initially focus on tissue banks and pathology tools. More details and a program application can be found at http://bahcabigcontracts.com/

“Through these new and enhanced programs, caBIG™ is entering a bold and exciting period where it will be possible for more institutions than ever to be involved in the initiative and put caBIG™ technology into action to solve real scientific challenges,” said Ken Buetow, Ph.D., NCI Associate Director for Biomedical Informatics and Information Technology. “The timing is right as we now have an established and growing user-base that needs a greater level of support and services to conduct breakthrough science and research.”

More details about these opportunities including RFPs will be posted on the caBIG™ website and distributed through the caBIG™ Announce Listserv in the summer of 2007.

For More Information:

View the current funding opportunities.
Sign-up for the caBIG™ Announce Listserv.
Read the Fact Sheet.