SAN ANTONIO (February 25, 2020) – Under the leadership of Dr. Bernard Arulanandam, Vice President for Research, Economic Development, and Knowledge Enterprise (REDKE), staff and key stakeholders have initiated the process of creating the division’s next ten-year strategic plan, to be delivered later this spring to President Eighmy.
Deemed “Accelerate 2030”, this document will provide a path forward for the advancement of UTSA’s Knowledge Enterprise. Accelerate 2025, released in 2014, will be sunset as UTSA has reached or will reach all of its goals ahead of schedule.
These accomplishments include the creation of a Scholarly Awards and Memberships Incentive Program and the Academy of Distinguished Researchers; successful cluster hiring in cyber, brain health, data analytics and artificial intelligence, leading to the launch of transformative research programs and facilities such as the Brain Health Consortium, National Security Collaboration Center and the School of Data Science. As the first in Texas to receive an NSF Innovation Corps award (I-Corps™ node designation), UTSA provided a foundation for its campus-wide innovation ecosystem, now with 15 teams having gone through the national cohort program since 2015 and recognition as a hub for discovery.
Accelerate 2030 will be REDKE’s roadmap for the next ten years. It includes a series of pathways designed to steer the knowledge enterprise to grow in a viable and sustainable manner that benefits students, researchers, partners and our broader stakeholder community by tackling great societal challenges to improve the well-being of all.
The pathways are:
1. Human Capital Development
2. Outreach and Engagement
3. Rewarding Scholarly Excellence
4. Transformative Research Programs
5. Enhancing Research Infrastructure
6. Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Fellows
7. Innovation and Economic Development
8. Communication
Initial goals include achieving access to the National Research University Fund (NRUF) and being classified a Carnegie R1 institution; to be in the top tier of HSIs without a Medical School in the U.S.; reach and surpass $300M in R&D expenditures; among others.
To foster broad inclusion, the teams are focused on convergence, diversity, entrepreneurship, and societal impact as they collect and shape their pathways. As such, the VPREDKE is asking the UTSA community for feedback in further developing Accelerate 2030. Campus participation will be crucial as the strategic plan is shaped to transform UTSA’s research community and innovation ecosystem.
To participate and share your thoughts, visit the Accelerate 2030 page, which is where the campus community will be apprised of the progress of the strategic plan. The team values the input of the UTSA community and hopes everyone will participate in advancing this strategic planning process for the knowledge enterprise.
