Policy informatics is the transdisciplinary study of how computation and communication technology leverages information to better understand and address complex public policy and administration problems and realize innovations in governance processes and institutions. The Center addresses complex public policy and administration problems by leveraging cutting-edge computation and communication technology to meaningfully connect people, harness knowledge, and facilitate informed and empowered deliberation, solution-generation, and action.

Rapid advancements in information, computation, communication technology continue to proliferate society and become increasingly embedded in our everyday activities, transforming how we learn, communicate, coordinate, produce, and consume. As the world becomes increasingly complex, interconnected, dynamic, and resource-constrained, so do the public issues with which we must grapple.

In an information-intensive governance environment, advancements in information, computation, and communication technology afford us the possibility to better tackle complex public issues in new and innovative ways that tap into and reflect the reality of this world. In particular, this involves liberating data, collecting the bottom-up generation of big data, modeling and simulating system dynamics of social-environmental interactions, as well as engaging, educating, and empowering public officials, future researchers, and the public-at-large to interact with data and one another in a manner that collectively produces meaningful insights, solutions, and actions to address public issues.