The Centre for Applied Informatics (CAI) has been established to leverage the international opportunity as an early adopter and leading academic research group in applied informatics. Given the applicability of e-research, internet and web services, its purpose is to unite academic and industry expertise for the development of relevant and innovative e-technologies. Whilst the Centre is multidisciplinary in the application areas, it is positioned to generate sustained research output specifically in the e-technology arena with a high commercialisation potential.