The center was established by Dr. Ramesh Kolluru, Vice President for Research, Innovation and Economic Development at UL Lafayette, to provide a collaborative entrepreneurial environment where the university, partner universities, the State, and the business community can come together to innovate, create value and make Louisiana a better place to live, work and do business.
 
CBIT is housed within Abdalla Hall, located in the University Research Park. Its location facilitates easy access to the centers clients while providing access to advanced technology infrastructure including supercomputing, visualization and high-speed fiber-optic communications.      

The center collaborates with the various federal, state, local governmental agencies and organizations within the park and beyond, to become a "Steward of Place”.  

Recognition     

2019

The Informatics Research Institute partnered Congressman Clay Higgins to host the Congressional App Challenge August 2019 - December 2019.

2018

CajunCodeFest 6.0 focused on the opioid crisis. The Summit and Challenge were April 13 & 14, 2018.

2017

CajunCodeFest 5.0 focuses on Smart Communities during the annual competition March 29 - April 1, 2017.

2016

The fourth annual CajunCodeFest competition named a winner in November 2015.

2015

The CajunCodeFest began as a 27-hour competition, but in its fourth year transformed into a longer challenge to encourage innovators to begin startups with their new product. The winning team earned a chance to present their final product to Angel Investors. The competition focusing on diabetes, began in November of 2015 and ended on April 2016.

2014

The third annual CajunCodeFest competition, focusing on Aging in Place and the Internet of Things. In 2014, the event added plenary sessions from the national leaders in healthcare that spoke on the latest technology for Aging in Place. In 2014, high school and middle school students were encouraged to join the competition. A team of 13-14 year olds from the David Thibodeaux STEM academy took home the Best Student Team award.        

2013

The second annual CajunCodeFest focused on encouraging patents to Own Your Own Health. Winners took home over $40,000 worth of prizes and gifts.

The CajunCodeFest won the Innov8 Award from the Greater Lafayette Chamber of Commerce for its role in initiating healthcare innovation in the community.

2012

Dr. Kolluru launched an annual health care coding competition looking for the next innovative idea (app, software, device, etc.) in Louisiana, the CajunCodeFest started a revolution in health care innovation in Louisiana resulting in new collaborations across the state. The first competition focused on childhood obesity and winning team with the best idea took home the grand prize of $25,000. Other teams took home gifts, cash and prizes in other categories. 

In the wake of the inaugural CajunCodeFest, the Lafayette Living Lab for Health Innovation was created in 2012 as a testbed for the next generation of networks and applications in health care.  Lafayette is recognized as a US Ignite community for its fiber optic network paving the way for future innovation in the city.  

2003

The Center was recognized by former Governor Mike Foster with the Lantern Award for contributions to economic development in Louisiana.