Scientists created and pioneered the Internet, so its natural that they would be among the main proponents and early adopters of web 2.0. In fact, there is arguably no area where web 2.0 principles and technologies are more vital than in the research communities that working to solve the long list of critical issues that will confront humanity over the next century.

The California Institute of Technology (CalIT2) is the latest scientific institution to embrace web 2.0. Its new initiative is a research intelligence portal where faculty can harness data mining, visualization, and social media tools to identify emerging areas of research opportunity and connect to sources of funding. As an institution that is responsible for more than its fair share of breakthrough innovations, its only surprising that it didn’t happen sooner.

Calit2′s Jerry Sheehan, who leads the project, says the site is “tapping the emerging generation of web technologies to enable the collective intelligence of Calit2 researchers to be brought to bear in examining new research opportunities and collaborations.”

The research intelligence portal is open for browsing, but the data about funding opportunities is currently closed to everyone except Calit2 staff. That’s unfortunate, but not unexpected. The fierce global competition for research funding is such that leading research institutions must work harder than ever to maintain their competitive advantage. In this case, the boundaries of collaboration extend only so far.