It gives me great pleasure to write the first blog post on what we expect to be a long and successful initiative at the World Bank. After looming under the radar for a few weeks without being noticed, we have quickly been thrust into public view due to two wonderful blog posts (@FreeGovInfo and @PSD blog) by our colleagues at the IMF and the IFC.

Taking cue from our fellow bloggers, we have decided to maintain this blog to get you the latest developments on iSimulate @ World Bank. I realize that a lot of you reading this post have already pre-registered with the system and are wondering when complete access will be granted. And though I cannot give you a firm date, I assure you that we are trying to let you in as soon as possible.

However, to make your wait a little more enjoyable, we will use this blog to give you a behind the scenes look into the system. Over the next few weeks, we will take you through the “how and why” of iSimulate @ World Bank and move on to more recent technical developments. Our manager, Hans Timmer, will give you his insights on the next generation of macro-economic modeling using such a system. David Horowitz, lead software developer of iSimulate, will give you a sneak peek into the iSimulate user experience. And with some luck, we will also get some of the World Bank’s economic model developers to write a few posts!

In the meanwhile, please feel free to comment to let us know what you expect from such a system. And thanks very much for being a part of iSimulate @ World Bank. We look forward to a meaningful collaborative experience over the times to come.

p.s. If you haven’t pre-registered for access, please do so right away!

Gauresh Rajadhyaksha is the Project Coordinator for iSimulate @ World Bank