Center of excellence
A center of excellence (COE) is a team, a shared facility or an entity that provides leadership, best practices, research, support and/or training for a focus area.

Due to its broad usage and vague legal precedent, a "center of excellence" in one context may have completely different characteristics from another. The focus area might be a technology (e.g. Java), a business concept (e.g. BPM), a skill (e.g. negotiation) or a broad area of study (e.g. women's health). A center of excellence may also be aimed at revitalizing stalled initiatives.[1] The term may also refer to a network of institutions collaborating with each other to pursue excellence in a particular area.[2] (e.g. the Rochester Area Colleges Center for Excellence in Math and Science). In contrast, in the European defense community, the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats is a response to hybrid warfare on its periphery; the CoE seeks to inform, and also protect its non-NATO components, as well as its non-PESCO members.[3]
Organizations
Within an organization, a center of excellence may refer to a group of people, a department or a shared facility. It may also be known as a competency center or a capability center. Stephen Jenner and Craig Kilford, in Management of Portfolios, mention COE as a coordinating function which ensures that change initiatives are delivered consistently and well, through standard processes and competent staff.[4] In technology companies, the center of excellence concept is often associated with new software tools, technologies or associated business concepts such as Service-oriented architecture or business intelligence.[5][6]
Academia
In academic institutions, a center of excellence often refers to a team with a clear focus on a particular area of research; such a center may bring together faculty members from different disciplines and provide shared facilities.[7]
Australia
In Australia, the Australian Research Council (ARC) Centres of Excellence link a number of institutions with a country and internationally in a specific field of research, funded by government grants.[8]
Philippines
In the Philippines, a center of excellence (COE) is a certification given by the Commission on Higher Education to departments within a higher education institution (e.g. a college within a university) which "continuously demonstrates excellent performance in the areas of instruction, research and publication, extension and linkages and institutional qualifications". Candidates for this certification are referred as centers of development (CODs) by the education body.[9]
Russia

In Russia, the Center of Excellence status (in Russian it is used notion Leading scientific school) is granted by the Council for Grants of the President of the Russian Federation since 1996.[10] To obtain the CoE status, a group of scientists, usually based on a department at a university or a laboratory at an academic institute, and its leader should have a high scientific reputation and should submit an application, which presents a plan of scientific and educational work for the period of two years, to the Council. The Council issues a special certificate of the CoE status to the leader of the group.
Healthcare
In the healthcare sector, the term often refers to a center that provides sufficient and easily accessible medical services to patients.[11]

United States Army
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The Army maintains a Center of Excellence (CoE) and associated Capability Development Integration Directorate (CDID) in:
- Army Acquisition CoE[12] - Huntsville AL
- Aviation CoE - (its CDID),[13] - Fort Rucker AL
- Cyber CoE - (its CDID and Battle Lab),[14] Fort Gordon GA
- Fires CoE - (its CDID and Battle Lab),[15] Fort Sill OK
- Health Readiness CoE[16] - Joint Base San Antonio TX
- Human Resource CoE[17] - Fort Knox KY
- Initial Military Training CoE[18] - Fort Eustis VA
- Intelligence CoE - (its CDID),[19] Fort Huachuca AZ
- Maneuver CoE - (its CDID and Battle Lab),[20] Fort Benning GA
- Maneuver Support CoE - (its CDID and Battle Lab),[21] Fort Leonard Wood MO
- Mission Command CoE[22][23] - (its CDID[24][25] and Battle Lab),[26] Fort Leavenworth KS
- NCO Leadership CoE[27][28] - Fort Bliss TX
- Special operations CoE[29] - Fort Bragg NC
- Sustainment CoE - (its CDID),[30] Fort Lee VA
TRADOC oversees ten of these Centers of Excellence, each focused on a separate area of expertise within the Army. These centers train over 500,000 Soldiers and service members each year.[31]
References
- Mark O. George (2010). The lean six sigma guide to doing more with less. John Wiley and Sons. p. 261. ISBN 978-0-470-53957-6.
- Tarek M. Khalil; L. A. Lefebvre; Robert McSpadden Mason (13 August 2001). Management of technology: the key to prosperity in the third millennium : selected papers from the ninth International Conference on Management of Technology. Emerald Group Publishing. p. 164. ISBN 978-0-08-043997-6. Retrieved 13 February 2012.
- Reid Standish (Jan 18, 2018) Inside a European Center to Combat Russia’s Hybrid Warfare
- Stephen Jenner; Craig Kilford; Office of Government Commerce (January 2011). Management of Portfolios. The Stationery Office. ISBN 978-0-11-331294-8.
- Eric A. Marks (2008). Service-oriented architecture governance for the services driven enterprise. John Wiley & Sons. p. 271. ISBN 978-0-470-17125-7.
- James A. Obrien. Management Information Systems (Special Indian ed.). McGraw-Hill Education (India). p. 315. ISBN 978-0-07-062003-2.
- National Research Council (U.S.). Committee on Materials Science and Engineering: Forging Stronger Links to Users (2000). Materials science and engineering: forging stronger links to users. National Academies Press. p. 139. ISBN 978-0-309-06826-0.
- "ARC Centres of Excellence". Australian Research Council. 1 June 2018. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
- "Centers of Excellence and Centers of Development (COES&CODS)". Commission on Higher Education. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
- the Council for Grants of the President of the Russian Federation
- Farmer, Paul. 2001. The Major Infectious Diseases in the World -- To Treat or Not to Treat? N Engl J Med 345 (3): 209
- Army Acquisition Center of Excellence
- "Aviation CoE - (its CDID)". Archived from the original on 15 October 2018. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
- Cyber CoE - (its CDID)
- Fires CoE - (its CDID and Battle Lab)
- Tammy Griswold, Quality Assurance Officer, HCRoE (May 2, 2019) Rigor by Design: The HRCoE defines rigor, infuses new standards in training The U.S. Army Medical Department Center and School, Health Readiness Center of Excellence
- "Human resource center opens at Fort Knox". Louisville Business First.
- Army Initial Military Training Center of Excellence holds change of responsibility
- Intelligence CoE - no information on its CDID
- Maneuver CoE - (its CDID and Battle Lab)
- "Maneuver Support CoE - (its CDID and Battle Lab)" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 February 2017. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
- Mission Command Center of Excellence (MCCoE)
- Randi Stenson, Mission Command Center of Excellence Public Affairs (1 May 2018)
- Mission Command Center Of Excellence (MC-CoE CDID) Army Joint Support Team realigns under Mission Command CoE
- "TRADOC Analysis Center. Combined Arms training center. Fort Leavenworth". Archived from the original on 2 June 2018. Retrieved 25 May 2019.
- Mission Command Battle Lab,
- NCO LEADERSHIP CENTER OF EXCELLENCE
- DavidCrozier (18 Jun 2020) NCOLCoE presents El Paso Walmart with memorial 22nd NCOLCoE Commandant commemorates 3 Aug 2019 mass shooting incident in El Paso
- U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School
- Sustainment CoE
- TRADOC home page accessdate=2019-05-26
See also
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- Homeland Security Centers of Excellence
- Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance, U.S. Pacific Command
- Rochester Area Colleges Center for Excellence in Math and Science
- Jane Goodall Center for Excellence in Environmental Studies
- Center of Excellence for Stability Police Units
- US Army Sustainment Center of Excellence
- European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats
- Institute of Air Navigation Services (IANS) – ATM training and e-learning