RENCI's current mission is: "to develop and deploy advanced technologies to enable research discoveries and practical innovations.

Mr. Blatecky formerly served as executive director of the San Diego Supercomputer Center and head of the NSF Middleware initiative.

RENCI's initial mission statement was: to serve as a multidisciplinary institute bridging academe, commerce and society to enrich and empower human potential, create multi-institutional partnerships, and develop and deploy world-leading computational infrastructure.In December 2005, RENCI received $5.9M in funding from the State of North Carolina for FY2005-2006 and $11.8M in recurring funds for "staff support, computer operations and equipment."

RENCI's initial focus was on applying cyber technologies and advanced analytics to coastal disaster planning, mitigation, and response.

The process led to a revised mission statement: The Renaissance Computing Institute, a multi-institutional organization, brings together multidisciplinary experts and advanced technological capabilities to address pressing research issues and to find solutions to complex problems that affect the quality of life in North Carolina, our nation and the world.In 2009, Stanley C. Ahalt, PhD, was appointed to the position of director.

Dr. Krishnamurthy was previously the director of research and scientific development at OSC and associate professor in the Department of Computer and Electrical Engineering at OSU.

A second key activity was the founding of the Water Science Software Institute (WSSI), which was co-founded by RENCI and the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC) in September 2012.

RENCI has a number of active research programs that are aimed at developing and deploying advanced computing and networking capabilities.

For example, the open source ExoGENI (Exo-Global Environment for Network Innovation) is being developed as part of the NSF-funded GENI initiative.

Many of RENCI's projects in the Environmental Sciences focus on hydrology, coastal storm surges, and advanced modeling to assist in disaster preparedness.

These technologies include the GMW (Genetic Medical Workflow) Engine, which was funded in part by the NIH and provides end-to-end capture, analysis, validation, and reporting of WGS and WES data.

AnnoBot consists of Python modules and software driver code configured to provide automated monitoring and retrieval of external data sources for annotation updates.

CHAT (Convergent Haplotype Association Tagging) is a software algorithm that allows for the identification of moderately penetrant genomic variants using cross-population genetic structures.

The NCDS was established by RENCI in February 2013 as a public/private partnership of leading universities, governmental and non-profit agencies, and businesses devoted to advancing data science, which the NCDS defines as "the systematic study of the organization and use of digital data in order to accelerate discovery, improve critical decision-making processes, and enable a data-driven economy.

The NCDS works toward this mission by providing intellectual leadership and hosting numerous workshops, an academic-industry faculty fellowship, a Data Matters Summer Short Course series, student career events, invited talks, and summit meetings.

As of June 2015, the NCDS comprises 15 member organizations, with 8 based in North Carolina and 4 multinational companies with a strong presence in the Research Triangle Park, NC area.

The mission of the consortium is "to ensure the sustainability of the integrated Rule-Oriented Data System (iRODS) and to further its adoption and continued evolution.