Each year a symposium or workshop will be held at the ITSV facilities. The annual workshop will look at regional, not national problems, because real world complex problems transcend national borders.  A multi-national group of scientists, engineers, economists, sociologists, psychologists, business and management experts from diverse disciplines will team together to explore creative solutions, techniques, and methodologies which can assist developing and underdeveloped countries. Researchers will be invited to attend from all over the world. It is anticipated about 20-30 researchers will be selected each year to attend.

Finding the right people will be the job of ITSV Fellow members. ITSV Fellows will be located in each country and they will search for the right people to recommend. The selected researchers from around the world will bring their ideas to present during the workshop. Field researchers will make their presentations based on direct experience. No one can truly understand this type of problem without such personal experience. Researchers in industrialized countries may have limited insight but researchers from developing and under-developed nations can offer a much broader perspective. They will lead participants in identifying the real problems. As mentioned before, the emphasis will be on under-developed countries, but some issues could be presented by industrial nations. In this way, the proposals will be solidly based on the real problems that people are actually experiencing, not imagined problems created for the sole purpose of writing a proposal and obtaining funding. 

Research topics will be aimed at specific unstructured problems of developing and under-developed nations, such as, water crisis, energy problems, pollution problems, issues related to transportation, humanitarian needs, security, natural disasters, health, international development, ethnic violence and terrorism, military conflict, and emergency response which are among the many global unstructured problems facing mankind in the 21st century.

Each year a small set of problems will be selected for bid. The type of proposal will generally be an unsolicited proposal. Solicited proposals inject disciplinary requirements and diminish  transdisciplinary effectiveness. Unsolicited proposals are often more difficult to win because funding agencies want to specify the topics. Therefore, the proposal teams will often submit a larger number of proposals than they expect to win. 

If a problem is identified and believed worthy of funding, the ITSV will seek funding from the private or governmental sources. This is a systematic approach to research funding.  Proposals are selected and developed based on real problems then targeted towards favorable funding entities. If the vision in the proposal is feasible, and funding is secured, the project begins. If not, another one is pursued. Hence, a steady flow of projects is always in the works.  If this type of research collaboration is carried out on a considerable scale, it will make major contributions to social improvement, growth, and developing economics in many deserving regions. The ITSV will seek funding for the annual workshop from international  funding organizations and partially funded by ITSV endowment.

The ITSV will not only advance state-of-the-art of transdisciplinary sciences, but also be of enormous help to humanity. It brings people together in a collaborative way based on transdisciplinary principles of engineering and science. It begins with little steps, testing each idea and proposed solution as an integral part of the process. Knowledge is advanced while people's lives are improved. And best of all, transdisciplinary science and engineering will advance in practical and meaningful ways.

ITSV will develop and maintain an internal organization (i.e., a proposal factory) to churn out and track proposals based on selected and approved project ideas. Proposal specialists will provide the full time effort to take project ideas and development them into full fledged proposals ready for submission to funding entities. The proposal specialists will work in concert with researchers through the collaborative network provided by ITSV. Proposal specialists will also identify and make contact with potential funding entities and provide feedback to researchers during proposal development.