The Australian Olympic Committee formed the Australian Institute of Winter Sports (AIWS) after the Nagano Winter Olympics in 1998, to enable the development of elite performances in winter sports by Australian athletes, through the provision of adequate funding, world-class sports programming and technical coaching.
On July 1st 2001, the organisation was renamed to become the Olympic Winter Institute of Australia (OWI).
The OWI identity represents a strong tie to the Olympic family in Australia. The Australian Olympic Committee provides over 50% of the total funds for the operation of the OWI and plans to increase the sponsorship activities of the Institute in a synergy with the marketing of Olympic properties in Australia.
The OWI is a partnership program of the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) and receives considerable support from the Australian Sports Commission and benefits from the sport programs and from the many experts based at the AIS in Canberra.
The OWI also works closely with the individual sport National Federations and State Institutes of Sport, to supply an overall National technical direction for the individual sport throughout the athlete pathway in Australia.
While it is clearly the role of the OWI to operate elite programming, the OWI will provide technical assistance to the National Federations for the task of developing the elite athletes of tomorrow with the very best technical assistance possible.
The clear objective of the OWI is focusing resources on the areas where the best results and medals can be achieved at the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games in 2010. Also important is the provision of experiences and fundamentals during the OWG quadrennial period, which may increase the possible medal tally at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games. | 
