“The president has been working with these ideas for a long time now,” said James K. Glassman, a former top State Department official now serving as the institute’s founding executive director. “He wanted to do something very different from other former presidents, and that is to create a research institute that’s independent, nonpartisan and scholarly and that will have an impact on the real world.”

Image Former President George W. Bush on Nov. 4, visiting Tokyo. Credit... Shuji Kajiyama/Associated Press

Although Mr. Bush has given several speeches since leaving office, most have been out of the country, closed to the news media and reminiscent in tone. This is the first event where he has invited reporters to announce a new venture. Organizers expect as many as 1,500 students, donors and others to attend.

The former president’s approach contrasts with that of his vice president, Dick Cheney, who has become a vigorous public critic of President Obama’s national security policies. The institute will be a vehicle for Mr. Bush to re-enter the national conversation and advocate ideas in a less politicized way, advisers said. The goal, Mr. Glassman said, is to “extend principles and work that were accomplished during the administration.”

The institute will be housed along with the presidential library and museum in a building on the S.M.U. campus to be completed by 2013. The Bush foundation has secured $212 million in pledges and contributions toward its goal of $300 million by next year’s groundbreaking, according to two people who were privy to the results but not authorized to discuss them on the record.

Mr. Bush is also completing a book describing some of the most important decisions in his life. He is about five-sixths through with the manuscript, which he is drafting with Chris Michel, a former White House speechwriter, for publication next fall, according to his office.