Scaling Social Science Research & Innovation

扩大社会科学研究规模

基本信息

批准号：
MR/T01928X/1
负责人：
Rachel Carey
金额：
$ 109.3万
依托单位：
Zinc Ventures Limited
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Fellowship
财政年份：
2020
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2020 至无数据
项目状态：
未结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=MR%2FT01928X%2F1
关键词：
Scaling Social Science Research Innovation

项目摘要

There is a wealth of knowledge from social science research that can inform an understanding of the societal challenges currently facing the UK. Increasingly, there is a range of exciting technological innovations that could be harnessed to develop effective solutions. However, at present, these pockets of knowledge and emerging technologies sit in siloes - fragmented across disciplines and sectors. Zinc provides a platform to bring together social science and technologies (from life, computer and material sciences) with creative design and entrepreneurship, with the aim of tackling big societal issues through new, scalable products and services. Over the last two years, we have piloted a series of research and innovation activities that have drawn upon evidence, theory and methodologies from social science. These have included: embedding and generating research in new Zinc businesses; launching a Research Fellowship programme where researchers come to Zinc full-time to work alongside our entrepreneurs; establishing a network of experts (called 'Visiting Fellows') who engage with Zinc and Zinc businesses on an ad-hoc basis, creating opportunities for researchers to work in new businesses (through founding and advisory roles), building partnerships with universities at both the 'Zinc' and 'Zinc business' level; building relationships with research funders; disseminating learning; and creating a methodology for social science-based innovation. We have demonstrated proof-of-concept on all these activities; however, our capacity to 'scale up' has been limited. This Fellowship would allow the Applicant to establish a new scale-up team with the aim of creating, testing, scaling and showcasing a world-leading approach to commercial research & innovation for the social sciences. Specifically, the scale-up will focus on four missions, developing over 100 new businesses which provide consumers and businesses with new products and services. The missions are to:- Improve mental and emotional health;- Unlock new opportunities for people and places impacted by automation and globalisation;- Add quality to later life;- Enable individuals to halve their negative environmental impacts.This programme of work would contribute to our knowledge about the social problems we are setting out to tackle (helping to develop and test potential solutions, as well as to highlight gaps in knowledge that may require further research/investment), the process of business creation (helping to build our knowledge of how to build mission-driven businesses), and the process of social science-based research and innovation. Its outputs will be of potential benefit to a range of audiences, including users of the products/services that are developed, entrepreneurs and start-ups, and the research and innovation ecosystem. It also has the potential for broader societal and economic impact in the UK, through the creation of successful and impactful startups, as well as the opportunity to build on the UK's existing strengths in social science, creative design, and technology to build a global centre of excellence for social science-based innovation.

从社会科学研究中有很多知识，可以告知人们对英国目前面临的社会挑战的理解。越来越多的人可以利用一系列令人兴奋的技术创新来开发有效的解决方案。然而，目前，这些知识和新兴技术的口袋位于孤岛上 - 跨学科和部门分散。锌提供了一个平台，将社会科学和技术（从生活，计算机和材料科学）与创意设计和企业家精神结合在一起，以通过新的，可扩展的产品和服务来解决大型社会问题。在过去的两年中，我们试行了一系列研究和创新活动，这些研究和创新活动借鉴了社会科学的证据，理论和方法。其中包括：在新锌业务中的嵌入和生成研究；启动一项研究奖学金计划，研究人员全职与企业家一起工作；建立一个专家网络（称为“访问研究员”），他们在临时与锌和锌业务互动，为研究人员创造机会在新业务（通过创立和咨询角色）工作，与“锌”和“锌业务”水平的大学建立合作伙伴关系；与研究资助者建立关系；传播学习；并为基于社会科学的创新创建方法。我们已经在所有这些活动中证明了概念验证。但是，我们“扩大规模”的能力受到限制。该奖学金将使申请人能够建立一个新的扩大团队，以创建，测试，扩展和展示社会科学的商业研究和创新方法。具体而言，扩大规模将集中在四个任务上，开发100多家新业务，为消费者和企业提供新产品和服务。 The missions are to:- Improve mental and emotional health;- Unlock new opportunities for people and places impacted by automation and globalisation;- Add quality to later life;- Enable individuals to halve their negative environmental impacts.This programme of work would contribute to our knowledge about the social problems we are setting out to tackle (helping to develop and test potential solutions, as well as to highlight gaps in knowledge that may require further research/investment), the process of business creation (helping to build our knowledge of how建立以任务为导向的业务）以及基于社会科学的研究和创新的过程。它的输出将对一系列受众群体具有潜在的好处，包括开发的产品/服务的用户，企业家和初创企业以及研究与创新生态系统。通过创建成功和有影响力的初创公司，它还具有在英国更广泛的社会和经济影响，以及建立英国在社会科学，创意设计和技术中建立社会科学创新卓越中心的现有优势的机会。