Why do we need science-based co-creation?

For many years the transfer, exchange and collaboration of knowledge and technology between academia and industry have been discussed as an important means of generating commercial value. The underlying rationale for such collaborations is that knowledge and technology from academia lead to firms’ competitive advantage. What has received less attention in the literature, so far, is a science-based collaborative approach for addressing societal challenges. In particular, we focus on collaborations among different actors - ranging from academics, businesses, policy makers, intermediaries and society - who devote shared resources, competences and capabilities in developing unique solutions to economic and societal challenges. The specific domain of a such process - that demands thinking beyond the knowledge transfer or creation expected to produce business value - is framed as “co-creation”. This paper outlines a conceptual framework by capturing the heterogeneity of science-based co-creation and its determinants. In the paper, the concept of co-creation is positioned in the various strands of innovation literature which refer to collaboration across different domains, highlighting the uniqueness of co-creation. We suggest focussing on a distinctive character of co-creation: the production of both business value and social values that emerges with different forms of innovation, reach and prominence. While business value has its own metric in a monetary scale, when society is considered, metrics should refer to the many different dimensions that have been impacted on, leading to many social values (in plural). The paper highlights research gaps to further our knowledge on co-creation and suggests policy implications to support effective mutual interactions across science, technology and society

Basic Research In Russia: Human Resources And Funding

This paper describes the current status and recent trends of basic research in Russia, measured in resource terms. The extensive growth in the numbers of R&D institutions, researchers and investment until the late 1970s provided the creation of an extremely large R&D base which was greater in scale than most of the industrially developed countries. It firstly concerns substantial highly-qualified human resources which made Russia famous for considerable achievements in basic research and military-oriented technologies. The transition to a market economy has a strong influence on the resources of R&D in Russia. Changes in the objectives of economic, social, and political progress reflect in transforming the institutional structure of the economy, the fast growth of the private sector, the conversion of military industries, and the gradual integration of Russia into the world economy. These processes take place in conditions of economic recession, rapid inflation, a growing deficit of the state budget, a worsening social situation, and political instability. Further progress of basic research in such a critical economic situation faces significant difficulties which should be observed in order to formulate an appropriate policy in this area. The author is grateful to the Economic Transition and Integration (ETI) Project at IIASA for providing technical support. 2 Peculiarities of Basic Research Organizatio

Science, Technology and Innovation Policy for the FuturePotentials and Limits of Foresight Studies /

XVIII, 292 p. 48 illus., 6 illus. in color.onlin