Science2Society: Efficient innovations for European society

How can universities, research institutes, industrial firms, public institutions and society work together as efficiently as possible to create marketable innovations for Europe? In the European Union Science2Society project, the VIRTUAL VEHICLE K2 center seeks to answer this question, with 17 partners from seven countries. The overriding project goal is to investigate innovation processes, methods and formats for collaboration, improve their effectiveness in society and thus make Europe more competitive.

Publicly subsidised research projects are a common form of cross-organisational collaboration, intended to transform new ideas into solutions for societal challenges. But far too often, valuable research output gets lost in complex innovation and economic systems, and the new solutions never make it to market. Why this happens and how to prevent it is one of the core questions of the EU project Science2Society.

International and cross-organisational innovations

Science2Society aims to analyse and understand European innovation systems, looking for leverage points within these systems that will enable the development of more innovative and effective solutions. The focus is on filtering out the cross-organisational collaboration approaches that best achieve their targets – those that generate actual added value and bring research results to market faster.

The project unites universities, industrial firms, research and technology organisations (RTOs) and SMEs from across Europe. It is supported by large networks at EU level, such as the European University Association (EUA) and the European Industrial Research Management Association (EIRMA).

The deliverable: Good practice guidelines

In the course of seven pilot projects, Science2Society will carefully examine various innovation processes and collaboration formats, with a focus on open innovation. From this basis, the initiative will deliver guidelines for shaping collaboration between research, industry, public institutions and society that achieve optimal research results and minimise the risk of failure.

VIRTUAL VEHICLE is a Science2Society project partner and responsible for one of the seven pilot projects. The experts in Graz, Austria will develop “good practices” that demonstrate how cross-organisational research teams can address industrial and societal challenges as efficiently as possible. The focus is on the following questions: How can cross-organisational teams be initiated? And how can you motivate the team members to share their ideas, information and knowledge?

Impacts and effects

The Science2Society consortium will publish project results across Europe. The most effective innovation processes and methods, and the best collaboration formats, will be made available to a wide audience within the European research sector in the form of good practice guidelines. This will strengthen Europe’s innovation and competitiveness.

 

 

 

 

The Science2Society project results will demon-strate how cross-organisational research teams can address industrial and societal challenges as effectively as possible. Source: Science2Society