Bridging NSF Science Research, Education, and Innovation

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Bridging NSF Science Research and InnovationInternationally, there has been a resounding call for publicly funded science research "to increase its contribution to innovation, economic performance and the fulfillment of social needs" (OECD 2004). In order to do so, there is a need to examine new strategies that will bridge NSF science research efforts, and state and local governments' desire to innovate in order to improve their citizens economic and social well being. This project lays the groundwork for new NSF initiatives that seek to bridge research and innovation more explicitly. The prototype and attendant research that it provides will serve to stimulate dialogue on innovative approaches to highlighting and strengthening NSF's role in innovation. This prototype will serve as a precursor to a fully developed web site should NSF decide to move in this direction. This project addresses the following research questions:1. What Web design structures, themes, resources, and functionalities would enable NSF, and its partners in state government and industry to highlight the "innovation chain" between NSF funded science research and innovation?2. What is the nature (in terms of content and structure) of similar Websites designed by other agencies (e.g. OECD) or other countries (e.g. Canada, Australia, UK) to report on and to highlight the relationship of science research to economic development, quality of life, and educational policy?3. What challenges involving both technical and human infrastructure would need to be addressed to move from such a prototype to a fully supported website that could be maintained, updated, and facilitated over time, and engage a large constituency of NSF PIs, state and local policy makers, and the public at large? The project includes formative research and a needs assessment, development and delivery of a prototype intended to stimulate feedback and suggestions for further development from potential users, a research report based of a comparative analysis of similar efforts within the US, Canada, Australia, and England, and a recommendations report that synthesizes what we have learned and documents issues that would need to be addressed in the future should NSF determine that a full website be developed.