Workshop to Develop a Research Agenda for Service Innovation

该奖项为一个研讨会提供资金，该研讨会将来自不同学科的思想领袖聚集在一起，概述服务创新中的科学和工程研究议程。解决服务问题对经济和社会具有巨大的实际后果，因为(A)美国超过80%的工作岗位在服务部门，大多数科学技术工程和数学(STEM)毕业生在服务部门工作；(B)许多复杂的服务问题抵制传统的优化解决方案；以及(C)由于非技术密集型服务企业的低利润率，私人服务研究投资较低，而且美国的公共投资落后于日本、中国、芬兰和德国等国家。简而言之，寻找服务创新需要新的理论和新的方法来解决服务特有的问题，而很少有学生被教授的服务业知识跟不上服务业STEM工作岗位的快速增长或现代创业机会。对复杂服务和服务创新的有效理解需要一种结合多种方法的新方法，例如借鉴工业工程和运筹学、社会科学和行为科学、信息系统以及计算机科学和计算建模。如果成功，这次研讨会将为国家科学基金会和行业合作伙伴制定未来服务研究和教育的路线图，方法是：(A)阐述服务研究的社会背景，(B)确定服务创新的技术需求和知识差距，以及(C)开发要解决的基础科学和工程问题，以满足需求和填补差距。预期成果还包括在研究界开展新的合作和提高能力，以推进服务的跨学科研究。此外，科学、技术、工程和数学领域对服务教育的一些关注预计将导致跨学科、跨机构的计划。

This award provides funding for a workshop to bring together thought leaders from a variety of disciplines to outline an agenda for scientific and engineering research in service innovation. Solving service problems has enormous practical consequences for the economy and society because (a) more than 80% of jobs in the US are in the service sector, with most Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) graduates working in service; (b) many complex service problems resist traditional optimization solutions; and (c) private investment in service research is low because of low margins in non-technology-intensive service businesses, and the US lags in public investment behind countries such as Japan, China, Finland, and Germany. Simply put, the search for service innovation requires new theories and new methods to address problems unique to services, and what little students are being taught about the service sector has not kept up with the rapid growth of STEM jobs in service or with modern entrepreneurial opportunities. Effective understanding of complex services and innovation in services requires a new approach that combines multiple methods, for example, drawing from industrial engineering and operations research, social and behavioral sciences, information systems, and computer science and computational modeling. If successful, this workshop will develop a roadmap for future service research and education for NSF and industry partners by (a) laying out the societal context for service research, (b) identifying technology needs and knowledge gaps for service innovation, and (c) developing basic science and engineering questions to be addressed to satisfy the needs and fill the gaps. Anticipated outcomes also include new collaborations and increased capacity in the research community for advancing interdisciplinary studies of service. In addition, some focus on education in service from science, technology, engineering, and math fields are expected to result in plans for cross-disciplinary, cross-institution programs.