Scaling Social Science Research & Innovation

社会科学研究提供了丰富的知识，可以帮助我们了解英国目前面临的社会挑战。越来越多地，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被分散在不同学科和行业的竖井中。锌提供了一个平台，将社会科学和技术(来自生命、计算机和材料科学)与创意设计和创业精神结合在一起，目的是通过新的、可扩展的产品和服务来解决重大社会问题。在过去的两年里，我们试行了一系列研究和创新活动，这些活动借鉴了社会科学的证据、理论和方法。这些措施包括：在新的锌业务中嵌入和产生研究；启动研究奖学金计划，研究人员全职来锌与我们的企业家一起工作；建立一个专家网络(称为“访问研究员”)，与锌和锌业务进行临时接触，为研究人员在新业务中工作创造机会(通过创始和顾问角色)，与大学在“锌”和“锌业务”层面建立合作伙伴关系；与研究资助者建立关系；传播学习；以及创建以社会科学为基础的创新方法。我们在所有这些活动上都进行了概念验证；然而，我们“扩大规模”的能力有限。这一奖学金将允许申请者建立一个新的扩大团队，目的是创建、测试、扩展和展示世界领先的商业研究和社会科学创新方法。具体地说，扩大规模将围绕四个使命，发展100多项新业务，为消费者和企业提供新的产品和服务。我们的使命是：-改善精神和情绪健康；-为受自动化和全球化影响的人和地方释放新的机会；-提高未来生活的质量；-使个人能够将其对环境的负面影响减半。这项工作计划将有助于我们了解我们正在着手解决的社会问题(帮助开发和测试潜在的解决方案，以及强调可能需要进一步研究/投资的知识差距)、创业过程(帮助建立我们对如何建立以使命为导向的企业的知识)，以及以社会科学为基础的研究和创新过程。其成果将使一系列受众潜在受益，包括所开发的产品/服务的用户、企业家和初创企业以及研究和创新生态系统。它还有可能通过创建成功和有影响力的初创企业在英国产生更广泛的社会和经济影响，以及有机会利用英国在社会科学、创意设计和技术方面的现有优势，建立一个基于社会科学的创新的全球卓越中心。

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.