Civic Innovation Challenge

与MetroLab Network的这项合作协议旨在为公民创新挑战(CIC)以及更广泛的S&CC研究生态系统建设能力，CIC是智能互联社区(S；CC)领域的研究和行动竞赛。在国家科学基金会S与CC项目的基础上，CIC旨在扭转社区与大学之间的动态，要求社区找出适合创新的公民优先事项，并与研究人员合作解决这些优先事项。CIC将帮助弥合研究和部署之间的差距，确保研究在允许对影响进行现实测试和评估的背景下进行。其特点包括聘请其他以S和CC为重点的资助者作为合作伙伴；缩短公民研究项目的典型时间表；以及培养围绕特定问题陈述组织起来的队列，以鼓励团队之间共享信息。MetroLab将与智慧城市实验室合作，通过外联、能力建设、对最终入围者和获胜者的支持和规划以及联合资助者参与，为CIC提供支持。CIC是一个转变公民研究的机会。它将实现数据驱动、研究知情的社区，让居民参与这一过程，并通过在受使用启发的研究的资助者和公民创新的资助者之间找到协同作用，建立一个更有凝聚力的研究到创新的管道。它将为更广泛、更灵活的研究兴趣和公民优先事项的交换奠定基础，这将创造新的合作实例，并引入技术和社会科学发现的新领域。CIC旨在支持变革性项目，同时培养合作精神。支持CIC的具体活动包括为社区和大学团队举办“新兵训练营”，以加强它们的伙伴关系和项目。它还将涉及培养以特定领域为导向的“实践社区”，以促进知识共享和跨站点协作。这项工作的长期影响将包括更深入的跨部门和地区合作；改善信息共享和最佳实践开发；以及从美国各地城市和社区的研究成果中获得更大影响。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This cooperative agreement with MetroLab Network aims to build capacity for the Civic Innovation Challenge (CIC), a research and action competition in the Smart & Connected Communities (S&CC) domain, as well as the broader S&CC research ecosystem. Building off of NSF's S&CC program, the CIC aims to flip the community-university dynamic, asking communities to identify civic priorities ripe for innovation and to partner with researchers to address those priorities. The CIC will help bridge the gap between research and deployment, ensuring that research is conducted in a context that allows for realistic testing and evaluation of impact. Features include engagement of other S&CC-focused funders as partners; shortening the typical timeline of civic research projects; and fostering cohorts organized around specific problem statements to encourage sharing of information across teams. MetroLab will work with Smart Cities Lab to support the CIC through outreach, capacity building, support and programming for finalists and winners, and joint-funder engagement. The CIC is an opportunity to transform civic research. It will enable data-driven, research-informed communities, engage residents in the process, and build a more cohesive research-to-innovation pipeline by finding synergies between funders of use-inspired research and funders of civic innovation. It will lay a foundation for a broader and more fluid exchange of research interests and civic priorities that will create new instances of collaboration and introduce new areas of technical and social scientific discovery. The CIC is designed to support transformative projects while fostering a collaborative spirit. The specific activities supporting the CIC include "boot camps" for teams of communities and universities to strengthen their partnerships and projects. It will also involve the cultivation of "communities-of-practice" oriented around specific domains, to facilitate knowledge-sharing and cross-site collaboration. The long-term impacts of this work will include deeper collaborations across sectors and regions; improved information sharing and best practices development; and greater impact from research outcomes in cities and communities around the United States.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.