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Listserv Message Center
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New Funding Opportunity in Innovation |
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| Posted by: | Amber Story |
| Title/Position: | Program Director, Social Psychology |
| School/Organization: | National Science Foundation |
| Sent to listserv of: | SPSP, SESP, SPSSI |
| Date posted: | June 1st, 2006 |
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Dear Colleagues,
We would like to draw your attention to a recently posted Dear Colleague letter that describes special opportunities for funding research on the Science of Science Policy. Social Psychology has a great deal to contribute to the study of innovation, and I hope that we are able to take full advantage of this opportunity.
The Dear Colleague letter can be found at:
http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf06028
I am pasting a copy of it below for your convenience.
Sincerely,
Amber Story
___________
Subject: Building the Science of Science Policy: Innovation, Investments and Outcomes
Dear Colleague:
Dr. John Marburger, Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President, has said, “Determining the effectiveness of Federal science policy requires an understanding of the complex linkages between R&D [Research and Development] investments and economic and other variables that lead to innovation, competitiveness, and societal benefits.” The Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE) at the National Science Foundation (NSF) is building this science of science policy by inviting proposals for supplemental funding requests to existing SBE awards, for Small Grants for Exploratory Research (SGERs), and through its regular programs. The long-range goals of SBE's activities are to build a rigorous science of science policy manifest in new understandings of the human dynamics that underlie successful innovation; better understanding of the relations between workforce training and returns on research investments; and the development of the data, metrics and models needed to evaluate returns to private and public sector R&D investments. These scientific advances will, in turn, allow for more effective, evidence-based investment strategies.
Optimizing science and technology investments requires a clear understanding of the source and course of innovations, and their impact on citizens in the U.S. and in other nations. Among the questions that need to be addressed are: How do scientists and engineers generate new ideas? What are the neural, cognitive and social factors that facilitate or inhibit the “Aha!” moments of innovation and discovery? How does communication among scientists and engineers create an environment for the birth and growth of new ideas? What are the cultural, social and geographic contexts of successful innovations? What are the social and cognitive processes underlying the development of curiosity and problem solving skills? What organizational forms and practices facilitate innovation, its transformation into products, and the movement of products to markets? How are societal benefits assessed by aggregating individual well-being? Supported research can include the collection of data and/or the development of models that address such issues as the quantity and quality of the nation’s science and science education investments. Also of interest are linkages between science investments and the products of those investments as well as ways that outputs, including innovation, can be defined and measured at the individual, organizational and societal levels. Specifically, how knowledge of these matters can be channeled into understanding and developing science policy? Proposals might also address the major gaps in the data needed to understand returns to research and development investments, and how these gaps can be filled. Researchers might examine promising ways to model returns to educational, research and development and other science investments, and ways to measure and explain rates of innovation, the science education investments made by people, organizations and nations, and the outcomes of educational investments in terms of individual accomplishments, the development of a scientific workforce, and enhancement of scientific productivity.
Programs in the SBE Divisions of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences (BCS) and Social and Economic Sciences (SES) will accept supplement requests for active awards, proposals for Small Grants for Exploratory Research (SGERs), and through its regular programs. The Grant Proposal Guide contains special instructions for submitting proposals for both supplemental funding requests and SGERs. All proposals must follow the Grant Proposal Guide (http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=gpg) and be submitted electronically via the NSF FastLane system. For full consideration for 2006 funding, supplemental funding requests must be received by 5:00 pm submitter’s local time on July 1.
Prior to submission, the appropriate NSF/SBE Program Officer must be contacted; for information and referral to a Program Officer, please contact Tom Baerwald, Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (tbaerwal@nsf.gov) or Frank Scioli, Social and Economic Sciences fscioli@nsf.gov). Contingent on the type of award, it is anticipated that most funded proposals in FY 2006 will be in the range of $20,000 to $200,000. Interested researchers are also encouraged to think about submitting proposals in FY 2007 when we anticipate greater expenditures for work on this topic.
David Lightfoot
Assistant Director
Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences
National Science Foundation
4201 Wilson Blvd., Suite 995
Arlington, VA 22230
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