How can the tangible and intangible benefits of blue skies/excellence-based research be quantified, and what is the best approach?
Background
BEIS plans to boost productivity and improve lives by tackling society’s Grand Challenges in life sciences, artificial intelligence, automation and space. By investing in R&D and innovation, we will unleash potential and work towards making the UK a science superpower. To do this, BEIS needs research to better understand:
Next steps
Get in touch with ari.comment@go-science.gov.uk
Source
This question was published as part of the set of ARIs in this document:
Related UKRI funded projects
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Serendipity in Science, Technology and Innovation
I present the Serendipity proposal, with SPRU (Sussex, UK) and Columbia (NYC, USA), to conduct a body of frontier work on the role, management and impact of serendipity on research performance. The project addresses majo...
Funded by: ESRC
Why might this be relevant?
The project explores the concept of serendipity in research, which is related to the unpredictability and potential benefits of blue skies research, but does not directly address how to quantify these benefits.
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Science and technology in the service of the State: Understanding mission-oriented research systems in a changing world
Mission-oriented science and technology - that is Government funded science and technology in direct support of the goals or missions of the state - has a long history and accounts for a great deal of public spending on ...
Funded by: ESRC
Why might this be relevant?
The project focuses on mission-oriented research systems, which is not directly related to the question about quantifying the benefits of blue skies research.
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Understanding the relative valuations of research impact: Applying best-worst scaling experiments to survey the public & biomedical/health researchers
Research Councils "encourage researchers to consider the potential contribution that their research can make to the economy and society from the outset, and the resources required to carry out appropriate and projec...
Funded by: MRC
Why might this be relevant?
The project aims to understand the relative valuations of research impact, which could be a method to quantify the benefits of blue skies research, but it does not specifically address this type of research.