The Socioeconomic Studies (SES) endeavour to augment traditional impact metrics and build upon them to gain fresh insights into assessing the potential of European Research Infrastructure Innovation Ecosystems (ERI-IEs) like ATTRACT. Recently, the eight SES took part in their interim workshop at Vrije University Amsterdam, where the primary aim was to evaluate their progress, facilitate collaboration, and resolve any pragmatic issues.
The workshop also aimed to generate an artefact capable of outlining the multi-dimensional impact of the SES consortium at a policy level and to offer recommendations that could prove beneficial to both future editions of the ATTRACT initiative and co-innovation ecosystems in general. Consequently, the team members participated in a World Café session, convening in small groups to share ideas on the following questions:
- What novel theories or conceptualizations of value are you currently developing to enhance our understanding of the socioeconomic value of ERI-IEs?
- How can your ATTRACT SES findings be operationalized to create tangible value?
- What insights from the collective SES consortium can be effectively shared to influence decisions made by policymakers?
- What characteristics should define the next generation of ATTRACT?
After collaborative discussions between the eight research teams, multiple insights were compiled and categorized within a detailed report. While grounded in the workshop, the report serves as a valuable resource for furthering our understanding of how-to better measure and realize the full socioeconomic potential of ERI-IEs such as ATTRACT.
A snapshot of the SES Consortium’s impact
To understand the insights generated during the session, this Table offers a summary of the perspectives shared by the SES team members in response to the initial three questions. It underscores noteworthy findings, research topics, and tangible outcomes geared toward propelling science commercialization forward.
The summary emphasizes the importance of strategic thinking, systemic tools, and experimental approaches. In addition, it highlights work by the SES in exploring new methods for entrepreneurial skills development, implementing diversity measures, and assessing the socioeconomic impact of ATTRACT interventions, offering practical outputs like handbooks, guidelines, and training materials.
Early recommendations for the next generation of ATTRACT
This Figure introduces a set of recommendations stratified across three levels within ATTRACT. These recommendations include integrating ATTRACT into broader initiatives to facilitate scalable impact, a call to infuse design research mindsets into R&D&I projects for user-centric development and facilitating experimentation and ongoing feedback loops in the R&D&I projects–enabling rapid iterations across various support types beyond financial aspects.
Moreover, given that co-innovation is one of ATTRACT’s pillars, the SES emphasized the need for heightened early-stage interactions across the entire ecosystem to foster continuous collaboration.
For more information about the Socioeconomic Studies, visit here.
