Productive interactions as a precondition for social impact of research

Abstract

In this paper we present the results and conclusions of the SIAMPI project, in relation to the ‘state of the art’ on assessing research impact. Early 2009, a team of researchers from four different countries started a two year research program called SIAMPI which was funded by the Science in Society program of FP7. The main goal was to find new ways of assessing social impact of research. The SIAMPI team’s focus was on ‘productive interactions’ between research and society, which they saw as a necessary condition for achieving social impact. A number of case studies were conducted in different fields and different countries, and in various organisational settings. Through these, SIAMPI aimed to (1) identify productive interactions between researchers and society; (2) improve the understanding of the necessity of productive interactions as a condition for research to have a social impact; and (3) develop approaches and tools for the evaluation of social impacts.