Abstract
The SEQUOIA project was a Support Action tasked with performing an assessment of the potential socio-economic impact of research projects in the area of Software as a Service (SaaS) and Internet of Services (IoS). In addition, it captured and documented this process in order to develop an impact self-assessment methodology for on-going and future research projects to adopt and apply on their own. This final white paper recounts the main learning points and the insights we gained from the project's activities over the past 2 years.
The project stimulated different kinds of discussion and analysis, which are broadly relevant to three kinds of audiences:
* Policy-makers. The analysis of the potential socio-economic relevance of research activities has given us insights in structural project features that may help the achievement of greater socio-economic impact: this view can be relatively easily translated into research policy recommendations for Horizon 2020 (H2020).
* Social scientists. The discourse of impacts raises several ontological and epistemological issues that can be usefully addressed by a theoretical framework based on a constructivist perspective informed by a combination of recent Web 2.0 phenomena and "unusual" perspectives with long historical roots such as economic anthropology.
* The research projects themselves and the general public. In the SEQUOIA reports there are many examples of what we mean by "socio-economic impact" and practical tips on how it can be maximised which current and future projects, and the public at large, may find useful and interesting.
The rest of this white paper, therefore, is written with these three audiences in mind, in a way that is meant to be accessible to all three.
The project stimulated different kinds of discussion and analysis, which are broadly relevant to three kinds of audiences:
* Policy-makers. The analysis of the potential socio-economic relevance of research activities has given us insights in structural project features that may help the achievement of greater socio-economic impact: this view can be relatively easily translated into research policy recommendations for Horizon 2020 (H2020).
* Social scientists. The discourse of impacts raises several ontological and epistemological issues that can be usefully addressed by a theoretical framework based on a constructivist perspective informed by a combination of recent Web 2.0 phenomena and "unusual" perspectives with long historical roots such as economic anthropology.
* The research projects themselves and the general public. In the SEQUOIA reports there are many examples of what we mean by "socio-economic impact" and practical tips on how it can be maximised which current and future projects, and the public at large, may find useful and interesting.
The rest of this white paper, therefore, is written with these three audiences in mind, in a way that is meant to be accessible to all three.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Publication status | Published - 2012 |
| Externally published | Yes |