The Resource Lab was created by the Transformative Innovation Policy Consortium (TIPC), a multi-country initiative dedicated to how policymakers, academics and funding agencies can orientate science, technology and innovation towards transition and a more sustainable future.
Members aim to transform socio-technical systems for meeting societal needs, such as those for energy, healthcare or food, with the original aims of:
- redirecting the narrative for Science, Technology and Innovation policy away from a focus on economic growth towards a focus on the SDGs and transformation;
- building demonstrators/experiments to explore how to approach, implement and evaluate Transformative Innovation Policy using a TIPC methodology; and
- generating a network of people and organisations working from transformative perspectives globally.
Agencies invest in a shared infrastructure and substantive programme of work that includes experimentation, research, training and strengthening of capacity – underpinned by the development of open-access learning and resources and a growing knowledge community.
TIPC is coordinated by the Science Policy Research Unit at the University of Sussex Business School (SPRU), in partnership with the Joint Research Centre of the Spanish National Research Council and the Polytechnic University of Valencia (INGENIO CSIC-UPV) and the Utrecht University Centre for Global Challenges (UGlobe).
In its first phase, members and bilateral policy partners have included:
- Business Finland
- Chinese Academy of Science and Technology for Development (CASTED)
- Council for Scientific and Industrial Research – Science and Technology Policy Research Institute, Ghana (CSIR-STEPRI)
- Department of Science and Innovation, South Africa
- Ministry for Higher Education and Research (MESR), Senegal
- Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, Colombia (Minciencias)
- National Commission for Science, Technology and Innovation, Kenya (NACOSTI)
- National Council of Science and Technology, Mexico (CONACyT)
- National Research Foundation, South Africa
- National Secretariat of Science, Technology and Innovation, Panama (SENACYT)
- The Research Council of Norway
- Vinnova, Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems
TIPC has also developed links with hubs, networks of scholars and communities for research and capacity development, including:
- African Network for Economics of Learning, Innovation and Competence Building Systems (AfricaLics)
- Deep Transitions Futures
- DSI/NRF/Newton Fund Trilateral Research Chair in Transformative Innovation, the 4th Industrial Revolution and Sustainable Development
- European Forum for Studies of Policies for Research and Innovation (Eu-SPRI Forum)
- European Institute of Innovation and Technology Climate Knowledge and Innovation Community (EIT Climate-KIC)
- Global Network for Economics of Learning, Innovation, and Competence Building Systems (Globelics)
- Human Sciences Research Council Centre for Science, Technology and Innovation Indicators (HSRC-CeSTII)
- Latin American and Caribbean HUB for Transformative Innovation Policy (HUBLAyCTIP)
- Nordic Institute for Studies in Innovation, Research and Education (NIFU)
- Southern African Development Community
- Sustainability Transitions Research Network (STRN)
- Transformative Innovation Policy Africa Hub
To learn more about the Consortium and its partners and activities, subscribe to the Digital Digest mailing list, visit the TIPC website, or follow activity on LinkedIn or Twitter.