Enhancing industry-academia knowledge exchange in Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) (CSA)

Expected Outcome

• Increased innovation capabilities for industry by harnessing the potential of Social Sciences and Humanities, including the Arts, to provide effective solutions to companies' research and innovation challenges and organisational development.
• Improved strategies to bring new products and technologies to the industry environment and ultimately to the market.
• By facilitating industry exposure, SSH researchers’ better understanding of industry needs and opportunities for collaboration.

Scope

This action aims to leverage the strengths of social sciences, humanities and arts (SSH) to address companies' specific needs, fostering a dynamic and productive industry-academia co-creation for knowledge valorisation. This action will implement SSH - industry co-creation (for example hackathons, team-based approaches, targeted mentorship and exchange programmes etc) focussing on specific challenges from industry and SMEs including, but not limited to understanding the socio-technical implications of new technologies and innovations, broadening the perspectives of companies’ strategic actions, creating a deeper understanding of customer needs, legal requirements and pathways to the market, strengthening the integration of social, economic and cultural inequality considerations into industry practices and innovation processes, developing new ideas and innovations and contributing to organisational development, sustainability and long-term profitability.

The action will cover the following activities:

• Developing a methodology for understanding how various needs from industry, SMEs and customers can be addressed by knowledge exchanges with SSH researchers and students.
• Service to industry and SMEs including spinoffs and startups to support solving company challenges with international teams of SSH researchers and students.
• A study to tackle the key questions concerning the technical and conceptual feasibility of Industry-Academia knowledge exchange with SSH to improve innovation management and organisational development.