Agenda
Economic growth depends on scientific and technological innovation, or the continual discovery of new commercially valuable goods and services. But growth also depends on public innovation, or the continual discovery of more effective ways of delivering societally valuable public goods and services like health, education, safety, clean air and water, growth-oriented infrastructure, and even scientific and technological innovation itself.
The Agenda Fund mobilizes the research, policy, and philanthropic communities to identify the most promising opportunities for social and behavioral science R&D to accelerate public innovation.
A research agenda to accelerate public innovation
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Advocates of abundance have identified “failed public policy” as an increasingly significant barrier to growth. State and local policies that fail to effectively deliver critically important public goods and services like health, education, safety, clean air and water, and growth-oriented infrastructure are of particular concern.
In partnership with the 86 campuses in the Social Science Research Council’s College and University Fund for the Social Sciences, we are leveraging the emerging research findings about the determinants of government innovation to design a set of evidence-based initiatives aimed at accelerating state and local government innovation.
The Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018 directed federal agencies to evaluate the efficacy of their policies and programs, enabling agencies to learn what is working and what isn’t, and to iterate towards more effective policies and programs. However, many agencies lack the capacity to execute these evaluations.
Working with the 86 campuses in the SSRC’s College and University Fund for the Social Sciences, we are developing an initiative to accelerate innovation in the federal government by providing opportunities for agencies to incubate and fund Evidence Act research partnerships.
The Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018 directed federal agencies to evaluate the efficacy of their policies and programs, enabling agencies to learn what is working and what isn’t, and to iterate towards more effective policies and programs. However, many agencies lack the capacity to execute these evaluations.
Working with the 86 campuses in the SSRC’s College and University Fund for the Social Sciences, we are developing an initiative to accelerate innovation in the federal government by providing opportunities for agencies to incubate and fund Evidence Act research partnerships.
We know relatively little about the efficacy of universities’ efforts to encourage commercially viable scientific and technological innovation, support the contributions of grant-funded students and early career researchers to scientific and technological innovation after they leave university campuses, and increase and broaden opportunities in critical STEM fields.
Working with the 86 campuses in the SSRC’s College and University Fund for the Social Sciences, we are designing a set of initiatives aimed at generating evidence-based strategies to accelerate universities' contributions to scientific and technological innovation.
About
Nobel Laureate Paul Romer has described the economy as “a huge innovation discovery machine,” producing remarkable advances in well-being through the continual discovery of new commercially valuable goods and services. Economic growth depends on this scientific and technological innovation.
But growth also depends on public innovation, or the continual discovery of more effective ways of delivering societally valuable public goods and services like health, education, safety, clean air and water, infrastructure, and even scientific and technological innovation itself.
There are growing concerns about the lack of public innovation in the US and its potentially dire implications for a future of abundance. But few have proposed plausible and actionable solutions to the problem.
An emerging body of research tells us that public decision makers are more likely to adopt more effective policies and practices when they are engaged as partners in the research projects that produce the evidence of efficacy, helping to define the set of feasible policy alternatives, design new policy interventions, and address potential implementation challenges. Decision makers also prioritize local evidence and local experts; proximity matters for public innovation. The way we communicate evidence to public decision makers also matters for public innovation.
These findings can help us define a research agenda designed to develop, test, and implement interventions that accelerate public innovation. In partnership with the 86 campuses in the Social Science Research Council’s College and University Fund for the Social Sciences, and the policy and philanthropic communities, the Agenda Fund supports work to identify the most promising opportunities for social and behavioral science R&D to accelerate public innovation and ensure a future of abundance.
Get Involved
The Agenda Fund is made possible by the generous support of a coalition of foundations and individuals who are committed to supporting research-led innovation.
Chuang Family Foundation
Jeffrey Harris
Horizon Charitable Foundation
William H. Janeway
Sara Miller McCune
Paul Ricci
The Rockefeller Foundation
Joseph Schull
William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
Our Partners and Supporters
If you are interested in engaging with the work of the Agenda Fund, we want to hear from you! Our Agenda Fund supporters are partners in the process of identifying the most promising opportunities to accelerate research-led innovation.
In addition to partnering with funders, the Agenda Fund mobilizes a broad network of social and behavioral scientists who seek to accelerate research-led innovation. Do you have an idea for a future Agenda Fund initiative? We want to hear from you.
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IDEAS AND SUGGESTIONS