Purpose of the call
Rapid societal, economic and technological developments demand an agile response to the constantly evolving labour market. The question is not just one of sufficient labour potential but also, and perhaps more importantly, one of preparing professionals and students for a changing working environment. Training and work are vital factors in triggering innovation and accelerating its pace.
The purpose of this call is to study how learning communities contribute to innovation and how that process can be optimised. ‘Learning communities’ refer to public-private learning and working practices aimed at driving innovation. They bring together knowledge institutes, educational institutions, the business community, the public sector and other public-private partners, to connect research, work, innovation and learning.
Call for proposals
This is a call for proposals is aimed at acquiring new fundamental and practically-oriented understanding of the active components of learning communities as they relate to driving innovation. Possible areas of study include:
- How learning on the job and innovation together can form a logical part of a learning community;
- What the best way is to set up the learning community to achieve this;
- How to connect learning and innovation.
The call for proposals is also aimed at finding out more about the various ways in which learning communities amplify the learning capabilities of individuals, of groups of people and of organisations as they relate to innovative capability.
Four research contexts
The Knowledge and Innovation Agendas for Energy Transition & Sustainability, Health & Healthcare, Agriculture, Water & Food and Security each put forward the subject of human capital and learning communities for organising this call[1]. The learning communities that will be studied as part of this call need to be active in at least one of four research contexts:
I. Energy Transition & Sustainability;
II. Health & Healthcare;
III. Agriculture, Water & Food;
IV. Security.
[1] The Knowledge and Innovation Agenda for Societal Earning Capacity is also involved in this call for proposals, in its supporting role to help to increase the pace and scale of mission-driven innovation across each of the four research context areas.
Matchmaking
NWO is hosting a matchmaking event for the call “Human Capital Learning Communities: essential to the success of societal and technological transitions (KIC)”. The event will be held on location at the offices of NWO Utrecht, from 1p.m. to 5.30p.m. on Friday, 10 March 2023. Further details will follow. If you are interested in attending this event, send an email to kic-humancapital@nwo.nl.
KIC is on the lookout for opportunities in technology and economy
The Knowledge and Innovation Covenant (KIC) research programme fosters groundbreaking innovative solutions that have an impact on society and the economy. Companies, knowledge institutions and government agencies come together to invest in turning knowledge into business applications, in order to tackle major societal challenges using smart technologies. This will assure people of jobs and income in the future. This is recorded in the Knowledge and Innovation Covenant (KIC) 2020-2023, which overlaps with the Dutch national government’s Mission-Driven Top Sectors and Innovation Policy. NWO connects companies and knowledge institutes, and funds groundbreaking research based on innovative and impactful research proposals.