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Platforms for Innovation and the Preparation of STEM Innovators

This article discusses the relevance of innovation platforms in preparing the next generation of STEM innovators. It provides examples of NSF-funded innovation platforms and highlights the challenges in preparing future innovators. The article also explores the limitations of innovation platforms and proposes the need for an ecosystem of learning and innovation.

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Platforms for Innovation and the Preparation of STEM Innovators

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  1. Platforms for Innovation and the Preparation of STEM Innovators Cora B. Marrett National Science Foundation August 25, 2009

  2. Overview • NSF and investments in innovation • NSF and support for innovation platforms • Innovation platforms: relevance for Preparing the Next Generation

  3. On Innovation andInnovation Platforms • Innovation: process that generates new ideas and converts them into novel, useful and viable products, services and practices • Innovation platforms: entities designed to undertake the innovation process; to develop the outputs of value to society

  4. Examples of NSF-FundedInnovation Platforms • Science and Technology Centers (STCs): 17 active • Engineering Research Centers (ERCs): 15 active • Industry/University Cooperative Research Centers (I/UCRCs): 42 active • Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers (MRSECs): 31 active

  5. Innovation Feeds Industry Water CAMPwS Center of Advanced Materials for the Purification of Water with Systems (waterCAMPwS) Center for Organic Photonics and Electronics (COPE) Center for Environmentally Responsible Solvents and Processes (CERSP)

  6. On Innovation andInnovation Platforms • Relevance to Expert Panel Discussion • Platforms addressed to some of the challenges in preparing the next generation of innovators • Platforms, especially STCs and ERCs, target K-12 learning in STEM

  7. Challenges in Preparing the Next Generation of Innovators • Lack of clarity about/diffuseness of goals • “[Missing across STEM programs is] agreement on what are desirable outcomes.” “… many programs lack STEM-related program objectives and outcomes.” (Subotnik, et al, 2008) • Paucity of laboratories for unraveling the processes of innovation

  8. Challenges in Preparing the Next Generation of Innovators • Limited opportunities for talented pre-college students to cross disciplinary and other boundaries • “[Needed is a system] that nurtures a more ‘hybrid’ and blended generation of STEM talent, innovation and entrepreneurial leadership.” (Marshall, 2009) • Importance of opportunities for “problem finding” as well as “problem solving” (Root-Bernstein, 2009) • Uncertainties about how particular conditions and attributes link to innovativeness and development of innovators

  9. Innovation Platforms:Meeting the Challenges • Clarity of goal: innovation • Evidence of achievement: commercialization of products; formation of start-up companies • Platforms as laboratories • Centers explore conditions important for generating/modifying ideas; moving them into the marketplace • Creative opportunities for students • Centers tend to be interdisciplinary; problem orientation shapes pre-college programs

  10. Innovation Platforms:Meeting the Challenges • Opportunities for problem finding • Encouragement given for identification of problems, for creativity • Establishing links to innovation • Centers aim to track processes, conditions important for translation of ideas to products/services

  11. Limitations of Innovation Platforms for Preparing the Next Generation • Insufficient information on how experiences and needs differ among students, such as those with developed talent and those with interest and potential. • Inadequate attention to whether the nature and quality of innovation experiences vary by subdisciplines, the problem under consideration, or still other conditions. • Limited analyses on the value added by the experiences had through innovation platforms. • "STEM accomplishments are facilitated by a rich mix of pre-collegiate STEM educational opportunities..." (Wai, et al., 2009). • Independence of educational frameworks and models used across platforms.

  12. Towards an Ecosystem of Learning and Innovation • Innovation efforts within NSF not connected • Beyond centers and institutes, innovation is core to Partnerships for Innovation (PFI), Grant Opportunities for Academic Liaison with Industry (GOALI), the Science of Science and Innovation Policy (SciSIP; Innovative Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (ITEST) • Learning programs in NSF rather dispersed as evident in: • Listing of Federal STEM Programs • Sizeable number of K-12 programs pursued in connection with the broader impacts criterion • Challenge lies in advancing theory, tools, models that provide a more integrated perspective on the next generation of innovators. 

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