Shifting the research grant collaboration paradigm with research 2.0

Abstract

The research environment is changing rapidly. Scarcity of resources and the need for broader collaboration among researchers has brought about increasing innovation in online research tools. MyNetResearch and other tools provide the online collaboration capabilities to universities seeking more efficient ways to find and win new funding. Universities which are ready and willing to ramp up quickly with new technology options and apply for grants leveraging Research 2.0 - research collaboration enabled by Web 2.0 - will have an advantage over competitors and even better funded institutions for the same grant funds. The objective of this chapter is to examine this new research paradigm. The main contribution is to make researchers fully cognizant of the importance of Web 2.0 and how to exploit the opportunities created by this new environment to gain competitive advantage with particular emphasis on finding a more efficient and effective process for (a) finding new grants, and (b) winning new grants. © 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.