The advancement of society has been a goal since the beginning of civilization, but the way it looks has changed significantly. Research was once the effort of individuals looking to answer a question or solve a problem. Because of the obstacles entailed in long-distance communication, it was the onus of the researcher to obtain all the studies and documentation that would support their efforts. Today, however, communication is no longer an issue for most scholars, and collaborative team research has been proven to make the biggest impact.

Collaboration goes beyond the research team, though. Networks of nonprofit, government, and business industries are required to create a widespread change in the world. For this to occur, social capital funding sources are necessary.

How Scientific Collaboration Networks Work

Institutions like nonprofits, businesses, and government organizations on the surface may appear to be disconnected and focused on differing agendas. But when they come together to collaborate and find common ground, huge changes can and do happen.

At their foundations, all of these sectors have the same goals. They want to improve economies, make programs more effective, and improve social, economic, and political relations nationally or worldwide. For this to happen, those in charge of these organizations must establish policies and procedures that open up collaborative endeavors between their needs and those of the other institutions with similar agendas. Together, they plan and decide how to use the resources available to them to improve their goals. In short, they share their resources, give and take information in ways that benefit everyone, and plan policies and actions with a wider picture available to them.

An example of how this would work would be a situation like removing a child from an abusive home. The government programs cover the social worker and parent neglect aspect, but taking care of the child is a team effort. Nonprofits can help the family who is caring for the child to get the resources they need financially, and businesses can step in and offer what is necessary to fill in the gaps.

The Framework of Collaborative Networks

So where does science fit into these collaboration networks? With research and hard data, it’s possible for scholars to help accumulate social capital within these sectors. Scholars can become mentors to others, design research that points the groups in a direction where help is necessary, aid in strategizing where resources can be pooled and targeted, and as a whole become an integral part of the framework of collaboration networks.

Building Social Capital to Support Collaboration

Social capital is a powerful resource to have, although it is not related to finances. Rather, it refers to how humans work together on social, economic, and political endeavors to apply actionable behaviors to solve problems. Social capital is only as good as the collaborative efforts from the groups involved and requires significant trust and participation to turn sectors that would have originally been seen as competitors into those with a single identity.

With high participation from each sector, social capital is born. This is then used to, in essence, buy its way into a cohesive society as groups work together to solve problems and, at the same time, build unity where diversity would otherwise exist and possibly work to separate instead of bringing together communities.

As research continues to show opportunities for collaboration networks to improve society, scientists will remain an integral part of building social capital.

Increasing Social Capital Success with Impactio

When your research goal is to help foster social capital and societal change, you have an impressive purpose. The world needs more people who are willing to work collaboratively towards a shared, impactful agenda. It’s hard to do this when you’re juggling many hats, so to make it easier for you to get your research out to your audience, Impactio has designed a program that takes the stress out of academic publishing.

Impactio is an all-in-one platform designed for academic scholars around the world to help them put together their research by working smarter, not harder. Impactio lets you streamline your writing process so you can focus on the important agendas in your life. From making it a breeze to do your research compilation to giving you access to a wide network of other scholars to increase your social capital collaboration, Impactio gets the job done and gives you the tools you need to be successful.