By Ben Apted   /

Our role in demonstrating the value of research: a framework delivering impact today.

Strategic Project Partners (SPP) is applying our proprietary Research Impact Framework for a research paper on the New Zealand Government’s Social Investment Approach.

SPP Partner Ben Apted and Associate Holly Briffa are part of the final session in an exclusive three-part roundtable discussion, led by the School of Government at Victoria University of Wellington, on Social Investment Approach with global research leaders in their fields.

Ben says “it’s exciting to present our evaluative Framework for assessing the return on investment for such research projects, in terms of economic, social and environmental impact.  The Framework was developed by many SPP team members over a number of years. It has far-reaching applications and implications for institutions, companies and researchers, where data insights are imperative to decision-making to drive implementable and measurable outcomes.”

So what’s already been covered in the round tables? Definitions of social investment and the virtues of the approach.

What’s next? Ben, together with Dr Verna Smith (Senior Lecturer at the School of Government), will lead the conversation on the relevance of this social investment-based approach for research funding in New Zealand, with specific application of SPP’s Research Impact Framework. The Framework assists decision-makers considering a portfolio of possible investments. The approach applies pragmatic, outcome-centric thinking to articulate both quantifiable outcomes and qualitative benefits in a meaningful way to inform decision-making.

CASE STUDY: OUR FRAMEWORK IN ACTION

Research and actuarial modelling for neurotrauma improvements

From 2012-2015, Monash University’s Institute of Safety, Compensation and Recovery Research (ISCRR) partnered with the Transport Accident Commission (TAC) in a $20 million agreement to research improvements in the treatment and rehabilitation of neurotrauma clients.

In 2014, SPP was engaged to work on an interim review of the four-year funding agreement, seeking to articulate the value and potential future value of the activity initiated under the TAC and ISCRR partnership.

To conduct the assessment, SPP applied our proprietary Research Impact Framework.

SPP’s Partner Ben Apted said findings were highly impactful, influencing outcomes relating to patient needs, financial savings and service provision reviews that affect government, commercial and non-commercial bodies.

For example, the six modelled research projects were forecast to return a rate of 20:1 in reduced cost of lifetime treatment to the TAC for care of neurotrauma clients.  SPP, together with its research partner, found that in applying an actuarial modelling approach we were able to make the case for expensive but ultimately highly cost-effective research that would otherwise not have been funded by conventional research funds. We were also able to make the case that considering financial outcomes alone understated the true benefit of the research conducted under the agreement and so SPP influenced a more holistic review of impact

“The Framework can increase the breadth of evidence-based interventions available for application, the research program had the potential to significantly improve quality of life for neurotrauma clients.  This demonstrates the benefits a firm such as ours with extensive market experience can offer to research and government clients.”

SPP plans to release a framework for the research, not for profit and government organisations to demonstrate the value of what we do in social, economic and environmental dimensions.

For more information, contact SPP Partner Ben Apted.

By Ben Apted   /