For IDRC, “scaling impact” implies optimizing results in ways that will matter to people and our planet. By critically reflecting on how we can make the most of our investments in research and scale impact, we have learned that there is no single approach or method to make this happen.
Scaling science is borne of the belief that we can be more systematic and scientific about the way we scale, and that by doing so we increase the likelihood that our research will effect meaningful change. Scaling science is about scaling the positive impacts of innovation while carefully studying how scaling unfolds.
IDRC did not invent the scaling science concept; it is a description of the creativity and imagination of the innovators we have worked with and our reflections on their work.
Understanding scaling in research for development
To inform our understanding of scaling in research for development, IDRC explored the work of researchers who aimed to produce impacts at scale. This led to IDRC’s approach to scaling as a means to achieve impact that matters, and an important challenge to the predominant more-is-better paradigm of scaling. Learn more about scaling for meaningful change in several open access formats: