"The social trickle-down effect of economic growth and the idea that good science, whatever its direction, is followed by improved well-being are misleading, even if widely believed assertions. Social inclusion is not achieved by the mere fact that we know more and we are able to produce novelty. This is why there is a need to link directly research and innovation to social inclusion, providing incentives to this directionality as well as facilitating it by identifying problems to be analyzed and solved. This implies broadening the focus of Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) policies by incorporating mandates coming from social dimensions, implying new challenges, especially for translating objectives into instruments and promoting interactions with actors usually not considered by such policies [1]. Aiming at bridging the gap between STI results and social inclusion, the Universidad de la República in Uruguay implemented a strategy to link social problems with university research capabilities in dialogue with social policies. This strategy resulted in a competitive fund for research projects called Research and Innovation for Social Inclusion, designed and managed by the Academic Unit of the University Research Council. The program has a specific goal: contributing to the solution of problems hampering the social inclusion of some groups of the population by constructing missing knowledge coming from all areas. It has as well a more general purpose: to convene 'knowledge solidarity' by stimulating the redirection of research agendas towards social goals. BUILDING THE BRIDGE Addressing the resolution of social problems through the generation of knowledge and innovations is one of the most important objectives of the program. However, this process of 'addressing' is not simple, since it is influenced by multiple power relations and depends, to a certain extent, on economic, institutional, cultural and political factors [2]. The basic assumption made is that the process of building bridges between demands to solve problems of social inclusion, knowledge production, and other processes up to the potential implementation of solutions requires support and orientation in several stages. To this end, specific incentives were deployed to connect actors and stimulate their involvement in order to solve relevant problems. Within the program, each project is going through five stages:"