Responsible Research and Innovation

Citizens have a right — and are expected — to be involved in the crucial decisions of what their futures will look like and how science and technology can contribute to its betterment.

The framework for Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) stresses the fact that grand societal challenges will have a better chance of being successfully tackled if all societal actors are fully engaged in the co-construction of innovative solutions, products and service. Thus RRI is being developed in order to foster the creation of a research and innovation policy driven by the needs of society and engaging all societal actors via inclusive participatory approaches. The RRI approach is supported via six keys: Engagement, Gender Equality, Science Education, Open Access, Ethics and Governance.

As outlined by Nobel Laureate and former Director General of CERN, Prof. Carlo Rubbia, the most severe scientific problems are those responding to long-term issues, like cancer, climate change or changing demographics. We need to critically assess how society and the different stakeholders can be engaged in the whole governance process to avoid the risk of investing only in short-term solutions; as Michael Faraday tells us: electricity was not invented by improving candles.

 

Current Initiatives

Latest news on Responsible Research and Innovation

Have your say… About science! Special Initiative on Citizen Engagement in Science

Download the Report Report of the findings from the pilot project ‘Special Initiative on Citizen […]

March 3, 2015

The role of the Media in Responsible Research and Innovation

Download the Report Summary report of the 2013 edition of the ‘European Intersectoral Summit on […]

March 3, 2013

Latest Events on Responsible Research and Innovation