SPICES

HAVE YOUR SAY…About Science!

Special Initiative on Citizen Engagement in Science

“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”

As outlined in the framework for Responsible, Research and Innovation (RRI), the grand challenges facing society will have a better chance of being tackled if all relevant actors are fully engaged in the co-construction of innovative solutions, products and services. Thus RRI was being developed in order to foster the creation of a research and innovation policy driven by the needs of society and engaging all actors via inclusive participatory approaches.

The Special Initiative on Citizen Engagement in Science promoted by Atomium aimed to assess how media can engage the public at large in a two-way dialogue about science-related issues in order to develop a more participatory way to develop science policy at European level.

The pilot project was developed with Der Standard, El Paìs, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Il Sole 24Ore and The Irish Times and ran in 5 European countries (Austria, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain) in April and May 2013.

The results of the Initiative were submitted to the European Commission and supported as a contribution to the preparation of the topics of the first call for proposals of Horizon 2020 (notably the ‘Engagement’ part of the challenge ‘Inclusive, Innovative and Secure Societies’ in the Commission’s proposal (former SiS))”.