On 14-15 January, the three-year EU FP7 project (2013-2016) Res-AGorA Project presented a new framework for the governance of responsible research and innovation (RRI) at the Go4 Conference in Brussels. The governance framework, called the Responsibility Navigator, has been developed to help research funding organizations and members of boards of universities or companies develop strategies for governing their research and innovation activities towards more responsibility.
Over the last few years, the European research and innovation community has become increasingly engaged in implementing an approach to research and innovation which emphasizes the need for e.g. inclusion, deliberation or institutional entrepreneurship. The Responsibility Navigator, developed by partners in the Res-AGorA consortium, helps policy-makers and funding bodies to do so.
Together with three other EU-funded RRI-projects the Res-AGorA team held the Go4 Conference, co-hosted by the European Economic and Social Committee, to present their findings, conceptual developments, concrete messages and policy recommendations on Responsible Research and Innovation
The Res-AGorA framework has facilitated reflective processes involving multiple kinds of stakeholders and policy-makers with the general aim of making European research and innovation more responsible, responsive, and sustainable. The Res-AGorA project has accomplished these ambitions exemplified through The Responsibility Navigator and the RRI Co-construction Method.
The Responsibility Navigator: As a concise and instructive guide for comprehending the RRI concept the Res-AGorA Project has authored the Res-AGorA Responsibility Navigator which is conceived as a means to provide orientation without normatively steering research and innovation in a specific direction. The Responsibility Navigator supports decision-makers with ten principles designed to facilitate related debate, negotiation and learning in a constructive and productive way.
The RRI Co-construction Method offers a practical way to work with the Responsibility Navigator. An on-line manual providing stepwise instructions on how to design an RRI workshop by using the RRI Co-construction Method is forthcoming. The Method was tested with approximately 80 stakeholders from a broad variety of fields eagerly engaged in providing adjustments and inputs into discussions on Res-AGorA’s preliminary approach to strategically navigate Responsible Research and Innovation. The Co-construction Method is an open source design for all RRI-developers to take in.
- Contact: Project coordinator, Prof. Dr. Ralf Lindner, Fraunhofer ISI, t: +49 721 6809-292, e: Ralf.Lindner@isi.fraunhofer.de
- MA Comm. Joergen Madsen, Danish Board of Technology (DBT) t: +45 4078 5168, e: jm@tekno.dk