EPFL hosts the 2014 Responsible Research & Innovation workshop
© 2014 Fondazione Cariplo & EPFL
On October 16, EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) and the Fondazione Cariplo, in collaboration with the Science-Society Interface of the University of Lausanne (UNIL), co-organized a one-day consultation workshop on Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) for Society, with Society. The interactive workshop drew representatives from research, industry, funding bodies as well as civil society and educators.
Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) brings together researchers, citizens, policy makers, businesses and educators for the purpose of optimizing practices across the whole spectrum of research and innovation. This is achieved through RRI Tools, a 3-year project funded by the EEC’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) that aims to foster responsible research and innovation in Europe.
One of this year’s RRI Tools workshops took place at EPFL’s Swiss Tech Convention Center, hosting 21 participants from the worlds of academic and commercial research, policy-making, education and the public sector. This event was funded by the European Commission and managed by FondazioneCariplo, which is the RRI Tools National Hub for Italy and Switzerland.
The objectives of the workshop were to allow participants to exchange ideas concerning the definition of RRI, to identify similarities and differences in their research experiences, and identify some key criteria in terms of RRI practices. This was accomplished through plenary sessions, group discussions, and one-to-one interactions between participants.
The Swiss experience unveiled a widespread need across the different stakeholder groups for the development of valid top-down opportunities to foster RRI practices. The main take-home idea was that when it comes to RRI, “one size does not fit all”, especially as it became clear that the nature and interests in research activities widely differ across researchers, informal and formal education, civil society, policy makers and industry/commercial settings.
The workshop also served as a launch pad for a Community of Practice across Europe, “establishing a first base for future collaborations between the participants and the project.”