(*) Post last updated the 13th of May 2021 - link to the recording of the workshop has been added

The LIVING INNOVATION project brings together 14 partners from all over Europe, including major industry leaders, civil society and research organizations to co-develop more responsible, inclusive and sustainable approaches to innovation in the areas of smart homes and smart health.

The participation of "la Caixa" Foundation in the LIV_IN project guarantees the link and the continuous and efficient transfer of learnings between LIV_IN and RRI Tools. The work developed under the umbrella of LIV_IN is serving to enrich and improve contents of the RRI Toolkit focusing on industry needs, and to give higher visibility to LIV_IN and its activities among the R&I community.

LIV_IN has created a virtual community platform and launched different joint actions meant to serve as an interactive space for discussion, knowledge exchange and collaboration, open to experts and practitioners in digitization and responsibility.

In this context Atos & "la Caixa" Foundation have joined forces to identify and collect good practice applying Responsible Innovation (RI) methods and practices to support the design and creation of smart eHealth solutions, and are now organizing a workshop that will take place on March 30th (16.00-17.30 CEST)

(*) Recording of the workshop is now online - see here

The main objective of the workshop is to share experiences and learn about successful examples of smart technologies used to support eHealth, healthy living, and preventive health, and to collect evidence of the (positive) effect of applying Responsible Innovation methodologies. 

Seven use case champions have been invited to talk about their projects and to exchange information about their approach to Responsible Innovation and the benefits they obtained. After the presentations an open discussion among the use cases champions will be facilitated by Lydia Montandon and Diana Carbonero, from Atos.

Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) refers to an approach rolled out in the EU Framework programmes 7 (FP7) and 8 (Horizon 2020) emphasising the on-going process of aligning research and innovation to societal values, needs and expectations. Funders in countries like the UK, Norway and the Netherlands have similar definitions.

RRI guides researchers and research conducting and funding organisations in anticipating the implications of their work, including relevant stakeholders upstream, and reflecting and responding to those stakeholders’ concerns and expectations. In this way, co-design and co-responsibility for the outcomes research and innovation can be facilitated, increasing societal uptake and acceptability of research and innovation.

Experiences from the concluded and ongoing RRI projects can inform the operationalisation of RRI in Horizon Europe as well as in other funding programmes that support inclusive research and innovation processes aligned with societal needs and values. The last decade of the RRI agenda also provides important resources for operationalizing the Open Science agenda in its broad sense, beyond Open Access and Open Data, and the co-creation and citizen science agendas.

The initiative “RRI in Horizon Europe” [#RRIinHE]

While the future of RRI in Horizon Europe is still rather uncertain, it is not as bleak as it appeared in 2019. Several advocates in the ERA have called for higher visibility of RRI in Horizon Europe. Moreover, the Orientations towards the first Strategic Plan for Horizon Europe keeps the door open for RRI and even indicates a ’home’ for RRI in Horizon Europe (in Reforming and Enhancing the European R&I system). However, there is still a need to continue to reinforce the importance of RRI and to help show how it can be implemented widely in Horizon Europe.

This is why a group of RRI scholars and practitioners have joined forces to launch the initiative "RRI in Horizon Europe" [#RRIinHE] with the aim of supporting the visibility and operationalisation of RRI in Horizon Europe. The core group consists of ...

European Green Deal Call: €1 billion investment to boost the green and digital transition

The European Commission is launching a €1 billion call for research and innovation projects that respond to the climate crisis and help protect Europe's unique ecosystems and biodiversity. The Horizon 2020-funded European Green Deal Call, which is already open for registration, will spur Europe's recovery from the coronavirus crisis by turning green challenges into innovation opportunities.

This Green Deal Call differs in important aspects from previous Horizon 2020 calls. Given the urgency of the challenges it addresses, it aims for clear, discernible results in the short to medium-term, but with a perspective of long-term change. There are fewer, but more targeted, larger and visible actions, with a focus on rapid scalability, dissemination and uptake.

Mariya Gabriel, Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth said: 

“The €1 billion European Green Deal call is the last and biggest call under Horizon 2020. With innovation at its heart, this investment will accelerate a just and sustainable transition to a climate-neutral Europe by 2050. As we do not want anyone left behind in this systemic transformation, we call for specific actions to engage with citizens in novel ways and improve societal relevance and impact.”

The LIVING INNOVATION project brings together 14 partners from all over Europe, including major industry leaders, civil society and research organizations to co-develop more responsible, inclusive and sustainable approaches to innovation in the ICT sector. The project is building capacity and instruments to support the integration of responsible innovation in industrial contexts. The ultimate goal is to shift attitudes towards responsible innovation from risk to opportunity, across sectors and target groups.

LIV_IN is organizing co-creation workshops with lead users and citizens, who are jointly working on solutions that meet user needs and leverage collective creativity to tackle societal challenges, in the areas of smart homes and smart health, and that may uncover new business opportunities. The project has also created a virtual community platform meant to serve as an interactive space for discussion, knowledge exchange and collaboration, open to experts and practitioners in digitization and responsibility.

RRI Tools and LIV_IN have joined forces to enrich and improve contents of the RRI Toolkit focusing on industry needs, and to give higher visibility to LIV_IN and its activities among the R&I community.

** This post was last updated in March 9th **

The Coronavirus disease occured in a serious number of cases in Italy. The Italian government has ordered the closing of schools and universities as well as the cancellation of all cultural events and conferences until 3 April 2020. The Fit4RRI project decided to postpone its Final Summit, until 29-30 April 2020 (if possible), either in presence or virtually. The RRI Forethinkers workshop has therefore also been postponed and the promoters will decide their nexts steps in the coming days

---------

Now is a crucial time for joining forces to strengthen the visibility of RRI in Horizon Europe!

We therefore invite key RRI proponents, from key European RRI projects, and a range of ERA member states, to meet for a workshop (Rome, 20-21 March 2020) where the aim is to agree on, and coordinate, actions intended to help advance RRI in Horizon Europe. The workshop is organised with support from the Research Council of Norway and in collaboration with the European New HoRRIzon project, and with the kind support of the Fit4RRI organisers and the Sapienza Università di Roma which has offered to host the workshop at their premises, in connection with the Fit4RRI Summit. You can download the invitation to the workshop and the draft agenda from here (*)

Hereby we are sharing a position paper we intend to send to relevant shadow committee representatives for Horizon Europe, as well as other stakeholders that might be important for supporting the RRI agenda in Horizon Europe. Feel free to reuse parts of the document (or the whole!) for your own lobbying purposes.

POSITION PAPER 

Including RRI in the development and implementation of Horizon Europe 

E.-M. Forsberg, A. Gerber and S. G. Carson (February 2020)