RRI Tools

The major goal of the PROSO project is to provide guidance on how to encourage engagement of citizens and third sector organizations, like non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and civil society organizations (CSOs), in Europe’s research and innovation processes. This guidance shall help in moving towards Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI), the European Union’s approach to good governance in research and innovation (R&I). Societal engagement in R&I is an important element of the EU’s RRI approach. Recent EU-funded research has found that societal engagement in European R&I is relatively high by international standards, but is unevenly distributed, both geographically and regarding issue areas (see ENGAGE2020 project http://engage2020.eu/home/).

In PROSO we will develop guidance in form of a policy and practice guide. The guide will be based on the results of PROSO’s in-depth analysis of the barriers and incentives for engaging third sector actors and citizens in publicly funded research and innovation. We will investigate barriers and incentives through various approaches, in dialogue with a wide range of stakeholders, including science/technology policy makers, research funders, academics, industry/businesses, third sector organizations and citizens, and in relation to three areas of research and innovation. The three areas are nanotechnology, food and health, and bio-economy. The policy and practice guide will offer:

• An overview of incentives and barriers for the engagement of third sector organizations and citizens in different research and innovation contexts
• Best case examples of societal engagement for Responsible Research and Innovation
• Policy and governance options for encouraging societal engagement in Responsible Research and Innovation.