Responsible Innovation

A new approach to innovation in the ROSIE project

The concept of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) is used to describe novel ways of managing research and relationships between key stakeholders, including researchers, business representatives, policy makers and civil society.

The RRI describes a research and innovation process that takes into account the effects and potential impacts on the economy, environment and society. This approach has been included in the European framework programs (5,6,7 and Horizon 2020) and has been developed in scientific and technological publications.

It is currently suggested to include the following:

1. Targeted targeting of research and innovative products to achieve social or environmental benefits.
2. Consistent, constant involvement of society, from the beginning to the end of the innovation process, including public and non-governmental groups that are themselves aware of the public good.
3. Assess and effectively prioritize social, ethical and environmental impact, risks and opportunities, both now and in the future, along with technical and economic impacts.
4. Introduce surveillance mechanisms that will be better able to anticipate and manage problems and opportunities, and allow for quick adaptation to changing knowledge and circumstances.
5. Introduction of the principles of openness and transparency as an integral part of the research process and innovation.

Responsible Innovation (RI) is a practical concept recommended by the EU focused on supporting enterprises in predicting and responsibly considering both the intended and unintended effects of commercial development and use of technologies, including identifying the risks resulting from their misuse before starting implementation works. This allows the researcher / innovator to try to predict what will result from his research / innovation in order to avoid unintended negative side effects. In practice, it consists in considering in the planning, design and implementation of a product, process, service or technological innovation six elements (keys) of the Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) concept, which are:

1. Public engagement, i.e. the involvement of all social entities in research and innovation processes, which means that social challenges should be formulated on the basis of broadly representative social, economic and ethical problems and uniform principles based on the joint participation of all social entities - researchers , entrepreneurs, policy makers and civil society;
2. Gender equality, ie the sufficient representation of women, which is one of the key pillars of the EU;
3. Science education, ie creative, creative learning in order to better prepare and equip future scientists and other social entities with the necessary knowledge and tools to fully participate and take responsibility in the research and innovation process;
4. Open access, ie free online access to the results of publicly funded research (publications and data) as one of the factors improving the circulation of knowledge, and thus innovation; in business, open access enables the implementation of open innovations in their enterprises; in civil society - increases awareness and allows you to influence trends;
5. Ethics, which requires research and innovation to adhere to fundamental rights and the highest ethical standards and to ensure greater social relevance and acceptability of results;
6. Governance in innovation means the responsibility of decision makers to prevent harmful or unethical changes in research and innovation. This dimension is key to the development of the other dimensions.

The RRI describes a research and innovation process that takes into account the effects and potential impacts on the economy, environment and society. This approach has been included in the European framework programs (5,6,7 and Horizon 2020) and has been developed in scientific and technological publications.
It is currently suggested to include the following:
1. Targeted targeting of research and innovative products to achieve social or environmental benefits.
2. Consistent, constant involvement of society, from the beginning to the end of the innovation process, including public and non-governmental groups that are themselves aware of the public good.
3. Assess and effectively prioritize social, ethical and environmental impact, risks and opportunities, both now and in the future, along with technical and economic impacts.
4. Introduce surveillance mechanisms that will be better able to anticipate and manage problems and opportunities, and allow for quick adaptation to changing knowledge and circumstances.
5. Introduction of the principles of openness and transparency as an integral part of the research process
and innovation.