RRI Perspectives for Horizon Europe
We are presenting you the interview with Alexander Gerber, Professor for Science Communication at Rhine-Waal University of Applied Sciences which was taken by the Livin . For the past years, he has led the NUCLEUS project. NUCLEUS was a four-year, Horizon 2020 project investigating how to make RRI a reality in research institutions globally. And he stated in the interview “Industry is delivering promising innovations, but we have failed to communicate societal needs and concerns upstream in research processes.”
Implications of RRI on policy makers
Mr Gerber has made remarks on several topics during this 15 minute interview, out of which one focused specifically on the Implictions of RRI on policy makers , and he stated:
“Since we talk about a regulated system, publicly funded research – you can change quite easily that by modifying the assessment criteria and the funding criteria – which in industry wouldn’t work, which in the industry would not work. If an entrepreneur doesn’t like the certain framing he goes to other markets, they just change the product line. The research community follows the policies of funders to some extent, and it is a lever for systemic change on how research and innovation is contacted in this continent.”
Bringing RRI to life
Mr Gerber commented on the emergence of the RRI and bringing it to life and said that there are “3 points. First one, it is not something you just tick, it is a proccess in a context, it is something you have to go through. Second point, it is a governance issue which included policy incentives, regulations and a need for a top down mechanism. Others wonder whether is it a cultural change, or if it is a new change in scientific culture. Nucleus project proves that it is both of it.”
During this interview Mr. Gerber made some very important insights, and some of them are:
- Often, research institutions and companies struggle to operationalize RRI into their day-to-day practices.
- We need to bring policymakers, researchers and citizens to the table to make RRI concrete and tangible in the specific project’s context.
- Only then, can we implement RRI in the upcoming Horizon Europe funding scheme and show that societal interests and business opportunities can be aligned successfully.
Follow this link to the Living Innovation website