Promoting RRI approaches in European Industry

Companies in the EU still lack experience in RRI practices. The new PRISMA project, with eight Europe-wide industrial pilot projects, aims to show the added value of opening up the innovation process for social engagement and gender issues.

The PRISMA project tries to overcome current limitations to the implementation of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) in industry. Funded by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 program it carries out eight RRI pilot projects in a real-world industry context. Some of these pilots will take place in private companies and some in public-private partnerships. All of them will be assessed on a number of product and process RRI dimensions, such as engagement, ethics, gender equality, and governance. To establish the added value of the RRI approach with a special focus on the gender dimension in and for industry, the results of the pilots will be compared with the results of similar projects carried out in the same companies without following the RRI approach.

PRISMA focuses on implementing RRI for some of the major technological challenges in the EU, including nanotechnology, synthetic biology, Internet of Things and self-driving or automated cars. These technologies have the potential to transform existing modes of production and to change the relationship of the company with the technology users, suppliers or other stakeholders. The pilots aim at integrating RRI in the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policies of the participating companies.

Developing an RRI roadmap

The ITAS team led by Christopher Coenen and Maria João Maia will conduct one of the pilot studies. Furthermore, they are responsible for developing and conducting stakeholder dialogues with actors from areas that are important and influential for RRI. PRISMA will result in a RRI CSR roadmap for transformative technologies. The roadmap will be disseminated through the partners’ extensive industry network and through industry branch and CSR organizations. An important means of dissemination will also be a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) on RRI in industry. These activities are expected to lead to a better uptake of RRI approaches by industry and thus will contribute to the competiveness of the European industry. (05.01.2017)

Further links and information: