Partners

European Science Foundation (ESF) is an independent, non-governmental, non-profit organization committed to promoting the highest quality science in Europe and to driving progress in research and innovation.”

RRI/S3 experience:

ESF has been gradually addressing key issues of the ‘Science with and for Society’ programme via dedicated policy briefs, ‘Forward Looks’ and reports that are now instrumental in facing European societal challenges tackled by Horizon 2020, building capacities and developing innovative ways of connecting science to society.

Role of the partner:

Lead project partner responsible for project management and coordination.

Contact Person(s):

Dr Ildiko Maria Ipolyi, Science Officer

The South-East European Research Centre (SEERC) is a research centre of CITY College, University of York Europe Campus, established as a non-profit, legal entity in Thessaloniki, Greece in 2003. It is conducting multidisciplinary research in the fields of Enterprise, Innovation & Development, Information & Communication Technologies, and Society & Human Development. SEERC’s mission is to support the stable and smooth development of South-East Europe by conducting pure and applied research throughout and for the region. To accomplish this, SEERC will employ the existing research capacities of the University of York and CITY College by facilitating the collaboration between their research staff, and by developing multi-disciplinary networks of researchers from across South-East Europe

RRI/S3 experience:

SEERC is part of the project FIT4RRRI, a H2020 project dealing with strategies and training tools for RRI supporting quadruple helix actors. SEERC also developed an initial S3 assessment for the region of Macedonia.

Role of the partner:

SEERC will lead work identifying RRI governance innovation which can be replicated in the experiments of the project.

At the end of the project, SEERC will lead work concentrating on taking the knowledge gained from the regional experiments and their preparation to transfer it to the policy debate on region R&I and how RRI can be included in such a debate. The knowledge will be solidified and made operational with policy recommendations for all levels of governance ( local to EU).

Contact Persons:

Nikos Zaharis, Director of SEERC

George Eleftherakis, Associate Professor, Senior Researcher and Expert

Maria Michali,  Junior Researcher 

 

K&I is a social research organisation established in 2016. Its mission is to increase the relevance and effectiveness of the social sciences to interpret the profound processes of change that are affecting contemporary societies. K&I members have been working professionally in different research institutions carrying out, among others, around 30 projects in the frame of the EU DG research FP6, FP7 and H2020, as well as around 80 projects with others EU DGs, and with the World Bank and many United Nation agencies, on issues such as the socialisation of scientific research; good governance promotion; gender related issues; environmental sustainability and energy transition; privacy and security.

RRI/S3 experience:

K&I has implemented (or is implementing) several EU DG Research projects, such as Fostering Improved Training Tools for Responsible Research and Innovation (FIT4RRI); Grounding RRI Actions to Achieve Institutional Change in European Research Funding and Performing Organisations (GRACE); REconciling sCience, Innovation and Precaution through the Engagement of Stakeholders (RECIPES); and Territorial Responsible Research and Innovation through the involvement of local R&I Actors (TeRRItoria). Further projects are related to specific areas of RRI: Gender Equality Academy (GE Academy); and PROmoting integrity in the use of RESearch results (PRO-RES).

Role of the partner:

K&I is the lead partner of the WP3 activities on Mapping Governance Innovation Practices in Europe and beyond. It is involved also in the Mapping R&I Ecosystems and in other activities, such as supporting the experiment in Emilia-Romagna region.

Contact Person(s):

Daniele Mezzana, social researcher and training expert 

Giovanni Caiati, social researcher

Maresa Berliri, social researcher with experiences on communication activities

 

Aarhus University (AU) is a leading European research university with education and research activities across all scholarly disciplines. Aarhus’ Danish Centre for Studies in Research and Research Policy will be responsible for the university’s participation in the project with its extensive experience in Nordic, European and OECD country projects related to Science in Society.

RRI/S3 experience:

Aarhus has extensive experience in European Projects related to RRI concerning the  strand of Science in Society.

Role of the partner:

Aarhus University will lead the project’s work on monitoring and evaluation as well as making an active contribution to the creation of an inventory of bottom-up innovation practices (amongst other horizontal tasks of the project).

Contact Persons:

Dr Niels Mejlgaard, Director of the Danish Centre for Studies in Research and Research Poilicy (CFA)

Dr Tine Ravn, post-doctoral researcher at CFA

The regional public authority of Central Macedonia, based in Thessaloniki, deals with several activities of local and central government. Its main responsibilities cover a large scope of policy fields including Research and Innovation (R&I).

RRI/S3 experience:

Central Macedonia, as a region, has been lead project partner in ETC Greece-Bulgaria programmes dealing with the subject of smart specialisation.

Role of the partner:

The region will develop a gender equality plan for the regional R&I system as part of the five regional experiments taking place during the lifespan of the project.

Contact Person(s):

Konstantinos Michailidis

The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU, Norway), has its main profile in science and technology and is Norway’s largest university. Based in the municipality of Trondheim, NTNU seeks to create a university-municipality where strategic priorities are shared in the field of sustainability, energy, oceans, and health.

RRI/S3 experience:

NTNU has been part of the H2020 project FIT4RRI, which aims to improve training tools for RRI.

Role of the partner:

NTNU will lead the regional experiment for the region it represents in TeRRItoria regarding the connection between sparsely populated territories and urban R&I facilities.

Contact Person(s):

Prof. Wiebe Eco Bijker 

Prof. Thomas Berker 

The premier Bulgarian NGO active in the field of research and innovation policy with the aim of supporting the knowledge-based economy; ARC Fund specialises in two main thematic areas:  Science, Technology and Innovation Policy

RRI/S3 experience:

ARC has varied and extensive experience in both RRI projects and Smart Specialisation Strategies such as RRI-practice (H2020)”.

Role of the partner:

Arc Fund will be focused on mapping R&I ecosystems and work leading to the creation of an inventory of bottom-up governance innovation practices while also playing an active role in the delivery of the experiment in Bulgaria – Municipality of Gabrovo.

Contact Persons:

Zoya Damianova, Programme Director.

Ventseslav Kozarev, Programme Manager for Science, Technology and Innovation Policy.

Ruslan Stefanov, General Manager of ARC Consulting.

Marko Hajdinjak, senior expert

ART-ER Attractiveness Research Territory is the Emilia-Romagna Joint Stock Consortium that was born from the merger of ASTER and ERVET, with the purpose of fostering the region’s sustainable growth by developing: innovation and knowledge, as well as the attractiveness and internationalisation of the regional system.

RRI/S3 experience:

ART-ER as preceding project partner has supported the regional authority in defining its Smart Specialisation Strategy (S3), then going on to assist its management, implementation and monitoring.

Role of the partner:

ART-ER and the region’s experiment will introduce RRI to the governance of Emilia Romagna’s R&I system focusing on science education and public engagement.

Contact Persons:

Giorgio Moretti, Manager of the High Technology Network Unit.

Kristian Mancinone,  Innovation Competences Unit.

Dario Pezzella, RIS3 Technical Assistance.

Filippo Saguatti, Europe and International Unit.

The European Association of Development Agencies (EURADA) was established in 1992 to support policy learning in regional development agencies. The core activities of Eurada are directed towards good practices’ sharing to increase the impact of the development agencies and share best practices in territorial development programmes, especially those dedicated to entrepreneurship and support for SMEs.

RRI/S3 experience:

EURADA has extensive experience in S3; either through supporting its members and participating in S3 related projects or by leading groups dedicated to its efficient management, such as the S3 Mirror Group.

Role of the partner:

EURADA leads communication activities of the project and manages third parties from inside and outside the European Union for making the findings of the regional experiments highly transferable to multiple jurisdictions.

Contact Persons:

Esteban Pelayo, Director.

Giacomo Frisanco, Project and Communication Officer.

The DBT is an independent, non-profit, common good, corporative foundation SME, committed to technology assessment, foresight, knowledge-based decision-making, parliamentary advisory activities on science, technology and innovation, collaborative democracy and methodological research. The DBT has historically emphasized the importance of citizen participation and co- creation in technological development, administrative planning, and political decision-making”

RRI/S3 experience:

DBT has long-standing experience in research projects ranging from European Research projects to those with an global outlook. In 2009, DBT was the initiator and coordinator of the World Wide Views citizen consultations on global warming. By 2015, DBT had undertaken citizen consultations with over 10,000 citizens in the world. DBT’s involvement in Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) is extensive and in the latter years DBT has closely followed and contributed to the development of the concept and practice of RRI. DBT has especially sought to ensure that the mainstreaming of public engagement, which the RRI approach involves, starts from and improves. To this end, DBT, along with its international partners, has developed toolboxes and training programs for public engagement and multi-stakeholder dialogue in relation to Horizon 2020 projects and other platforms for science with and for society. DBT works actively to make these products live on and shape engagement practice in European research and innovation. 

Role of the partner:

DBT designs the transformative experiments with the support of other project partners. Disposing of a multi-level governance perspective, DBT will contribute strongly to communication activities alongside that of EURADA.

Contact Person(s):

Marie Jørgensen, Project Manager DBT

Julia Miljevic Jakobsen, Project Manager DBT

The municipality of Gabrovo is the administrative unit of one of the economic centres of Bulgaria – Gabrovo. The Municipality implements policies in alignment with its main priorities: sustainable industrial development; green economy; effective management of IOT and IIOT; and improvement of innovation ecosystem.

RRI/S3 experience:

As the most active entity of local and regional nature in Bulgaria which is participating in European funded projects, Gabrovo has existing experience in both S3 and RRI. Principally, in the field of High Education and cooperation with local and regional authorities, Gabrovo has been active in the JRC Project HESS.

Role of the partner:

The Municipality of Gabrovo will carry out one regional experiment with the aim of developing a Plan for Innovations (seeing the localisation of Smart Specialisation Strategies). In order to effectively implement this plan, a public engagement plan will be first developed as part of the project and be diffused into the locality’s governance practices in other policy fields.”

Contact Person(s):

Desislava Koleva, Chief Expert of Projects and Economic Development, Municipality of Gabrovo”.

The Community of Trondelag (fylkeskommune) is an elected body responsible for a variety of policy fields in the local county of Trondelag, Norway. Among others, competences in economic development and growth fall under the jurisdiction of the community.

RRI/S3 experience:

The Community has a variety of experiences working in the domain of culture and nature with links to economic and digital development.

Role of the partner:

The Community of Trondelag will carry out one regional experiment to enact institutional changes for the future of smart specialisation strategy in its locality. The activity will seek to better connect sparsely populated areas of the region with Norway’s premier research university.

Contact Person(s):

Gleny Louise Foslie, Leader of the Business Development unit.

The North-East Regional Development Agency is one of the entities responsible for regional development in Romania. It has longstanding experience in regional development, having been formed in 1990s and being responsible for contributing to the creation of 15,000 new jobs.  It is also an important intermediate body responsible for the implementation of programmes (national and European) linked to driving up business competitiveness and growth.

RRI/S3 experience:

ADR Nord Est is responsible for  the current operational programme of the region with a strong focus in promoting technology transfer in line with its RIS3.

Role of the partner:

ADR Nord Est will undertake one of the five experiments of the project with two of its local communities in the region’s mountain areas. It will seek to create a knowledge brokering platform for sustaining such communities economically and socially. The development of such platform will be used to enact real change in the institution of ADR Nord Est as well as the communities themselves.

Contact Persons:

Ioana-Agatha Filimon, Expert RIS3 Management Office | Communication, Innovation and External Cooperation Directorate

Andrei Coca, Expert RIS3 Management Office | Communication, Innovation and External Cooperation Directorate 

Adrian-Radu Rey,Expert Foreign Cooperation Office | Communication, Innovation and External Cooperation Directorate 

Ovidiu Gheorghe Savu, Expert Foreign Cooperation Office | Communication, Innovation and External Cooperation Directorate