RRI Institutional Changes for Improved Regional Governance

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RRI Institutional Changes for Improved Regional Governance

TeRRItoria final Conference. 3 Online webinars, 18th, 20th and 25th of January from 14:00 to 16:00 CET  

Click here to register.

European territories have certain tested experiences available  of advanced governance models. Responsible research and innovation (RRI) keys increased the citizen engagement on policies and is helping to design advanced economic development strategies. With the co-creation of policies with citizens, the governance of regions is becoming more complex and at the same time more effective. This international conference aims to provide the theoretical means and, above all, practical experiences that areuseful to design institutional changes in territories to implement effective development policies.
European regions are at a historic moment with multiple challenges and opportunities. Considering the dynamics of the internal market, experience shows that those territories that make nowadays the right decisions and have good governance will be leaders in the coming years. A global crisis has coincided in time with the new EU programming period 2021-2027; and in the last year a context of generalised economic recovery with a wide availability of funds that must be well managed.
There is a consensus among regional practitioners that future competitiveness will come from the double transition: sustainable and digital. However, the key lies in the speed of change, the institutional transformations, and their pervasiveness. How can we do this effectively? Citizens’ engagement, and in general all the RRI keys are a useful tool to carry out socially responsible development policies, generating a broader impact than traditional development policies applied in the past. The most advanced European regions consider our societies as a whole, mobilising all possible resources and territorial actors. Advanced policies are ensuring gender equality in the scientific community, avoiding harmful effects of innovation, engaging the communities affected by innovation and ensuring that they have the knowledge necessary to understand the implications by raising high ethical standards, furthering science education and open access. There are already useful tested experiences of these advances policies in many European territories. This international conference brings together many of these experiences that have been approved by projects funded by the Horizon 2020 programme’s Science with and for Society (SwafS) calls. The international conference provides a framework for reflection on these developments and the way forward to provide an advanced legacy.

How to engage citizens in regional development policies

Tuesday 18th of January 2022, from 14h00 to 16h00 There is a need to better connect democratic institutions with European citizens; is responsible research and innovation a useful approach? Could RRI improve the citizens’ engagement in regional development strategies? In some European territories, RRI has proven to be an effective mechanism to co-create research and innovation outcomes, and provide input to policy agendas. Nowadays it ensures that policy makers develop inclusive strategies, and are able to mobilise all the regional stakeholders to address societal challenges (e.g. sustainable smart specialisation strategies S4). The first session is dedicated to discuss with practical examples and relevant academics how RRI supports the participation of civil society in regional development strategies bringing mission-oriented policies towards societal challenges.  

Institutional Changes for Responsible Research and Innovation

Thursday 20th of January 2022, from 14h00 to 16h00 After a decade Responsible Research and innovation is an operative concept that it is present in big programmes such Horizon Europe but as well implemented in small scale. How it is possible to develop RRI in the local or regional level? Are there particular constraints associated to the smaller scale? There are good examples of initiatives to reinforce social systems with institutionalised collective co-responsibility as a driving force for socially desirable innovation. The Science with and for Society (SwafS) programme of H2020 has supported many local implementations of RRI that will provide a legacy with institutional changes. There are European territories that have effectively design organisational innovation and institutional changes in governance that will last and that are particularly useful to generate impact. This session will discuss those results in RRI implementation that can be immediately applied at the territorial level.  

The way forward

Tuesday 25th of January 2022, from 14:00 to 16:00 How will regional strategies look like after 2027? Will there be a third generation of smart specialisation strategies? It is certain that today there are European territories that are very advanced, where are they? What lessons can we learn from them? There are broad societal challenges that can be solved with responsible research and innovation. In addition to the needs of economic recovery and the double transition (sustainable and digital), there are some layers of the European population that are actively resisting globalisation and the benefits of scientific development. More inclusive policies need to be developed. How will be these future policies? On the other hand, despite decades of benefiting European regional development policies, there are still policies that do not support multi-level governance. Some European territories still face with over-centralised policies at national or regional level. It is desirable to establish effective mechanisms that mobilise society as a whole beyond the traditional economic actors to gather all resources possible. How we could design more effective multi-level governance policies?

For the last webinar, we already assured the presence of Mikel Landabaso, Director. JRC. European Commission, and Philip McCann, Sheffield University who will discuss about the future of RRI and S3 with Nhien Nguyen, NTNU and SeeRRI project, and Ingeborg Meijer – Centre for Science and Technology Studies. Leiden University. The event will be moderate by Nikos Zaharis. Director. South-East European Research Centre

If you are interested in one of the 3 webinars, please click here to register.

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The way forward

The way forward The third session of the series RRI institutional changes for improved regional governance took place on January 25th, and featured discussions and ideas by the key speakers and panellists on The Way Forward for Smart Specialisation Strategies (S3) at the regional level. 113 participants had the chance

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