TeRRItoria Project at the 2019 European Triple Helix Congress on Responsible Innovation and Entrepreneurship (ETHAC 2019)

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During 30th September-1st October the 2019 European Triple Helix Congress on Responsible Innovation and Entrepreneurship (ETHAC 2019) was organized in Thessaloniki, Greece. The mission of ETHAC is to mobilise knowledge and innovation transfer to the global market by enabling international triple helix interactions where academics, innovators, industry, entrepreneurs, investors, governments and policy makers actively engage in innovation co-production and transfer. It is organised by the Triple Helix Association, a non-for-profit, non-governmental association with scientific purpose and a global reach.

Within the framework of ETHAC 2019, TeRRItoria project was presented during the workshop on Responsible Innovation in Sustainable Ecosystems (RISE workshop). The workshop was delivered by representatives of different RRI projects such as TeRRItoria, FIT4RRI and MARIE. Mr. Nikos Zaharis from South-East European Research Centre (SEERC) was the representative of TeRRItoria, Dr. Andrea Riccio from the Sapienza University of Rome was the representative of FIT4RRI, while Dr. Christos Tsanos from Athens University of Economics and Business represented MARIE.

As the representative of TeRRItoria, Mr. Nikos Zaharis analysed the double challenge that the project tackles: to bring RRI at the forefront of the debate for developing local and regional R&I capacities and to use RRI as a springboard for broadening the number of stakeholders involved in the RIS3 process (or more general to enhance the regional R&I planning process with RRI principles).

Mr. Zaharis also presented the content and the objectives of the TeRRItoria project. Among others, TeRRItoria aims to introduce measurable changes in the R&I systems of the territories participating in the experiment, to introduce measurable institutional changes in the territorial organizations involved in the experiment, to develop a better understanding of how RRI can be adapted at the territorial level and to enhance the Smart Specialisation Strategy (RIS3) through various synergies with RRI. Concurrently, a brief reference was made to the five transformative experiments of the project.

Another point of interest was how RRI can enrich RIS3 in general and more specifically within the context of the TeRRItoria experiments. It was suggested that the totality of the RIS3 process can be infused with the RRI principles (ethics; gender equality; openness/open access/open science; public engagement including citizen science; governance), that new governance models for RIS3 that are compatible to RRI can emerge, as well as that suggestions on how to infuse RRI in the planning and implementation processes of RIS3 can be prepared for the next phase of the RIS3.

Finally, TeRRItoria was presented during the workshop on a Quadruple Helix Approach to Responsible Research and Innovation as well, by Dr. Ildiko Ipoly from European Science Foundation (ESF). This workshop included EU Funding match-making exercises, that aimed at engaging the audience into identifying common R&D interests and mapping them against open/forthcoming EU calls in order to develop international consortia.

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