Introduction
SeeRRI establishes a foundation for building self-sustaining Research and Innovation (R&I) ecosystems in Europe by developing a framework for integrating the Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) approach into regional development policies in three European territories: the B30 Area (Spain), the Polymer and Mechatronic Cluster (Austria), and Nordland Region (Norway). To achieve the goal of self-sustainability, SeeRRI ecosystems are designed to be adaptive, resilient, reproducible, continuously learning, and open or closed when needed.
With 12 quadruple-helix partners representing government authorities, clusters and SMEs, academia, and civil organization, SeeRRI will build an integrated framework based on literature review and co-creation with the relevant stakeholders. By mapping the territorial R&I ecosystems, SeeRRI will understand the supporting
conditions for R&I and identify the stakeholders who will be involved in formulating a variety of scenarios for building a self-sustaining ecosystem in their territories. The engaged stakeholders will gain awareness and insights while participating in creative collaboration using workshops and open labs, and will thus function as multipliers and promote RRI principles in their territories and beyond. The input from stakeholders will contribute to defining and validating a framework for self-sustaining R&I ecosystems developed by the project team, which will generate concrete activities to be implemented.
Furthermore, SeeRRI will evaluate the activities carried out in the pilot territories and assess their impact at the EU level, offer concrete guidelines for policies, and suggest conditions and governance structures for the R&I ecosystems with a roadmap tool identifying RRI openings in the Smart Specialisation process.
Project objectives
To establish a foundation for building self-sustaining R&I ecosystems.
To implement a new R&I working method at the organizational level in a territorial context.
To share learning and transfer governance innovation best practices.
To engage relevant R&I stakeholders in a meaningful way during the process.
To evaluate activities carried out in the course of the project and contribute to MoRRI indicators and SDGs.
To establish a foundation for building self-sustaining R&I ecosystems.
To engage relevant R&I stakeholders in a meaningful way during the process.
To implement a new R&I working method at the organizational level in a territorial context.
To evaluate activities carried out in the course of the project and contribute to MoRRI indicators and SDGs.
To share learning and transfer governance innovation best practices.
Approach
SeeRRI’s approach to building an adaptive resilience ecosystem in a complex context using a responsible research and innovation approach is to construct a policy framework that includes both the smartness of Smart Specialisation and the sustainability and inclusion of RRI. The outcome of this will lead to a self-sustaining ecosystem.
These steps will be implemented in 14 SeeRRI workshops aimed at bringing all relevant actors together in the process of integrating RRI into regional development policies for the purpose of building a self-sustaining R&I ecosystem.
Expected impact
Direct impact refers to the establishment of sustainable RRI-based innovation ecosystems which will alter the research and innovation strategies and outcomes of the three focal territories (Ecoplus, Nordland, B30) through the activities initiated in workshops involving quadruple-helix stakeholders (government, academia, businesses, citizens).
Medium-term impact will be felt in the outcome of the SeeRRI framework being applied to the three focal territories as well as the adoption of the SeeRRI framework by the Network of Affiliated Territories (NAT). Within five years from the end of the project, these ecosystems will have developed a strong funding base and produce better educational, scientific, social, environmental, and economic outcomes by following the activities described in the SeeRRI framework.
In the longer term, we expect that the competitiveness of European industry will benefit as these sustainable ecosystems become widespread in many territories.
Specific Impacts:
Society
The main outcome of the SeeRRI project will be an integrated framework for building a self-sustaining R&I ecosystem that is open, transparent, and responsive. The framework will include a road-mapping tool for choosing the appropriate approach in a variety of different contexts. The co-creation approach during the stakeholder workshops supports awareness and knowledge creation and therefore sustainability. The framework defines a sequence of actions and an implementation roadmap for each SeeRRI territory and will be implemented in the three focal territories.
The impacts achieved by the project will be documented in the project final report. We expect these to include significant advances in implementing the RRI agenda in each of the participating organizations and territories as indicated by both the MoRRI and SDG indicators beyond the baseline measurements taken at the beginning of the project.
Stakeholders
In the process of developing an integrated framework of self-sustaining R&I ecosystems, SeeRRI will engage quadruple-helix actors and transfer learning across regions and countries. Physical and virtual platforms will be created for involving as many relevant actors as possible. In general, stakeholder engagement is an important element in introducing RRI openings throughout the project. A foresight process allows stakeholders to share their opinions, needs, expectations, wishes, and (when applicable) experiences with the implementation of RRI openings in R&I ecosystems. Moreover, foresight processes contribute to capacity building and networking within the stakeholder group.
Impact Application
The outputs of the SeeRRI project are expected to be institutional reforms of research and innovation systems in the territories participating in SeeRRI as well as among key members of the Network of Affiliated Territories (NAT) within five years of the conclusion of the project. In the focal territories of SeeRRI, reforms are facilitated through various platforms of co-creation, which are experimentally created, tested and validated as generalized frameworks. What will be disseminated as the outcome of the project is a validated integrated framework combined with methods of transnational learning into NAT members. There will be Open Innovation activities among SeeRRI’s expanded territories.
The Long-term Impacts
The long-term impacts are expected to be an enhanced contribution of RRI to tackling societal challenges in Europe, advances in the areas of open access, gender equality, and quality of education, as well as increased innovation capabilities in EU regions and thus increased innovation ecosystem resilience and stronger EU competitiveness in the world. The implementation of the SeeRRI framework will lead to better engagement of citizens and the public, which will lead to greater social acceptance of R&I in EU and more synergies and complementarities between R&I policies and smart specialisation strategies through diffusion of best practices and methods for R&I integration and innovation, including open access, gender equality, and increased quality of education throughout the EU and its associated countries.
Society
The main outcome of the SeeRRI project will be an integrated framework for building a self-sustaining R&I ecosystem that is open, transparent, and responsive. The framework will include a road-mapping tool for choosing the appropriate approach in a variety of different contexts. The co-creation approach during the stakeholder workshops supports awareness and knowledge creation and therefore sustainability. The framework defines a sequence of actions and an implementation roadmap for each SeeRRI territory and will be implemented in the three focal territories.
The impacts achieved by the project will be documented in the project final report. We expect these to include significant advances in implementing the RRI agenda in each of the participating organizations and territories as indicated by both the MoRRI and SDG indicators beyond the baseline measurements taken at the beginning of the project.
Stakeholders
In the process of developing an integrated framework of self-sustaining R&I ecosystems, SeeRRI will engage quadruple-helix actors and transfer learning across regions and countries. Physical and virtual platforms will be created for involving as many relevant actors as possible. In general, stakeholder engagement is an important element in introducing RRI openings throughout the project. A foresight process allows stakeholders to share their opinions, needs, expectations, wishes, and (when applicable) experiences with the implementation of RRI openings in R&I ecosystems. Moreover, foresight processes contribute to capacity building and networking within the stakeholder group.
Impact Application
The outputs of the SeeRRI project are expected to be institutional reforms of research and innovation systems in the territories participating in SeeRRI as well as among key members of the Network of Affiliated Territories (NAT) within five years of the conclusion of the project. In the focal territories of SeeRRI, reforms are facilitated through various platforms of co-creation, which are experimentally created, tested and validated as generalized frameworks. What will be disseminated as the outcome of the project is a validated integrated framework combined with methods of transnational learning into NAT members. There will be Open Innovation activities among SeeRRI’s expanded territories.
The Long-term Impacts
The long-term impacts are expected to be an enhanced contribution of RRI to tackling societal challenges in Europe, advances in the areas of open access, gender equality, and quality of education, as well as increased innovation capabilities in EU regions and thus increased innovation ecosystem resilience and stronger EU competitiveness in the world. The implementation of the SeeRRI framework will lead to better engagement of citizens and the public, which will lead to greater social acceptance of R&I in EU and more synergies and complementarities between R&I policies and smart specialisation strategies through diffusion of best practices and methods for R&I integration and innovation, including open access, gender equality, and increased quality of education throughout the EU and its associated countries.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement nº 824588.
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