Innovative ethical research
European renewal will depend on innovation. Yet the innovation must also be ethical, sustainable and achieve a common good. Over three years, the EU-funded PROGRESS (Promoting global responsible research and social and scientific innovation) project probed this subject. The 9-member consortium includes partners from Australia, China, India, South Africa and the United States. One goal was to promote social desirability by linking existing international networks of responsible research and innovation (RRI) with relevant social actors. The group compared science funding strategies internationally. Lastly, the team collected global voices on RRI, to develop a strategy for fostering convergence of regional innovation systems at a global level. The project compared research and innovation strategies between five high income and four middle income countries. Results indicate that, globally, ethics governance is the most widely accepted RRI action, whilst societal engagement is the least commonly practised. At the same time, responsible innovation linked to the Grand Challenges can open new market opportunities and ensure profitability, findings show. Important for a global reach of RRI is reference to “inclusive innovation”, a governance framework designed to reduce extreme poverty and unsustainable inequality in countries such as China, India and South Africa. The project produced a series of eight informative videos, eight journals articles – to date - in addition to other dissemination tools such as the website. PROGRESS has raised global and European awareness among researchers and funders concerning RRI principles. The work will help to achieve a greater appeal and impact of such principles, particularly where research is linked to the needs of citizens.
Keywords
Innovation, ethical research, responsible research, social desirability, scientific innovation
