Managing risks of innovation
The so-called 'innovation industry' is fraught with risk. One solution is to manage the emerging risks through a new management paradigm. The project 'Early recognition, monitoring and integrated management of emerging, new technology related risks' (INTEG-RISK)(opens in new window) attempted to develop such a paradigm. The goal of the 67-member consortium was to reduce the time-to-market for leading EU technologies. An additional objective involved promoting safety, security, environmental friendliness and social responsibility as marketable features of EU technologies. Lastly, the project attempted to improve early detection of unforeseen problems and to decrease reaction times. The project ran from December 2008 to May 2013. In order to derive general principles of risk management, the team analysed 25 representative applications of new technologies. The list included nanotechnologies, hydrogen technologies and underground storage of carbon dioxide. Results from the comparison were incorporated into the definition for the project's risk framework, made available to users via the project's one-stop shop. The management solutions focus on the project's goals regarding problem recognition and mitigation, plus communication, governance, pre-standardisation, training and dissemination. The framework includes several new reference tools. INTEG-RISK yielded a framework for managing the risks associated with emerging technologies. The work also helped to market EU-developed technologies and with respect to the future challenges of EU industry iNTeg-Risk proposes a Common House for European industrial safety and security and a European Emerging Risk Radar (E2R2) for new technology related multi-risks. The main results are grouped according to the INTEG-RISK 'Big 7'. They are: the INTEG-RISK Catalogue of Emerging Risks, the INTEG-RISK Framework for Emerging Risk Management, the INTEG-RISK Library of Methods, Handbooks and Guidelines and the INTEG-RISK Library of emerging Risks Key Indicators. There is also an INTEG-RISK CWA (CEN Workshop Agreement), a European Master and Certification in the area of Risk Engineering and Management, and the INTEG-RISK Risk Radar & 1StopShop. This is the web-based system-of-systems for early detection, recognition, monitoring and management of emerging risks.
