Periodic Reporting for period 1 - EMBRACE (EMBedding Responsible Research And Innovation in Future and Emerging TeChnologiEs)
Okres sprawozdawczy: 2021-05-01 do 2022-10-31
The overall objective of the EMBRACE project was to develop, validate and provide products and services that embed responsible research and innovation (RRI). These products and services allow EIC pathfinders and other researchers in emerging technologies to recognise, engage with and mitigate ethical and social issues. Overall this objective was successfully achieved. The EMBRACE project developed scientifically, technically and economically viable services. The objectives were achieved using the following methodology: Fact finding, Service definition, Validation and Market testing and roll-out.
Through a series of 40 semi structured interviews with EIC project coordinators the project was able to understand the ethical and societal issues that researchers and innovators face when they enter the market as well as current mitigation strategies used to address these issues. Examples of such issues include the use of personal data, the involvement of human participants and the engagement of relevant sections of the public. The analysis of the various ethical challenges helped the project to determine which RRI services are suitable to help researchers deal with these challenges. A number of RRI services were then mapped based on the qualitative analysis of ethical and social issues that researchers face. This successfully led to an analysis of the extant RRI processes that were developed in the context of the Future and Emerging Technologies Flagship project, the Human Brain Project (HBP). Service definitions were then created which contained the set of candidate services that addressed the EIC researchers’ concerns. The services defined were first tested to demonstrate their viability and usefulness to the target audience. The successful delivery of these pilot trials validated that the candidate services were credible in the sense of providing scientific, technical and economic rigour with the expected impact.
EMBRACE brought the validated service offerings to the market. In order for the RRI services to be accessible and useful and to provide the social benefit, they need to be offered to potential customers and recognised as an available service. This was achieved by offering the services as part of the portfolio of services provided by ORBIT-RRI limited, a non-profit university spin-out company based in the UK.
Through a series of 40 semi structured interviews with EIC project coordinators the project was able to understand the ethical and societal issues that researchers and innovators face when they enter the market as well as current mitigation strategies used to address these issues. Examples of such issues include the use of personal data, the involvement of human participants and the engagement of relevant sections of the public. The analysis of the various ethical challenges helped the project to determine which RRI services are suitable to help researchers deal with these challenges. A number of RRI services were then mapped based on the qualitative analysis of ethical and social issues that researchers face. This successfully led to an analysis of the extant RRI processes that were developed in the context of the Future and Emerging Technologies Flagship project, the Human Brain Project (HBP). Service definitions were then created which contained the set of candidate services that addressed the EIC researchers’ concerns. The services defined were first tested to demonstrate their viability and usefulness to the target audience. The successful delivery of these pilot trials validated that the candidate services were credible in the sense of providing scientific, technical and economic rigour with the expected impact.
EMBRACE brought the validated service offerings to the market. In order for the RRI services to be accessible and useful and to provide the social benefit, they need to be offered to potential customers and recognised as an available service. This was achieved by offering the services as part of the portfolio of services provided by ORBIT-RRI limited, a non-profit university spin-out company based in the UK.
The aim of the initial set of activities was to find out which specific ethical and regulatory challenges EIC researchers faced during the commercialisation stage of their project. This involved conducting 40 semi-structured interviews and then conducting a gap analysis from the findings. Following on from this, the EMBRACE team identified the need for RRI services and the challenges that need to be addressed for EIC pathfinders.
The aggregated interests and qualitative analysis gave a clear indication of which services are most likely to find a market. Following this pilot testing of the potential services with EIC pathfinders via online 3 focus groups were conducted. The purpose of these pilot focus groups helped us to understand whether the services proposed in the service descriptions are of sufficient quality and met the needs of the potential customer groups. The EMBRACE project team assessed all potential services, distilled to be the most ‘in-demand’ by the researchers, for development into fully fledged commercial offerings and evaluated these against a set of relevant criteria that were: ease of development, relevance to RRI, ability to deliver, resource requirements and availability of expertise. The top four commercially viable services were selected for detail development and trialled through focus group discussion by EIC coordinators, on the content specificity and refinement of the training as both an online and in-person mode of delivery.
As a result, the EMBRACE proposed and developed one more service than originally planned in the DoA. This allowed the project a higher degree of flexibility in terms of testing and eventual roll-out of the training courses. The project was successful in helping the project develop service options and provided the basis for the subsequent validation of the RRI services. Each of the services was deployed twice i.e. in an online and a face to face style and delivered to a target audience of academics, postgraduates, scientists, and those working in policy making.
The four service training offered (online) were:
An introduction to Data Governance
An introduction to Stakeholder Engagement Services
An introduction to the Design of Ethical AI Systems
An introduction to Research Integrity
Following this, the services presented face to face in Brussels were:
Data Governance Foundations
Stakeholder Engagement Services
Design of Ethical AI Systems
Research Integrity
Following the validation and review of these training courses, they were rolled out to a commercial audience. This included their advertisement to more than 250 FET project leaders and contributors and a marketing campaign to all existing customers of ORBIT-RRI limited.
The aggregated interests and qualitative analysis gave a clear indication of which services are most likely to find a market. Following this pilot testing of the potential services with EIC pathfinders via online 3 focus groups were conducted. The purpose of these pilot focus groups helped us to understand whether the services proposed in the service descriptions are of sufficient quality and met the needs of the potential customer groups. The EMBRACE project team assessed all potential services, distilled to be the most ‘in-demand’ by the researchers, for development into fully fledged commercial offerings and evaluated these against a set of relevant criteria that were: ease of development, relevance to RRI, ability to deliver, resource requirements and availability of expertise. The top four commercially viable services were selected for detail development and trialled through focus group discussion by EIC coordinators, on the content specificity and refinement of the training as both an online and in-person mode of delivery.
As a result, the EMBRACE proposed and developed one more service than originally planned in the DoA. This allowed the project a higher degree of flexibility in terms of testing and eventual roll-out of the training courses. The project was successful in helping the project develop service options and provided the basis for the subsequent validation of the RRI services. Each of the services was deployed twice i.e. in an online and a face to face style and delivered to a target audience of academics, postgraduates, scientists, and those working in policy making.
The four service training offered (online) were:
An introduction to Data Governance
An introduction to Stakeholder Engagement Services
An introduction to the Design of Ethical AI Systems
An introduction to Research Integrity
Following this, the services presented face to face in Brussels were:
Data Governance Foundations
Stakeholder Engagement Services
Design of Ethical AI Systems
Research Integrity
Following the validation and review of these training courses, they were rolled out to a commercial audience. This included their advertisement to more than 250 FET project leaders and contributors and a marketing campaign to all existing customers of ORBIT-RRI limited.
The academic contribution of the project is the first empirically supported study of the needs of leading researchers and innovators with regards to RRI when they transition from the research phase to the commercial phase of their work. This unique insight was used to develop a set of services that researchers can use to address the gaps in their offerings and ensure that their research and innovation activities are acceptable, socially desirable and sustainable.
This project began with a comprehensive set of interviews with FET Launchpad project leaders about their specific needs. From this preliminary list the project selected a number of services in the form of courses to be developed. The selection was based upon an understanding of which ones were most likely to be popular with this specific market segment, and developed both online and face to face format versions of these. However the relatively modest uptake of the online, and especially the face to face courses tends to suggest that despite the market research indicating that there is demand for these course topics, that there may be an issue with the course formats selected.
From several years of experience of developing and delivering courses for the academic ICT research market the ORBIT team has recognised that, since the end of the global pandemic, an increasing demand from university clients for self paced learning modules, as these allow for flexible timing for delegates, and also remove the need for the time and cost of travel. This may be also partially due to a COVID-19 related inertia in the apparent reluctance of people to travel. However from the feedback gained from the EMBRACE course delivery we do recognise a significant need for human interaction with subject matter experts.
On this basis the EMBRACE team continues to develop additional distance learning based modules using the ORBIT Blended, Interactive, ONline and Innovative Course (BIONIC) Learning Management System. These modules will be used to supplement the existing online and live course offerings, with the intention of meeting the changing training format needs of research leaders.
This project began with a comprehensive set of interviews with FET Launchpad project leaders about their specific needs. From this preliminary list the project selected a number of services in the form of courses to be developed. The selection was based upon an understanding of which ones were most likely to be popular with this specific market segment, and developed both online and face to face format versions of these. However the relatively modest uptake of the online, and especially the face to face courses tends to suggest that despite the market research indicating that there is demand for these course topics, that there may be an issue with the course formats selected.
From several years of experience of developing and delivering courses for the academic ICT research market the ORBIT team has recognised that, since the end of the global pandemic, an increasing demand from university clients for self paced learning modules, as these allow for flexible timing for delegates, and also remove the need for the time and cost of travel. This may be also partially due to a COVID-19 related inertia in the apparent reluctance of people to travel. However from the feedback gained from the EMBRACE course delivery we do recognise a significant need for human interaction with subject matter experts.
On this basis the EMBRACE team continues to develop additional distance learning based modules using the ORBIT Blended, Interactive, ONline and Innovative Course (BIONIC) Learning Management System. These modules will be used to supplement the existing online and live course offerings, with the intention of meeting the changing training format needs of research leaders.