In the first half of the project, national mapping (including documents and interviews) was carried out in order to understand the national policies and institutions in which organisations are embedded. National workshops with key stakeholders facilitated the discussion of organisations’ understanding of responsibility in research and innovation, along with discussion of the RRI concept and barriers and drivers related to RRI.
In the first period, the organisational work also started up. In total, we collaborated with 23 major research funding and performing organisations across the globe. In these organisations we conducted a review of how they worked with RRI related aspects, and developed actions plans (Outlooks) in a co-creative process. Two parallel international workshops took place in September 2017, during which participants from partner organisations exchanged their experiences with organisational approaches to RRI.
In the second period of the project, the organisational RRI Reviews were finalised for each organisation followed by Outlooks to strengthen RRI related activities. The reviews and outlooks were delivered to the respective organisations, and material from the reviews and outlooks were reported in the national case study deliverables. Systematic comparisons were then carried out on the case studies. The aim was to draw general lessons on barriers and drivers, and on the influence of national and organisational structures and cultures on the implementation of RRI practices. This work also facilitated the identification of good practices and the development of strategies for broader implementation of RRI, feeding into the RRI Handbook for Organisations.
A workshop held in Brussels in May 2019 brought together key European policy makers and stakeholders and RRI scholars to discuss draft policy recommendations prepared by the project. The set of policy recommendations aimed to support the European Commission (EC) and national policymakers to strengthen RRI and focused on: 1) Change the incentive regime to promote an organisational culture for RRI; 2) Broaden the concept of excellence and impact; 3) Build capacity and a future for RRI through training and resourcing; and 4) Support RRI as a creative and adaptive learning process.
In June 2019, RRI-Practice, along with the Nucleus project, held a joint conference in Brussels entitled ‘Pathways to Transformation’. The conference explored practical and policy pathways to enhanced social responsiveness for institutions and was attended by 140 researchers, practitioners, policymakers and R&I stakeholders. An important event at the conference was the presentation of the cross-project Pathways Declaration and Petition which called on European institutions, Member States, and their R&I funding and performing organisations, business and civil society to continue to make RRI a key objective across all relevant policies and activities nad advanced a set of recommendations targeted at the EC regarding the embedding of RRI in the forthcoming EU funding programme, Horizon Europe.
