The fast advancements in science and technology are posing the urgent need to ensure that science, technology and innovation outcomes and policies become closer to the values, needs and expectations of society. This may be achieved through the adoption of responsible research and innovation principles.
SISCODE research and innovation action started in May 2018 with the aim of better understanding how to use co-creation methodologies to make research and innovation more responsible.
In April 2021, SISCODE successfully concluded its European-wide research and experimentation. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the project was able to triangulate results from desk, field and action research. For this last research stream, the foreseen phases of ideation, development, prototyping, and testing were completed, releasing functioning prototypes of solutions responding to local societal challenges. Thanks to this experimentation, the project produced guidance on how to concretely achieve responsible research and innovation through a set of co-creation methodologies applicable in real-life settings and suited for scalability and replication in diverse contexts. In particular, an Interactive Guidebook allows for the guided setup and customization of co-creation processes, while SISCODE’s Learning Hub and MOOC provide resources to manage co-creation in policymaking. Moreover, SISCODE elaborated a model of co-creation ecosystems that describes different levels of maturity and provides indications for managing factors and dynamics that give the possibility to upgrade and achieve higher levels of responsibility for the benefit of society.