The challenge
Innovation is an engine of economic growth and societal progress. The European Union has consistently been promoting research and innovation (R&I) activities in its member states, including at the regional level through “smart specialisation” strategies (RIS3). However, if innovation is going to help resolve the many existential challenges humanity faces today, it is critical that R&I activities are aligned with the values, needs, and expectations of society. The EU policy of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) seeks to foster such an alignment. SeeRRI addresses the challenge of integrating RRI into smart specialisation strategies at the regional level, with the goal of ensuring that regional R&I activities contribute to the UN Agenda 2030 of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) supported by the EU. In 2020, the timeliness of the challenge has been further underscored by the Covid-19 pandemic, as collective efforts at the EU level are now being mobilized to make sure the EU will emerge from the Covid-19 crisis on a path toward sustainable well-being for all in a healthy biosphere.
The approach taken by SeeRRI
SeeRRI tackles the problem of how to integrate RRI into regional policy in a concrete manner by working with territorial actors of all kinds, including industry and business, academia, policymakers, and the public. SeeRRI acknowledges that since every European region has unique features, there is no one-size-fits-all solution to the problem of how to facilitate responsible and sustainable R&I. The approach of SeeRRI is to create a general framework (“the SeeRRI process model for responsible regional planning”) and an implementation pathway that regions can use to find their own, context-specific strategy.
The pilot regions
Three European territories serve as pilot regions for the project: Nordland (Norway), Lower Austria, and B30 (Catalonia, Spain).
• B30 is the main industrial hub for innovation, research, and entrepreneurship in Catalonia, which is undergoing a transition toward a circular economy. The specific challenge for B30 is to find a governance model that encourages regional stakeholders to work together to develop and implement solutions for achieving waste-free economic development in the region.
• In Lower Austria, SeeRRI focuses on the plastics industry, which has been contributing significantly to medical technology, healthcare, construction, mobility, infrastructure, etc., but struggles with a negative public image. The challenge for the plastics industry in Lower Austria is to help achieve a CO2-neutral economy by contributing to new designs of research, development, and innovation.
• Nordland is home to just 4.5% of Norway’s population but contains 25% of the country’s coastline, hence marine industries are of vital importance to the region. The core challenge of Nordland is “responsible coastal management”: to manage conflicting interests in coastal development and strike a balance between creating incentives for industry and protecting the environment.
The core objectives of SeeRRI are:
• To develop, in cooperation with relevant stakeholders, an RRI-based model for building self-sustaining territorial research and innovation ecosystems.
• To make sure the model mentioned above is implemented in the regional policies of the three pilot territories.
• To share lessons learned and propose governance strategies for innovation best practices in a variety of regional contexts not limited to the three pilot territories.
• To implement RRI principles internally in the twelve member organizations of SeeRRI itself.
