Good Practice

Responsible Research & Innovation and Impact Investing pilot workshops

Published: 19th December 2023

Supporting KIC's

Domain: Domain 1 – Fostering institutional engagement and change, Domain 2 – Strengthening partnerships (knowledge triangle integration), Domain 3 – Contributing to developing innovations and businesses, Domain 4 – Enhancing the quality of innovation and entrepreneurial education.

Action: • AC1 - Secure and maintain institutional engagement for the implementation of the IVAP, including departments and other units of HEI(s) as well as the leadership of HEI(s) and AC2 - Set up or improve organisational units and/or entities, such as technology transfer offices, by establishing the EILs in each HEI and providing toolkits (T2-T5), capacity building and hands-on pilots (4) to achieve this. • AC3 - Establish new collaborations and enhance the nature, content and types of collaborations with external partners by adopting the participatory approaches to innovation development (T1) via the EILs, adopting a quadruple helix approach via RRI (T3) and expand the involvement of public/private impact investors (T4) – coupled with hands-on pilots. • AC4 - Develop structures and conditions for people to create or develop their businesses and start-ups via the EILs in each HEI and the available trainings (T1-T6) and new institutional capacities and frameworks. • AC5 - Create structures and conditions for innovation-driven research by adopting the RRI-based approach towards innovation development (T3), impact investment for spin-offs (T4), and impactful innovation deployment (spin-off) measurement (T5). • AC6 - Develop innovation and entrepreneurial training programs and mentoring schemes for staff and students (via the T3-T6 toolkits, capacity building training and pilots)

On December 20, 2022, as part of the RiEcoLab project, a pilot workshop on responsible research and innovation was held. On January 3, 2023, during second pilot workshops, the invited stakeholders discussed impact investment.

The workshops were attended by research teams implementing scientific projects at the University of Lodz, as well as representatives of the university authorities and the authorities of the Faculty of Management of the University of Lodz. Among the participants were also representatives of innovation centers in the Lodzkie Region, as well as regional public organizations, including those representing the Board of Public Managers operating at the Faculty of Management of the University of Łódź.

Invited research teams conduct research on, among others, innovative medical, pharmaceutical and cosmetics industry; IT and design of personalized, sustainable agriculture and agri-food industry. The research profile of the implemented projects is in line with the smart specializations of the Lodzkie Region defined in the regional innovation strategy.

The implementation of the pilot workshops required an interdisciplinary approach involving various stakeholders groups. UOL involved wider regional ecosystem including academia (academic, non-academic, students), entrepreneurs (startups, incubators, industry), the public sector (local government), and non-governmental organization. An important criterion was diversity (in the context of the job and employment environment). These stakeholders became part of the project implementation (they took part in UOL’s workshops) creating conditions for future public-private investments in university spin-offs.

Thanks to various previous training events, research projects, consultancy projects, industry days and public events the RiEcoLab pilot has engaged with members of the local ecosystem across all quadrants of the quadruple helix.

Recruitment for the workshop was organized via:

Dedicated webpage.
University newsletter.
Mail.
Networking.
Already existing links with university and faculty’s partners and stakeholders.

On the webpage, the following information was provided:

Information about the project and pilot
Objectives of the pilot
Main requirements

During first workshop, the teams worked on the possibility of including the principles of responsible research and innovation in research projects and university development processes. The participants agreed on the need to include the RRI concept in the research and commercialization activities of the university. The workshop confirmed that science already has some experience in implementing this approach, although these activities are not free of barriers and limitations. The principles of RRI also require wider popularization, especially in terms of the benefits of their application. There is no doubt about the important role of internal and external stakeholders of the activities carried out, although, as noted, universities encounter some problems here, such as insufficient social trust in science. There is a need to promote reliable scientific knowledge, to strengthen social awareness of its role in the development of the world. It is necessary to foster the understanding of the seemingly different points of view of different stakeholders on expected values. Communication between participants in innovation processes and cooperation are important to improve the efficiency of activity in the sphere of Responsible Research and Innovation, including mechanisms of inclusive decision-making.

The aim of the II workshop was, among others, to answer the question of how to identify the impact of R&D research in various areas and how to measure this impact. Workshop participants agreed that the purpose of commercialization of research results is not only to achieve a positive financial result. According to the mission of modern universities, innovative processes have a chance to influence both society and the environment, and measuring this impact is an element of efficient management.

The meeting proved that such an impact is exerted, and appropriate activities disseminating the results of research work have a chance to achieve lasting positive social or environmental changes. Examples include changes consisting in improving the social inclusion of people with disabilities, improving social integration, improving the health of the population by promoting proper eating habits, shaping strategies for the development of territorial units that consider scientific achievements and a scientific perspective, and many others.

The workshop also resulted in a consensus on the need to identify the intended social and environmental impact at the research planning stage. However, this requires some changes in awareness or sometimes formal and legal changes, and this in turn may take place with a broader dialogue of R&D process stakeholders on the subject of the university’s responsibility towards the environment. Trends in thinking in this direction are already present in the scientific community, but they require systematization and inclusion in the strategic and operational framework of scientific units. As stated, actions are also necessary to systematically monitor social and environmental needs with the use of networking mechanisms and participation of various stakeholders – both internal and external.

Context

Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) is a concept that has gained special importance in the European Union (EU) over the past decade, referring to a research and development process that integrates research into a broader social context.

The European Commission (https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/en/h2020-section/public-engagement-responsible-research-and-innovation) has provided more concrete normative orientations in the form of six policy keys that RRI should foster: ethics, gender equality, governance, open access, public engagement and science education.

•Ethics: It focuses on research integrity (the prevention of unacceptable research and research practices) and science and society (the ethical acceptance of scientific and technological developments).

•Gender Equality: It aims to promote gender-balancing teams, ensure gender balance in decision-making bodies and always take into account the gender dimension in research and innovation (R&I) to improve the quality and social relevance of the results.

•Governance: Agreements leading to acceptable and desirable futures must be robust and adaptable to the unpredictable development of R&I (de facto governance), sufficiently familiar to comply with existing practices in R&I, share responsibility and responsibility among all actors, and provide effective governance instruments to promote this shared responsibility.

•Open access: Addressing issues of accessibility and ownership of scientific information. Free and rapid access to scientific work could improve the quality of scientific research and promote rapid innovation, constructive collaboration among colleagues and productive dialogue with civil society.

•Public engagement: Encourages collaboration and multi-actorial R&I processes: All social actors work together throughout the process to align their results with the values, needs and expectations of society.

•Science Education: The focus is on improving the current educational process to better equip citizens with the necessary knowledge and skills to participate in the R&I debate; and increasing the number of researchers.

Actors engaged in responsible research and innovation commit to the following principles:

•Transparency: By participating in open innovation, reflecting and openly disclosing the objectives and potential effects of innovations and the associated uncertainties.

•Participation & Inclusion: By involving people of a wide variety and different backgrounds at the eye level (including innovation processes) and taking into account their needs.

•Governance: By strengthening the capacity for responsible innovation, by strengthening links between innovation and CSR/sustainable management and by implementing gender equality.

•Anticipation: by assessing risks and broader impacts (risk management and due diligence), taking into account ethical limitations, accepting early warnings of negative effects and mitigating harm.

•Sustainability: By focusing innovation on the planet, people and profits (the three bottom lines) and increasing common value (for the company and society).

The idea of workshops is based on the belief that the responsibility for our future is shared by all people and institutions affected by and involved in research and innovation to not only contribute to solving today’s problems, but also to create a world desired by future generations.

Audiences

Who benefits from the practice, whose needs are being answered.

Academia (academic, non-academic, students).
Entrepreneurs (startups, incubators, industry).
Public sector (local government).
Business support institutions.
Non-governmental organizations.

Key outcomes

The key outcomes refer to the following factors affecting RRI and II implementation in commercialization processes in HEIs:

The principles of RRI require popularization, especially in terms of the benefits of their application.
There is a need to strengthen social awareness of the role of science in the development of the world.
Communication between participants in innovation processes is important.
Investing Impact is exerted, and appropriate activities disseminating the results of research work have a chance to achieve lasting positive social or environmental changes.
There is a consensus on the need to identify the intended social and environmental impact at the research planning stage which requires some changes in awareness or sometimes formal and legal changes, and this in turn may take place with a broader dialogue of stakeholders.
Actions are necessary to monitor social and environmental needs with the use of networking mechanisms.

Key success factors / How to replicate / Sustainability mechanism

Replication success depends mainly on proper stakeholder identification and the ability to gain enough interest to make them participate. What is also important is the use of proper direct and indirect methods of workshop promotion. This enables the ability to reach and interest all groups of stakeholders. Recommended channels are:

Webpage.
University/faculty newsletter.
Mail/ intranet.
Networking.
Already existing links with university and faculty’s partners and stakeholders.
Recruitment during ongoing events.

Transferability depends therefore also on taking into consideration the uniqueness of each HEI and its socio-economic environment (including local and regional aspects). Stakeholders mapping as a method of proper stakeholders identification should be taken into consideration.