The European Commission (EC) has just published the indicators to measure the evolution of Responsible Research and Innovation policies (RRI), that aims for R&D&i to be conducted in accordance with the values ​​and expectations of society.  Gema Revuelta, director of the Science, Communication and Society Studies Centre at UPF (CCS-UPF), along with six European specialists in different areas of RRI (public engagement, ethics, gender equality, science education, open access and governance of science) have joined the panel of experts responsible for the report.

In its most general definition, RRI has to do with science that is increasingly sensitive and connected to the values, needs and concerns of society. RRI is a transforming element of research that has gained prominence in recent years becoming a "cross-cutting principle" of the Horizon 2020 programme. Although still in its early stages, it is being strongly implemented in many international research programmes.

Considering the reach that the policies and practices of RRI can attain they must be subjected to scrutiny and criticism as they gain weight and importance. Political indicators are the tool most used by the EU itself for monitoring, evaluating and self-appraisal of its policies. For this reason, in 2014 the EC commissioned the group of experts to identify the most appropriate indicators to measure RRI, those already used and those that could be developed in the future.

The report offers a wide range of indicators for the different areas of RRI, but also warns that if RRI are only treated as a set of numerical indicators, they is likely to lose their transformative potential and become merely a bureaucratic ritual. Thus it recommends considering the indicators as a joint network and not as a series of individual packages, and evaluating numerical progress under lively, real debate.

The CCS-UPF is participating in various projects involved in RRI, including the HEIRRI project, which applies the concept of RRI in science and engineering studies, the NERRI project, which applies the concept of RRI to the field of neuroenhancement, or the MoRRI project, that monitors the progress of RRI in sixteen European countries.

Other related e-news: