The assessment aims at identifying which RI goals and elements matter to specific organisations, as they represent areas where they can make a difference in contributing to sustainable and inclusive development and drivers they can effectively leverage on to manage their innovation processes responsibly.
Specifically, the assessment is carried with reference to:
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The impact of innovative products and services on sustainable and inclusive development vis a vis the UN Sustainable Development (macro) Goals; and
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The capacity to shape the innovation process according to the RI themes proposed by the EU Commission within the H2020 framework.
Thus reflecting:
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Areas of improvement of the innovation process and/or the features of the innovative product/service towards a fuller contribution to sustainable and socially desirable growth and development;
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Drivers/enablers of responsible innovation that can be rely onto or that need to be developed/achieved manage the innovation process so that its results contribute to sustainable and socially desirable growth and development.
The UN SDGs are http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/ are:
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No Poverty: End poverty in all its forms everywhere;
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Zero Hunger and Food Security: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture;
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Good Health and Wellbeing: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages;
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Quality Education: Ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning;
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Gender equality: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls;
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Clean Water and Sanitation: Ensure access to water and sanitation for all;
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Affordable and Clean Energy: Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all;
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Decent Work and Economic Growth: Promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth, employment and decent work for all;
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Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure: Build resilient infrastructure, promote sustainable industrialization and foster innovation;
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Reduced Inequalities: Reduce inequality within and among countries;
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Sustainable Cities and Communities: Make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable;
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Responsible Consumption and Production: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns;
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Climate Actions: Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts;
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Life Below Water; Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources;
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Life on Land: Sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation, halt biodiversity loss;
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Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions: Promote just, peaceful and inclusive societies;
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Partnerships for the Goals: Revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development.
The RI themes proposed by the EU Commission (Responsible Research and Innovation Europe’s ability to respond to societal challenges, European Union, 2014, https://ec.europa.eu/research/swafs/pdf/pub_rri/KI0214595ENC.pdf) and incorporated in H2020 Science with and for Society workpackage (European Commission > Horizon 2020 > Responsible research & innovation, https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020/en/h2020-section/responsible-research-innovation) are:
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Ethics: […] to adequately respond to societal challenges, research and innovation must respect fundamental rights and the highest ethical standards. Beyond the mandatory legal aspects, this aims to ensure increased societal relevance and acceptability of research and innovation outcomes;
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Gender Equality: […] means that all actors — women and men — are on board. The under-representation of women must be addressed;
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Public Engagement: […] is about co-creating the future by bringing together the widest possible diversity of actors, including researchers and innovators, industry and SME, policymakers, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), civil society organisations and citizens, that would not normally interact with each other, on matters of science and technology […];
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Open Access/Open Science: […] making research [and innovation] results more accessible contributes to improving research and innovation;
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Science Education: […] the key for co-creation within the research and innovation process is one of enabling sustained dialogue. But before this can happen, the language and tools of science need to be available to everyone. Science education is essential to making this happen;
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Governance models: […] to anticipate and assess potential implications and societal expectations […], with the aim of fostering the design of inclusive and sustainable research and innovation [it is necessary to] develop harmonious governance models for responsible research and innovation that integrate public engagement, gender equality, science education, open access/science and ethics.
They can be considered as drivers/enablers of responsible innovation and key elements
for responsible innovation management.
The tool
The assessment tool is an on-line tool in the format of a questionnaire.
Assessment results are in the format of a radar graph that describes the scope of a possible RI management system for the specific organisation. It describes the thematic boundaries within which the organisation should plan its improvement, so that practice extends to cover the whole relevant RI area.
Click "Next" to proceed with the Self-Assessment!
