Responsible Research and Innovation Networking Globally (RRING) Workshop at AAAS Annual Meeting

As partners in the ‘Responsible Research and Innovation Networking Globally’ (RRING) project, UNESCO co-organizes in coalition a 13 February 2020 RRING workshop on site at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Annual Meeting in Seattle, Washington (USA). The expert meeting will bring together various stakeholders of science technology and innovation systems by invitation, for learning on responsibility in research and innovation. It is one of a series of responsible research and innovation networking workshops under the (EU-funded) RRING project.

The overall aim of project is to stimulate and inform mutual learning and collaboration in this area of responsible research and innovation. An important part of the project is a bottom-up approach to share and engage in learning about responsibility, aligned to the states’ commitments to implement the Recommendation on Science and Scientific Researchers (2017).

Responsible research and innovation in practice will require that individual researchers, and all institutions that employ, govern, fund, publish and facilitate, and all other stakeholders in the STI system, including e.g. STEM educators and citizen scientists, routinely anticipate and assess potential implications and societal expectations with regard to research and innovation, with the aim to foster the design of inclusive and sustainable research and innovation systems.

In practice, responsible research and innovation implies that societal actors (researchers, citizens, policy makers, business, third sector organizations, etc.) work together during the whole of research and innovation processes, in order to better align both the system and its outcomes with the values, needs and expectations of society, so that they encompass multi-actor and public engagement in research and innovation, enabling easier access to scientific results, the take up of gender and ethics in the research and innovation content and process, and formal and informal science education.

This corresponds to a vision of science technology and innovation (STI) systems in compliance with the commitments some 195 States have adopted as common global norms and standards in the new Recommendation on Science and Scientific Researchers (2017).

The AAAS annual meeting in Seattle, Washington (USA) is an event expected to attract some 8,000 scientists and other stakeholders. On 13 February, it is expected that the RRING workshop will gather 30 to 40 experts.