Mainstreaming

Responsibility

into Innovation Policy

www.interregeurope.eu/marie

Interreg Europe MARIE aims at mainstreaming RRI in regional smart specialisation strategies (RIS3) by improving ERDF-based regional policy instruments (ROPs) in terms of theme integration, change

in management structure and new projects focusing on RRI.

It pursues that by means of exchange among 10 partners of 8 European regions, jointly engaging in maturity mapping, good

practice analysis and action planning.

Eleni Apospori, Associate Professor

Dr. Louiza Paraskevopoulou

Dr. Christos S. Tsanos

Athens University of Economics and Business – Research

Centre / Business Communication Laboratory (AUEB-

RC/BCLab)

Enterprise Study on

RRI Implementation

To learn about enterprises/organisations (E/Os), in MARIE-

participating European Regions, that implement RRI

Drivers

Beneficiaries and resources

Link to RRI Thematic Elements

Impact

Enablers and barriers

Objective

Data collection• Instrument: Structured interviews

• Participants: 23 E/Os from 8 European regions

o Focus: specific Good Practices (GPs) of RRI implementation by

the E/Os

• Characteristics of E/Os

o Operate in a Smart Specialisation (S3) sector in each Region

o Have prior experience with RRI (e.g., participate in exchange

platforms, research projects, open innovation structures)

o Be an SME (in case of enterprises)

• Study timeframe: November 2017 – April 2018

Methodology

Qualitative content analysis

• Coding: organisation of raw data into conceptual categories

o 1st-order coding: identifying codes from raw data

o 2nd-order coding: identifying major themes / categories

from the multiple 1st-level codes

• Synthesis (across cases) of common themes into final results

Analytical approach

• Internal• Organisational culture rooted on RRI

• Skilled/experienced founders

• Existence of partnerships / networks of partners

• Benefits provided to: a) stakeholders / end users (by addressing a real

need) and b) society (“doing good”)• Business opportunity (e.g. improvement of staff satisfaction and

retention, improvement of product offering, development of in-house

research capacity)

• External

• Opportunities (e.g., funding availability, a business competition) and obligations (e.g. conformance to research integrity standards, internal

code of conduct) stemming from the external environment

• RRI as a means to achieve competitive advantage

• Technological trends

Drivers for the RRI case

Findings 1/6

Beneficiaries of the RRI case

• Internal stakeholders: the company / organisation (6/23), its

staff / employees (2/23), its shareholders (2/23)

• External stakeholders: end users / customers (16/23), society

in general (11/23), business partners (7/23), local community

(3/23), natural environment (3/23)

Resources required to set up and run the RRI case

• Human (internal company team, external experts, people

from the local community) (23/23)

• Financial (internal / external funding) (22/23)

• Technological (equipment, knowledge) (7/23)

• Others (materials, office space, time) (8/23)

Findings 2/6

RRI Thematic Elements addressed by RRI case

1. Public Engagement (18/23): involvement of end users /

stakeholders / local community in the process, open to public participation

2. Ethics (16/23): ethics / responsibility as an inherent feature of

operations, compliance with law, personal data security / protection

3. Open Access (12/23): open access to results (e.g. publications,

databases), open software, open innovation, open public events

4. Science Education (10/23): universities / schools as partners,

students as end users / beneficiaries, educational workshops (raise

awareness, disseminate results), sponsoring educational programs

5. Gender Equality (7/23): balanced participation of men and women

in the organisation / project team, research on gender issues

Findings 3/6

Measureable impacts of RRI case

• Business indicators (11/23): improved sales, international

demand, foreign investment, growth of business, number of

operating units of the end product, customer satisfaction

• Participation indicators (5/23): number of participants /

visitors

• Recognition indicators (3/23): awards, media coverage

• Academic / research indicators (2/23): number of scientific

papers produced, number of project deliverables

Findings 4/6

Enablers for the RRI case

• Organisational: Culture of collaboration and fostering

innovation

• Inclusion and partnerships / synergies: partnerships with

stakeholders (public sector, NGOs, research institutions, the

local community), maintaining good relations with

stakeholders, personal networking and contacts

• Financial: availability of internal and external funding (private /

public / EU / crowdfunding)

• Institutional: favourable institutional environment

• Technological: availability of open source software /

knowledge

Findings 5/6

Barriers for the RRI case

• Internal

o Lack of resources (funding, time, knowledge)

o Organisational culture that does not foster RRI

o Difficulties in attracting the right human resources

o Inadequate management processes for incorporating RRI in

operations, providing employees with RRI skills

• External

o Bureaucracy

o Lack of RRI awareness from end users / partners

o Skepticism of end users / partners towards the product /

service or RRI itself

Findings 6/6

• The RRI thematic elements

o Most frequently addressed: Public Engagement and Ethics

o Least frequently addressed: Gender Equality

• Main enablers for the development and implementation of the GPs are

o Internal: Organisational enablers and partnerships / synergies formed by the company , suggesting that the company should be RRI-oriented from the outset

o External: Financial, technological and institutional factors

• Main barriers

o Internal: Lack of resources, an organisational culture that does not foster RRI, lack of trust, centralisation of power and lack of autonomy, difficulties in attracting the right people

o External: Bureaucracy, skepticism and lack of RRI awareness

Concluding remarks

Thank you!