Orienting public participation in science and technology to make innovation more consistent with society’s needs and demands: this is the aim of the recently concluded research project En-RRI (Enhancing RRI in the bottom-up co-creation of science and technology).
The research team, coordinated by Politecnico di Milano and composed of researchers from Università di Padova and Università degli studi di Trieste, worked to understand and promote innovation projects with significant participation from citizens and civil society actors, i.e., co-creation projects.
En-RRI highlighted how co-creation can make innovation more ethically and socially responsible while improving its public perception and understanding.
The team produced the book “Co-creazione e responsabilità nell’innovazione tecno-scientifica dal basso” (Co-creation and responsibility in bottom-up technological and scientific innovation) which presents in an accessible manner the possible ways of conducting innovation projects can be conducted in the fields of healthcare, digital technologies and environmental sustainability. They also produced the and the illustrated cartoon book “Fare e raccontare la co-creazione della scienza e della tecnologia” (Making and telling science and technology co-creation) which describes a number of guiding principles (geared towards researchers, policy makers and civil society organisations) to be used to align research and innovation processes with shared societal values in order to guide citizens, institutions and scientific communities in tackling the major challenges facing society today, such as the ecological transition.