RIPEET in Action: RRI Leaders Final Conference, Brussels

The SWAFS14-funded RIPEET sister project, RRI-Leaders, concluded its final conference at the European Committee of Regions in Brussels, bringing together multiple SWAFS14 projects, including TETRRIS, Entrances, WBC-RRI, and RIPEET.

During the morning session, which was dedicated to general implementation aspects of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI), the RIPEET Project Officer from the European Commission elaborated on how RRI serves as a catalyst for sustainable regional development and how it has been integrated into the new Horizon Europe program in a cross-cutting manner.

In the afternoon panel session, which was dedicated to sister projects under the title "RRI in Territorial Policymaking: The Wider Picture," Wolfgang Haider represented RIPEET. He presented key insights from the RIPEET project and discussed the added value of RRI projects for EU regions in general.
Some noteworthy takeaways from the discussion include:

• The necessity to navigate tensions between transformative outlooks and the needs and requirements of citizens and industry, with RRI offering a valuable perspective on this matter.
• The potential for different policy concepts, such as Partnerships for Regional Innovations or Horizon Europe missions, to benefit from a distinct RRI approach that operationalizes the concept through means like Transition Labs.
• The recognition that transforming regional innovation ecosystems requires a process-oriented perspective that is continuously developed and encompasses all phases of innovation and research governance, as well as innovation implementation.