Variability of RRI and Open Science – An analysis of different sectors and national contexts

Helene BrinkenFIT4RRI Project

Variability of RRI and Open Science

Variability of RRI and Open science

In the summer of 2018 the FIT4RRI Work Package 2 ‘Sectorial Diagnosis’ came to completion. The question was how RRI and Open Science related dynamics vary, in particular across sectors and national background. In general, contexts matter, so how would this play out in the case of RRI and Open Science? A better understanding of this variability is very important for the co-creation experiments of FIT4RRI.

The study on sectorial and national variability included a literature review and dedicated workshops in five countries.

A literature review on variability

The literature overview on how RRI and Open Science dynamics can be different focused on five different sectors. These are:

  • Sustainable energy
  • Materials  science, in particular new  coatings
  • Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)
  • Biotechnology, in particular stem cell  and personalised medicine
  • Photonics, in particular glass fibre and new light-electron chips

The conclusion is that indeed the variation across sectors is substantial: the type of research and stakeholder relationships really matters for how to perform RRI and Open Science. In particular it matters how established or novel the sectors are. The results of the literature are available in a Report.

Workshops on national differences

The second step in the Work Package was a series of workshops in five different countries to explore national differences for RRI and Open Science. How important is the national context in the various challenges and chances? In total 43 representatives from research and industry participated in the workshops. We made sure that the five different sectors investigated in the literature review were also represented in the workshops, to allow optimal comparison.

We found that the differences in national setting are less important.

SUMMARY REPORT

The Summary Report of the work package brings the results of the literature review and the workshops together and develops recommendations for the co-creation experiments.