Building a responsible innovation toolkit as project legacy

Bernd Carsten Stahl; Lise Bitsch

doi:10.3389/frma.2023.1112106

Building a responsible innovation toolkit as project legacy

Front Res Metr Anal. 2023 Mar 13:8:1112106. doi: 10.3389/frma.2023.1112106. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Bernd Carsten Stahl^{1

2}, Lise Bitsch³

Affiliations

¹ Centre for Computing and Social Responsibility, De Montfort University, Leicester, United Kingdom.
² School of Computer Science, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, United Kingdom.
³ The Danish Board of Technology Foundation, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Abstract

This article explores whether and in what way it is possible to employ toolkits for responsible research and innovation (RRI toolkits) as mechanisms for ensuring the legacy of RRI in research projects. Based on a review of the concept of responsible research and innovation as well as existing toolkits in the area, the article offers an account of the development of an RRI toolkit in the context of the EU- funded Human Brain Project. This toolkit is designed to integrate insights and practices of responsible research and innovation developed over a 10 year period into the project legacy, the EBRAINS research infrastructure. The article suggests that toolkits have the potential to contribute to ensuring a long- lasting legacy of work undertaken in responsible research and innovation, but that this potential requires further support from institutions and the broader research environment to become realized.

Keywords: Human Brain Project; legacy; responsible innovation; responsible research and innovation (RRI); toolkit.

Grants and funding

This project/research has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Framework Programme for Research and Innovation under the Specific Grant Agreement No. 945539 (Human Brain Project SGA3).