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The UAB participates in a European project on Research and Innovation Ecosystems

Campus de la UAB
The B-30 area will be one of the three European areas chosen as a case study for the European project SeeRRI - Building Self-Sustaining Research and Innovation Ecosystems in Europe through RRI, with the participation of the UAB.

04/12/2018

The UAB is a member of the SeeRRI - Building Self-Sustaining Research and Innovation Ecosystems in Europe through Responsible Research and Innovation, an H2020 project under the SWAFS - Science with and for Society programme. The project is led by the Nordland Research Institute in Norway and includes, apart from universities and research centres, regional governments and business associations.

One of the main challenges for European regions is the ability to improve their research and innovation (R&I) systems, since this is one of the most widely used indicators of regional competitiveness. With their numerous interactions, the research and innovation agents of a given territory make up what is known as a research and innovation ecosystem.

In this context, the objective of the project is to advance towards a more sustainable R&I ecosystems model, which would include all regional actors (research and education, businesses, administration and citizens, known as the quadruple helix) and incorporate the principles of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI). The RRI concept is based on the integration and connection among several aspects of the relationship between R&I and society: public engagement, open access, gender equality, scientific education, ethics and governance.

The SeeRRI project focuses mainly on fostering RRI integration into regional development and the consolidation of R&I ecosystems; involving the maximum of regional R&I agents in defining the strategic framework and policies affecting the R&I system; and also sharing with the regions all learning processes and good practices related to R&I governance.

To reach these objectives three European regions have been selected as case studies, each with different intelligent specialisation strategies, one of them being the B-30 area. The UAB will be in charge of designing and implementing the actions which include key research and innovation agents within the B-30 area through the HubB30 platform. The project will last 30 months and is set to begin in January 2019.