Cantabria becomes a territory where responsible research will be practiced

This is part of a larger European project that englobes four distinct regions

It is already February and the Cantabrian Government has informed through its official website that this week will see the start of the TetRRIS project (Territorial Responsible Research and Innovation and Smart Specialization) on its territory. It will be conducted through SODERCAN, a public enterprise that is responsible for regional development in the Spanish autonomous community.

The first phase of the pilot project (fully financed by the European Commission) will focus on researching relevant stakeholders but comparisons will be constantly evaluated against the results from three other European regions, which are expected to be created as part of the project: Tampere (Finland), Karlsruhe (Germany) and Szeged-Timisoara (Hungary and Romania).

The focus here is on Responsible Research and Innovation – fairly new terms in the field

Innovation in all walks of life is one of these buzzwords that get minds thinking, people talking and administrations funding. In a way, it has always been part of human history and progress and today this is no different. However, in the past decade, there has been a concerted effort to think about the ethical, moral, legal and social implications of conducting research and innovation.

The European Commission took notice of that and decided to insist that research and innovation will be conducted in a responsible manner and that this becomes standardized before it can lend its support behind new initiatives. In that way, Responsible Research and Innovation, or RRI, was born as a term and also as an idea that will have to be taken into account when designing such processes.

In Cantabria, for example, it was announced that the first phase of TetRRIS will involve the conducting of in-depth interviews with different actors, such as clusters, CEOE-CEPYME, regional universities, CTC Technological Centre and start-ups in order to map out the profile of the innovation ecosystem in the region.

The authorities would like to first find out what these actors think the challenges are ahead of them and what they think will be the social implications of their research and innovations for the citizens.