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Catalonia is the second most populated and the fourth richest region of Spain. Its strategic location on the Mediterranean Sea and on the border with Europe has given its economy a strong industrial and international trade character. A strong industrial base and a powerful ICT sector are key elements making Catalonia a driving force in industry 4.0.
The current Smart Specialization Strategy structures the region’s R&I development: it combines traditional instruments for supporting research and innovation with innovative mechanisms aimed at promoting new forms of stakeholders cooperation to co-create public policies and innovative solutions to address societal challenges. The current most important innovative methodologies are the following:
The next Catalan S3 is under development for the programming period 2021-2027 and it aims to integrate the four dimensions RRI dimensions (Anticipation, Reflexivity, Inclusion, Responsiveness). It is inspired by the theoretical framework of transformative innovation policy, the need for responsible research and innovation, and the concept of shared value.
Citizen Science
The aim of TRANSFORM is to contribute to Catalonia’s transition to a more competitive, sustainable and inclusive economic model. The Catalan cluster is working towards incorporating citizen science as a means of integrating RRI into Catalonia’s RIS3CAT 2021-2027, its instruments and the actors of the Catalan R&I ecosystem. The focus is on experimenting with and promoting the development of citizen science projects in a collaborative work scheme with actors from the quadruple helix (public administration, academia, business and citizens). Thus, projects are co-designed from the beginning and at every step with all the actors involved, ensuring that they work towards a common goal and that the interests of all are represented.
The Catalan cluster is deeping this perspective developing three 3 lines of action:
This executive summary of the “Strategic roadmap for the implementation and support of territorial RRI through citizen science strategies within S3 priorities” aims at helping regional public administrations who wish to enable citizens’ and R&I stakeholder engagement actions in their local policymaking. It presents the methodology, expected benefits, actions carried out, impact and lessons learned.
The Catalan Think Tank is currently composed of approximately 55 representatives of 3H stakeholders of the Catalan R&I ecosystem. They are divided into two different groups:
Key policy makers (12): this group constitutes the core of the Think Tank. Its contribution is in the TRANSFORM activities dealing with embedding RRI in RIS3CAT at regional level, specifically the co-creation process of impact assessment needed to evaluate the transformative impact of TRANSFORM activities.
Implementing organisations of the Catalan R&I ecosystem (13 local governments, 15 relevant universities & research centers, and 3 key companies). This group is mainly devoted to participation in the capacity building sessions, defining collaborative propositions on how to improve the openness and inclusiveness of the regional R&I ecosystem and reflect on and learn from the pilot projects to be developed in Catalonia.