Research and innovation (R&I) play a crucial role in addressing global challenges. To build a more just, inclusive and responsible future, the needs, expectations and values of citizens should be taken into account from an early stage on. Citizen participation has received increasing attention in recent years at European, national and regional level.
Although not widespread in Italy, the Lombardy Region is one of the pioneers of citizen participation in regional R&I decision-making, including the pilot actions within the TRANSFORM project. TRANSFORM’s Lombardy regional cluster has already finalized the embedding of RRI in the objectives of S3 so that citizen engagement will be widely applied in the implementation of S3 throughout its duration. A participatory research agenda setting is being tested on the ground to identify and incorporate the needs of Lombardy citizens into the regional Three Years’ Strategic Plan for Research, Innovation, and Technology Transfer (PST).
Read the full article ‘Give citizens a seat at the table’, co-authored by the TRANSFORM Project Coordinator, Angela Simone (Fondazione Giannino Bassetti) on citizen engagement and social innovation and their potential to shape the future of R&I in Italy.
The article was recently published in Nature Italy, the regional digital magazine, published by Springer Nature, reporting on scientific research and issues of science policy in Italy.
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This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 872687. This website reflects only the authors' view and the REA and the EC are not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.