Foster Societal Engagement

Daan Schuurbiers, director of the Dutch “Proeffabriek”is joint rapporteur on societal engagement for the report “Outreach to Newcomers and Societal Engagement in Industrial Technologies”, recently published by the European Commission. The report includes practical recommendations for involving citizens, civil society organisations and social scientists and humanities scholars in all stages of the Research and Innovation process, from Technology Readyness Level 1 (basic research) to 9 (products emerge).

While targeting the EU NMBP programmes on nanotechnology, materials, biotechnology and production technology in H2020 and Horizon Europe, the recommendations are also relevant to Dutch initiatives including the National Science Agenda (NWA) the ongoing low-key stakeholder dialogue on modernising biotechnology policy initiated by the department of Infrastructure and Water Management (I&W), the NWO-programme MVI (Responsible Research and Innovation) in collaboration with top sectors including High Tech Systems and Materials.

The report’s added value is its emphasis on an integrated approach linking isolated good practices. Download the report here.