Project

The transition roadmap specifies the key steps to be initiated after the ending of JERRI in order to achieve the vision.

Mid-term time horizon (up to 5 years)

• Promote the JERRI ethics guidelines developed for the pilot activity 'Ethical Screening' (independently of its use in the pilot activity for assessment of the internal programming).
• Initiate discourses, raise awareness (building on JERRI pilots). 
• Strengthen individual competences (building on JERRI pilots).
• Pomote general sample cases of ethical conduct (e.g. via the internal staff magazine “Quersumme”). 
• Make known the possibility to decline research requests from clients. 
• Prioritize these activities that may cause a snowball effect.
• Define clear fields of action, e.g. in line with strategic initiatives. 
• Establish transparent processes for the choice of partners and clients.
• Exploit momentum of transformative events (e.g. crisis in the science system due to ethical/normative violations, new science funding principles).

Long-term tme horizon (up to 10 years)

• Set standards. 
• Soften goal conflicts: Establish ethics as a positive element of excellence and quality criterion rather than an additional burden. 
• Drive forward deep cultural change: Strengthen a culture of actively dealing with ethical questions.

Two core lines of activities emerged:

 1. Building up competences for gender in research content 

 2. Providing targeted guiding material for gender sensitive research

The following steps would be required: 

• Competence Analysis (What competences do we need and where?) E.g.: Fraunhofer-specific expertise that combines disciplinary and gender competence 
• Validation (What do we already have? Where?) Forming of Portfolio groups 
• Development: Recruiting/Training to establish the required portfolio groups

Possible outcomes could be: 

• Establishment of specific training programmes esp. for multipliers
• Establishment of gender competence as a cross-sectoral issue in all trainings (on- and offline), especially for new employees
• Initiation of working groups for gender competencies on institute level 

Three focus areas for action emerged:

1. Competence building and bundling 

2. Positioning and networking in the environment 

3. Bottom-up cultural change in Fraunhofer

Mid-term time horizon (up to 5 years)

• taking on the dialogue formats developed in previous activities in the context of sustainability
• exchange of experience with universities
• refurbishing and using already existing knowledge and structures of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft
• developing a joint handout from Fraunhofer CeRRI/Fraunhofer IAO/Fraunhofer UMSICHT
• showing relevance of participation at specific topics
• tracking and showing permanently the benefit/impact of RRI-research through empirical surveys
• pushing a network between active pioneer institutions

Long-term tme horizon (up to 10 years)

• prove of added value of participative innovation processes through scientific surveys
• pushing competence development from pioneer institutes
• for competence development: development of transparent evaluation criteria of participation
• mobilizing transition agents - drafting position papers/white paper (in linkage to strategic actions)
• using the annual event 'Netzwert' of Fraunhofer for exchanging the experiences between institutes
• developing a business-case for RRI in which Societal Engagement is an integral part
• increasing human resources and resources in terms of finance and time (on all levels)
• cultural change on the institution level: a broader opening towards the public
• development of strategic alliances for Societal Engagement outside the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft

The following three main action fields were identified:

1. Open Access as a sign for scientific quality and as a part of the culture of science disciplines 

2. Developing guiding and informational material, standardized publishing processes and introducing incentives for Open Access publishing

 3. Competence building and bundling

Short-term time horizon:

• support by higher management - integration of Open Access in digital business process 
• extension of the publication fund - developing a social media strategy 
• (individual) reputation management 
• “good” journal structures

Medium-term time horizon:

• progressive communication strategy
• transferring the Open Access idea into the cultures of the institutes
• prominent advocates in the realm of science, who support
• pioneers identify testimonials
• identifying multipliers from the scientist stuff
• Open Access specialist careers
• fostering networking between Open Access pioneers
• expert associations as a driving force

Long-term time horizon:

• digital implementation of Open Access infrastructures
• standard publication process for all tools
• full integration of Open Access in science indicators
• Open Access as an important part of science monitoring -> a high share of Open Access publications is something to be proud of and “brag”, e.g. within the sustainability report. 
• possibilities for long-term save of data

Furthermore, the JERRI project indicated potential synergies between the different RRI dimensions:

• integration of gender aspects and participation requirements into ethical reflection guidelines; participation as an enabler for ethical reflection
• 'Fraunhofer debate' and 'citizen office' could also serve as chance to get in touch with the ethical values of civil society. This should also influence the internal value setting and ethical reflection within Fraunhofer. 
• integration of Science Communication aspects into the ethical qualification programme in order to create a responsible and appropriate idea of new technologies/products in the public but also for potential customers
• easier access to scientific knowledge also improves the outcomes of societal engagement activities.

The JERRI IHS team has implemented a process for monitoring and evaluating the different steps of the JERRI project in order to assess the suitability and success of JERRI activities and to provide continuous formative feedback to improve the quality of the JERRI processes and the significance of their outcomes.

For the purposes of the evaluation, a multi-method approach was chosen. A mixture of quantitative and qualitative methods is used in order to assess the project in terms of process and content.

The monitoring includes:

• a state of the art review of RRI in conceptual as well as concrete form at the two organisations as well as other European RTOs (WP1)
• the development of RRI goals at FhG (WP2) and TNO (WP3)
• multi-level upscaling and learning between the organisations and other stakeholders
• a dissemination and data management plan

Results show that TNO and Fraunhofer made great efforts and could follow up on earlier results and goals: they included the conceptual framework (which was developed in an earlier phase of the project) in their actual works, assessed organisational barriers and enablers for the institutionalisation of RRI, developed transformative action plans which are taking into account organisational characteristics and started to pursue the goals and implement the pilot activities which they formulated in the first phase of JERRI.

Based on the evaluation, the following recommendations for future work processes were made.

• Further aligning the project activities with the developed RRI concept and considering the broad RRI perspective and comprehensive view of the key dimensions as far as possible.
• Continuing the effort to involve different types of stakeholders, also from outside the organisations and from civil society.
• Making the workshop organisation more concise in expectation management of the participants, the explanation of purpose, goals and further steps, as well as also here considering the RRI dimensions comprehensively.

Read more about the monitoring concept in Deliverable 8.1: Monitoring and Evaluation concept.

The findings for the first phase of JERRI activities and subsequent recommendations can be found in

Deliverable 8.2: Evaluation Report I

Deliverable 8.3 - Evaluation Report II

Fraunhofer ISI has carried out in-depth case studies of two outstanding organizations outside Europe, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and Arizona State University (ASU). In total, they have conducted 31 interviews (16 in China and 15 in the US). An international group of actors discussed the findings within an international mutual learning workshop in December 2016 in Munich.

This report points out that ASU and CAS are operating based on rationales, which increasingly respond to new understandings of responsibility, and for both organizations, this means a new or adapted conceptualization of their roles within society and their linkages to society. Dominant fields of action of this de facto rri include for CAS science popularization, societal responsibility of scientists and open access. ASU operationalizes its activities along eight design aspirations, which are “Leverage our place”, “Transform society”, “Value Entrepreneurship”, “Conduct use-inspired research”, “Enable student success”, “Fuse intellectual disciplines”, “Be socially embedded”, and “Engage globally” with a priority on accessibility to a diverse student body. Both, CAS and ASU show evidence for “deep institutionalization” as the maturation process has also touched upon organizational design or incentive structures. External requirements were for both institutions a driving force. In both organizations two factors stand out as success factors for the change process:

• Institutional entrepreneurship and leadership on all levels engaging the organization for change, in particular through a consistent communication of the narrative that provides legitimacy for change.
• Existence of boundary-spanners, who connect units within the organization and outside the organization with different cognitive frameworks.

The report Deliverable 9.1: Global RRI Goals and Practices provides an in-depth account of the findings and includes ten “Good practice factsheets” ranging from the “Chief disruption officer” of ASU to the “Virtual Science Museum of China VSMC” of CAS.

The case study conducted in Deliverable 9.2 - Global RRI Goals and Practices aims at understanding how RRI becomes an integral part of the practices within the organisation, how ASU has changed its organisational culture and how they manage and sustain institutional change in different ways.

In Deliverable 9.3 - International mutual learning process you can find find a 10-point summary of JERRI's second international mutual learning workshop.

For actors who are interested in this project or want to implement a similar RRI framework for scientific research and technological development processes, Fraunhofer and TNO have put together a list of tips that should be noted. 

1. Degree of Institutionalisation

Consider the level of institutionalisation and, if necessary, adapt the approach in the goal development process. Not all RRI key dimensions have equal levels of institutionalisation which might result in a different reaction and way of understanding by the participants.

2. Involvement of External Stakeholders

Here the question should not be whether or whether not to include external stakeholders, but rather at which moment, to what content and in which context of the goal development process. External stakeholders can push the organisation out of daily routines and their comfort zone. A recommended approach is to design specific separate sessions for internal and external stakeholders and to create spaces for joint deliberations.

3. Involvement Change Agents

Involving change agents early in the process can be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it enables management buy-in and sustainability increases the potential impact. On the other hand, it might be difficult to mobilise high-level internal stakeholder and a strong hierarchical difference among the participants may inhibit the free voicing of ideas. To overcome this, it is recommended to include anonymous elements into the deliberation process such as e.g. televoting and to interact with high ranking participants in advance to the process.

4. Consensus vs. Dissent

To create an open and constructive atmosphere it is necessary to find the balance of attitudes regarding a particular topic. Otherwise, group thinking might occur, and critical thinking will be suppressed. Practically this can be done by providing not only tables for results of consent but also for dissent

5. Smart Goals / Long Term Organisational Goals

It is important to re-translate and to ground far-reaching visions into concrete long-term goals. Fraunhofer and TNO did this by creating so-called Smart Goals / Long term organisational goals. Both approaches help to freeze the ambition level und surround it with relevant boundary conditions.

6. Institutional Change through Seizing Windows of Opportunity

While setting up organisational goals/ Smart Goals it is recommended to become aware of re-structural processes, activities or initiatives that are already taking place within the organization. Such windows of opportunity can provide a foundation RRI transition processes and benefit from possible synergy effects.

7. Consistency of the Topic

Some RRI key dimensions might be more heterogeneous than they appear on the first right. This becomes particularly clear through a comparison with available windows of opportunity. A recommended solution is to separate the aspects and tackle them with different stakeholder configurations.

8. Balance of Holistic vs. Specific Perspectives

As in the nature of large research organisations, key dimensions will be handled differently depending on the organisational unit. Hence it is important to find the right balance between specificity and generality of perspectives.

9.  Management of Expectations

The expectations of stakeholders can and will differ along with the Project. Undoubtedly, communication is the key to keep everyone on the same page. Well defined communication lines are essential.

Workpackage 1

• Deliverable 1.1 - Synthesis on existing RRI practices
• Deliverable 1.2 - Deepening 'Deep Institutionalisation'
  

Workpackage 2

• Deliverable 2.1 - Fraunhofer concept of organisational RRI goal development
• Deliverable 2.2 - Description of specified RRI goals at Fraunhofer
  

Workpackage 3

• Deliverable 3.1 - Concept on organizational RRI goal development 
  
• Deliverable 3.2 - Description of specified RRI goals at TNO
  

Workpackage 4

• Deliverable 4.1 - Discussion paper on the analysis of organizational barriers (Fraunhofer)
• Deliverable 4.2 - Transformative RRI action plan for Fraunhofer
  

Workpackage 5

• Deliverable 5.1 - Discussion paper on the analysis of organizational barriers (TNO)
• Deliverable 5.2 - Transformative RRI action plan for TNO
  

Workpackage 6

• Deliverable 6.1 - Fraunhofer implementation report
• Deliverable 6.2 - Review of RRI action plans

Workpackage 7

• Deliverable 7.1 - TNO implementation report
  
• Deliverable 7.2 - Review of RRI action plans

Workpackage 8

• Deliverable 8.1 - Monitoring and evaluation concept
• Deliverable 8.2 - Evaluation Report I
• Deliverable 8.3 - Evaluation Report II
  

Workpackage 9

• Deliverable 9.1 - Case Study Part 1: RRI Goals and Practices
• Deliverable 9.2 - Global RRI Goals and Practices
  
• Deliverable 9.3 - International mutual learning process
  

Workpackage 10

• Deliverable 10.2 - Lessons learned for goal development
• Deliverable 10.3 - RTO Engagement Manual
  
• Deliverable 10.4 - Further publications / user briefs

The tasks of Fraunhofer ISI were:

• the leading of the overall project
• the coordination of the process at Fraunhofer (WP 1,2,4,6)
• the leading of the activities for ethics reflection in Fraunhofer
• the leading of the international learning process (WP5)

Four Fraunhofer institutes and a team from Fraunhofer’s Headquarters participate in JERRI to match the competences required to carry out the complex transition process across the five RRI dimensions:

• The Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI analyzes the origins and impacts of innovations in a wide range of fields. In addition it develops methods for futures dialogues (Foresight) that support diverse groups of stakeholders to jointly reflect on possible future pathways and transformative change processes in a structured manner. The ISI Foresight group coordinates the JERRI Project and supports the change process at Fraunhofer. Furthermore, the ISI team contributes to the development of the ethics dimension.
• A team from the Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety, and Energy Technology UMSICHT develops the activities for the RRI dimension Societal Engagement
• The Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering IAO helps companies and institutions introduce new business models and efficient processes to make their businesses more successful. With our in-depth knowledge of organizational structures and technologies, we have the skills you need to put applied research into practice. We participate in international networks, investigating and shaping the frontline themes that are most relevant to the future of Germany as a business location.
• In JERRI, Fraunhofer IAO works on the dimension Gender. The activities and results were displayed on a website.
• The Competence Center Research Services & Open Science is part of the Fraunhofer-Informationszentrum Raum und Bau IRB, and a science service provider for Fraunhofer. It fosters Open Science, Open Access and Open Data at Fraunhofer, monitors these topics and provides services for scientists to implement these aspects in the whole research, publishing and publication process. Open Science is an important trend within the context of digitalization of science: disclosure of research processes and results, where possible, creates transparency which in turn supports scientific progress and may accelerate innovation cycles. Open Science gives rise to a great demand for information and process optimization on the part of Fraunhofer institutes. The Competence Center identifies relevant topics and develop custom-fit consultancy services in cooperation with its specialist networks. It is very active in respective committees and lobbies for the issue of Open Science for example within the priority Initiative "Digital Information" of the Alliance of Science Organizations in Germany aiming to improve the provision of information and within EARTO.
  Besides its activities in Open Science, the Competence Center develops and provides a publication infrastructure for Fraunhofer and an IT infrastructure for Fraunhofer libraries. Furthermore, it works on establishing a research information system (CRIS).
  With all its activities, it joins the Fraunhofer efforts to enhance the digitalization at Fraunhofer.
  In JERRI, Fraunhofer IRB works on the dimension Open Access.
• Several units of the Fraunhofer Headquarters support the JERRI activities, e.g. the Diversity Management team contributes to the dimension Gender. Especially in the dimension Ethics, the activities are developed in a dedicated ethics group at the central level in close interaction with the ISI team.

The following section summarizes the agreed RRI goals and describes concrete pilot activities that emerged from them. Due to the different nature of both organizations and their distinct degrees of RRI institutionalization, the specified goals and pilot projects take different shapes. In this case the golas and activities of Fraunhofer are considered. If you what to find out more about the specific goals and pilot projects read more in:

The agreed long term goals for ethics consist of three major points:

• Responsibility: Fraunhofer integrates and lives up to ethical responsibility (“thinking mid- and long-term”),
• Enabling: Fraunhofer staff is enabled (in terms of ‘competences’) to live up to ‘ethics’,
• Value pluralism: Fraunhofer creates and supports an open, constructive and respectful culture of dealing with conflicts, e.g. via clearing agents, consultancy services, etc.

The following projects were implemented to achieve these goals.

Ethical screening and consultancy for project proposals of internal research programmes.

• This activity aims to foster institutionalisation of responsibility orientation by integrating a reflection of ethical aspects and societal impacts into the setup of Fraunhofer’s internally funded strategic research projects. It consists of establishing a guideline for the assessment of the ethical relevance of a research project.

Multiplying orientational knowledge on research ethics in the research management qualification programme 'Forschungsmanager'

• This pilot aims to sensitize Fraunhofer researchers to the ethical dimensions and social implications of R and I and to built competences in recognizing and addressing such issues.The pilot is shaped in the form of a discussion format in which a concrete research project and the respective ethical principals are discussed.

The following long term goals for the RRI Dimensions of Gender have been chosen.

• Permanent provision of orientational knowledge on how to best deal with gender-related issues in different, concrete situations; directly accessible for other RTOs.
• Motivation and enabling of all actors affected to live up to gender equality and diversity.
• Awareness raising and development of individual capabilities.

Projects carried out in this context:

• Gender Diversity Toolbox: The existing Toolbox from the previous EU funded project STAGES contains good practical examples on the topic of equal opportunities. It shall be further developed, opened up and internationalized.
• Role models at Fraunhofer: Role models (people who work for the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and who have found an individual way to reconcile work and private life) should be identified and interviewed. The results are integrated into the Gender Diversity Toolbox and an electronic booklet should be designed
  
• Gender in research content consciousness: The identification and (further) development of existing checklists and case examples dealing with gender in research content should serve to generate more attention for the (possible) relevance of gender aspects in research content. The prepared case studies and checklists were to be communicated via the Gender Diversity Toolbox.

The general ambition of Fraunhofer is to undergone a fully fledged cultural transformation towards Open Access. This includes that most data and publications resulting from publicly funded scientific research are treated as commons, an open access platform is initialized and Fraunhofer researchers are present in Editorial Boards of Open Access Journals, to only name a few aspects.

In order to achieve these goal, the following projects were carried out.

Setting up and testing the open data infrastructure FORDATIS

• Fhe FORDATIS project aims to establish a seamlessly integrated open access system for capturing both research data and publications. The expected impact is a major transition towards a strong open access culture by expanding the Fraunhofer publication infrastructure towards research data.
  

Development of an open access business model and IP clarification support

• This pilot project aims to help researchers to make decisions in the way they strategically handle their research output and to make more use of open access.

‘Development and test of “open paragraphs” in research contracts’

• Complementary to the development of case-based open access business models, a paragraph in existing model contracts with industry that explicitly deals with open access issues, e. g. as part of the IP section, will be developed and tested. This will help researchers to discuss different ways of exploiting research data generated in the projects with their clients, including the possibility of open access.
  

‘Development and communication of a marketing strategy for Open Access at Fraunhofer’

• Via interviews, the practical implementation of open access were analyzed and documented. Based on this analysis and further available sources of information, a comprehensive marketing strategy for open access within Fraunhofer was developed.

The general ambition of Fraunhofer within the RRI pillar of societal engagement is to institutionalize a culture of participation. Furthermore, Fraunhofer needs to become a permanent contact point for citizens and must be able to provide resources and space for participation. Lastly, Fraunhofer bears responsibility by pursuing a participative developed roadmap specifying the Sustainable Development Goals.

Pilot Project to achieve such long-term goals are:

• Citizen’s office: a series of citizens' meeting in which societal needs can be put forth to science
  
• Fraunhofer Societal Debate: The aim of this format is to facilitate a balanced public debate with actors from academia and civil society on a topic of current affairs.
  
• Stakeholder Avatar: Within this pilot, a web-based crawler concept will be developed. The algorithm will systematically browse the World Wide Web for relevant social interests on a Web-basis, and index it according to the specific scientific project’s interest. The results from this crawler will be used to construct a Stakeholder Avatar which will identify important constraints during the conception and planning of future research and provide an informed basis for the first physical engagement with the society.
  
• ‘UMSICHT-Dash-Button’: The use of an UMSICHT Dash Button or a mobile software application will be explored to enable sustained citizen engagement in environmentally relevant scientific topics on a continuous basis.

The Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research TNO connects people and knowledge to create innovations that boost the sustainable competitive strength of industry and well-being of society.

TNO is one of the major internationally oriented contract research and technology organisations in Europe. With a staff of approximately 3200 and an annual turnover of 580 million Euros, TNO is carrying out research in order to achieve impact on the following five transition themes:

• Industry: from economic stagnation to growth in high-technology industry
• Healthy Living: from illness and treatment to health and behaviour
• Defence, Safety & Security: from a wide range of threats to controllable risks
• Urbanisation: from urbanisation bottlenecks to urban vitality
• Energy: from conventional sources to sustainable energy systems

The following section summarizes the agreed RRI goals and describes concrete pilot activities that emerged from them. Due to the different nature of both organizations and their distinct degrees of RRI institutionalization, the specified goals and pilot projects take different shapes. In this case the golas and activities of TNO are considered. If you what to find out more about the specific goals and pilot projects read more in:

As a result of the workshops the following goals were agreed upon:

•  Goal 1 Improving Moral Capabilities
•  Goal 2 Awareness of Ethics in Society in business development 18
•  Goal 3 Enhancing the Scientific Integrity

Resulting pilot projects amounted to.

• Improvement of ethical awareness and moral capabilities via a training/game for top management and for trainees.
• Creation of an ‘Ethical and Societal Issues’ tool, for business development and project management.
• Establishment an e-learning module, for (principal) scientists to improve awareness within TNO of the new, national Scientific Code.

The current long-term goal for Gender Equality at TNO is to realize 30% women in the top management of TNO. This will be pursued by:

•  Removing barriers to the recruitment, retention and career progression of female researchers;
•  Addressing gender imbalances in decision-making processes;
•  Strengthening the gender dimension in research programs.

To achieve such goals, concrete actions were: 

1 - Increase the visibility of female talent due to:

• Organising 2 series of Female Leadership Trainings, consequently training 40+ women, that evaluated the usefulness of the training with a 4 (or more) on a 5-point scale
• Using and expanding current HR/Talent databases and applying this in practice; report on use through review of database by LD-committee

2 - Create awareness on implicit bias with respect to gender due to

• Organising a gender bias training for male TOP managers at TNO, consequently training 20+ staff, that evaluated the usefulness of the training with a 4 (or more) on a 5-point scale
• Contributing cases to the serious game and evaluating response

As a result of the workshops the following goals were agreed upon:

• Establishing a permanent OA platform that is able to deal with Open Access questions and queries, and advise on policy level what is required for TNO as an organization.
• Drawing up an annual Open Access plan for 2018

The concrete steps toward these goals are:

Setting up and installing an Open Access Platform al well as implementing a decision Tree for open Access Publishing.

As a result of the workshops the following long-term goals were agreed upon:

To increase the visibility of applied science in society in a more stratified way.

• This is done by booting the TNO magazine TIME, a publication platform where interested readers can inform themselves about ongoing projects and actions. 

To champion the value of science by promoting specific projects to topics with a motivation to “demonstrate” and to “communicate”.

• In concrete terms this is implemented by making a public statement on the TNO website how projects are done and share at last two sensitive dossiers per year.

   

To invite society and create more transparency for the working of TNO.

• This will be achieved by organizing Open Days on location, manging an information portal for society and developing relations with crowdsourcing platforms.

As a result of the workshops the following long-term goals were agreed upon:

• Involve (‘unusual’) stakeholders in Strategy Advisory Councils (strategy level, with society)

Therefore, TNO includes two ‘unusual’ stakeholders in each (new) Strategy Advisory Council and and furthermore attempts to share Best Practices in User Involvement/Citizen Science.