Responsible Research & Innovation

Projects at IFZ that follow the approach of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) are based on societal needs, expectations and concerns. RRI wants to bring research and innovation processes more in line with the values and concerns of societal actors, thereby underlining the shared responsibility of science and society for the co-production of future-oriented and action-relevant knowledge in order to tackle the great societal challenges. In our projects we particularly dedicated to the practical implementation of this research policy concept in concrete activities.
IFZ is member of the Austrian Platform for Responsible Research and Innovation.

For more information, please contact Sandra Karner.

Our projects on this research approach

PLANET4B is a transdisciplinary research project, aiming to understand and influence decision making affecting biodiversity. We rely on biodiversity for our very existence – it provides us with the basic ecosystem services that allow us to survive and thrive. Yet human lives and the biosphere itself are under threat due to the loss of biodiversity occurring at a global scale, and at an accelerating pace. Despite the mounting scientific evidence on the importance of biodiversity, it still takes a back seat to political and other agendas.

Through action-orientated and participatory research the cooperation between 16 partners will collect and analyse theories, methods and good practices to bridge the gaps in knowledge and effective decision making.

The goal of the PROTEA project is to foster a vivid collaboration of industry, research and gender experts from IFZ to develop and implement the benefits of 3D-printing of prostheses, taking into account gender and diversity aspects. 

The project VEKIAA investigated how the workplace integration of digital assistants based on Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be done in the most responsible way possible.

The main aim of CHANGE – which is coordinated by IFZ – is to support research performing organisations (RPOs) to design and implement gender equality plans.

In the FEMtech project "Multifunctional Data Patch for Vital and Movement Monitoring in Everyday Environments" (VITAPATCH), a new technology is developed which makes it possible to realize cost-efficient assessments on a medical quality level in a close to everyday life setting, as well as fitness and movement monitoring. ECG electrodes and piezoelectric sensors on ultra-thin stretchable adhesive foils will send signals to a smartphone app.

VOICES is a COST Action that aims to increase the visibility of inequalities faced by Young Researchers and Innovators (YRIs) from a gender perspective, and to promote a sustainable dialogue between YRIs and stakeholders in the research ecosystem at the systemic level (European & national policy-makers) and at the institutional level (senior researchers, academic managers) by creating a community of gender equality practitioners composed of various stakeholders (YRIs, independent researchers, academic managers, organizations) across Europe.

The main objective of FoTRRIS is to develop and introduce new governance practices to foster Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) in research and innovation systems. FoTRRIS will, more specifically, focus on new governance practices to co‐design transdiciplinary RRI‐projects that are attuned to societal needs, values and opportunities and that connect and mobilise relevant stakeholders.