Developing RRI Practices: The Role of the ICT in Stakeholders’ Knowledge Exchange and Co-creation Processes

Abstract

The ICT sector is one of the fastest growing sectors in the global economy. It provides a wide range of services for different actors according to their type of actions. Meantime, there is a limited understanding how different ICT tools can support co-creation process among different groups of stakeholders in terms of the Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) processes. As we see the core principle of the RRI is a common work, or in other words—a co-creation process. So who and how can facilitate and ensure the quality of such co-creation process and its outcomes in multidisciplinary society? This article puts focus specifically on the use of ICT tools for communication and knowledge exchange (creation of common projects) among different groups of stakeholders, emphasising the importance of such online co-creation in nowadays transdisciplinary society and explaining the importance of the facilitation of co-creation process. It also highlights the architecture of Co-RRI platform, an example of a web platform which supports stakeholders’ cooperation in the frames of the Horizon 2020 FoTRRIS project. It was created to support project Co-RRI activities in five partner countries (Belgium, Spain, Italy, Hungary, and Austria). The need for such cooperation practices in local communities is demonstrated and experiences of local communities are summarised.