Project description
Funded by Horizon 2020 (European Commission)
NewHoRRIzon is a project that aims at further integrating Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) in the research and innovation systems on national and international levels. The concept of RRI is an approach which intends to bridge gaps between science, research and innovation communities and society at large by fostering more inclusive, anticipatory, open and responsive research and innovation systems. In this frame, multiple stakeholders (from research, business, policy making, education and civil society) are involved in research and innovation on the project and system level to better align its processes and outcomes with the values, needs and expectations of society. A first big step was the operationalisation of RRI into the following six key elements: ethics, gender equality, governance, public engagement, science education and open access.
Objectives
- foster the integration of RRI into European, national and local Research and Innovation practice and funding
- organise 19 Social Labs and co-create pilot actions and activities and develop narratives and storylines based on the experience from these pilots
- develop and disseminate a concept of Societal Readiness of Technology (= Societal Readiness Levels)
- raise awareness on Responsible Research and Innovation and mainstream RRI best practices and NewHoRRIzon results
- provide results on how to better integrate RRI into the next European Framework Programme
- create a RRI Network including the national funding agencies and develop a RRI community starting with a RRI Ambassadors programme
Social Labs
Click on the Social Labs in the image below to get more information.

The Social Labs are at the core of the project. Their goal is to provide a socially based, experimental and systematic approach for addressing complex social challenges related to RRI. Each Social Lab is dedicated to a different section of Horizon 2020 (H2020), the current European Framework Programme for Research and Innovation (see the image below). For every section of H2020 different stakeholders will gather in a Social Lab to define the social challenges at stake and develop social experiments (= pilot actions and activities) to overcome them. This process will eventually produce storylines and narratives which will be shared as widely as possible to mainstream RRI. If you are interested in participating in a Social Lab, get in touch with us at contact@newhorrizon.eu.
More information on our page What is a social lab?.
Want to participate in a social lab? Want to know more about NewHoRRIzon? Subscribe to our mailing list!
Project consortium

NewHoRRIzon is dedicated to diversity and bridging spheres – starting within the project. The consortium is formed by 1 grassroots organisation, 1 NGO, 4 funding agencies, 7 universities, 3 research & technology organisations and 3 academic research organisations. They are representing 11 countries from Asia, Central & South America and Europe.
They are scholars and practitioners in innovation coming from backgrounds as diverse as:

Questions? Ideas? Write us an email!
NewHoRRizon news
Changing the research and innovation system through democratic experimentation: a guide to good practices for RRI
Do you want to improve research and innovation? Want to learn more about how to do this through participatory experiments? NewHoRRIzon released a Guide to good practices with lessons and narratives on 4 years of experimentation with RRI in social labs across Europe.
The NewHoRRIzon project is over after 4 years!
But its 72 pilot actions, findings and policy briefs are still available!
Highlights from the NewHoRRIzon final conference
For those who missed the extraordinary voyage through the NewHoRRIzon final conference on RRI experience, Good News! We have captured the moments for you.
Join us in our virtual exhibition: guided tour on RRI Narratives
As part of our virtual conference, we are launching the RRI.ex, an online virtual exhibit of the NewHoRRIzon project. When entering the RRI.ex, you have the option to view videos that provide background on the project. You will also see a navigation tool, the ‘RRI navigator’, that allows you to explore the ‘pilot actions’ for Read more about Join us in our virtual exhibition: guided tour on RRI Narratives[…]
Session 8: RRI as an Integrated Approach to Research and Innovation Across Disciplines, Contexts and Countries
The grand challenges that society is currently facing, such as climate change or the COVID-19 outbreak, has stressed the need of collaboration between disciplines. This collaboration is not only demanded for addressing the complexity of the “wicked problems” that we face, but also for promoting a better understanding of the inequalities, uncertainties and instabilities that surround the basis of our societies.
NewHoRRIzon Final Conference OPENING: Experiences with implementing RRI in Europe
We open the conference with this session where Franz Fischler, President of the Board of Trustees of the Institute for Advanced Studies Vienna (IHS, the coordinating research organization) will welcome participants. Erich Griessler, the NewHoRRIzon project coordinator, will introduce the project, its objectives, achievements and challenges and an overview of the conference programme.
The Societal Readiness Thinking Tool – Thinking about societal readiness of research
Organisers: Ingeborg Meijer, Niels MejlgaardSpeakers: Mathias Wullum Nielsen, Michael Bernstein, Tung Tung Chan, Stefan de Jong, André Brasil The Societal Readiness Thinking Tool (www.thinkingtool.eu) was developed in the context of the NewHoRRIzon project. It provides a mechanism for maturing the societal readiness of a research project by enabling users to reflect carefully about the societal appropriateness of their work at critical stages of the project life cycle. The Read more about The Societal Readiness Thinking Tool – Thinking about societal readiness of research[…]
Session 7: H2020 to Horizon Europe: from ethical guidelines to democratic practices
Organizers: Robert Gianni; Darian Meacham; Dani Shanley H2020 allocated a strong role to ethics by adopting mandatory standards and implementing a cross-cutting strategy named Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI). Some of the strengths of RRI are exemplified by its attempt to empower stakeholders and to increase awareness about ethical issues across different domains. RRI has, nonetheless, encountered criticism due Read more about Session 7: H2020 to Horizon Europe: from ethical guidelines to democratic practices[…]
Closing Session: Roundtable – Reflecting backwards so we can look forward
Speakers: Erik Fisher, Erich Griessler, Anne Loeber, René von Schomberg, Martina Schraudner, April Tash, Fern Wickson In this session we will look back on the two week conference experience and dive into the overarching question, “How can the pilot actions developed in NewHoRRIzon, as well as the Social Lab activities and the networks generated, help promote the idea of Responsible Research and Innovation and related concepts on national and international level as well as in different institutions?” phrased more directly, we want Read more about Closing Session: Roundtable – Reflecting backwards so we can look forward[…]
Session 12: The role of research funding organizations to support the uptake of RRI: Building a RRI-based evaluation framework for research funding agencies – mission possible?
Organisers: Veikko Ikonen, Mika NieminenSpeakers: Olavi Kujanpää, Lukáš Macenauer, Ülle Must, Nhien Nguyen, Tiina Ramstedt-Sen, Emad Yaghmaei Funding agencies evaluate and assess in various ways the research and innovation they are funding. Criteria may vary, for instance, depending on the context (discipline and research objective), policy (the role of the funding agency in a research system and its specific policy targets) and funding instrument (e.g. application oriented vs. curiosity oriented vs. mission oriented). Besides Read more about Session 12: The role of research funding organizations to support the uptake of RRI: Building a RRI-based evaluation framework for research funding agencies – mission possible?[…]