(RRIstart) A Responsible Research & Innovation Model for Impact investment & Responsible Startups

A Responsible Research & Innovation Model for Impact investment & Responsible Startups (RRIstart)

Project funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme
Grant Agreement: 101005937
Duration: 36 months
Starting date: 1/03/2021
The project official website

RRIstart will be carried out by a consortium of 6 organisations from 4 European countries, coordinated by the University of Rome “La Sapienza”.
RRIstart intends to promote RRI among STEM start-ups, in the framework of the EU support of “impact investment” (i.e., investments that produce fair results from an environmental, social and economic point of view). Based on this, the project has the specific objectives of developing an innovative RRI-based model for start-ups, complemented by an RRI-based impact investment indicator list in a multi-stakeholder (beyond the quadruple helix, represented by research, industry, policy and civil society sectors) context. RRIstart will also identify new constellations of actors to enable RRI-based start-ups and impact investment and will pilot the contextualized RRI model for start-ups and the adapted RRI-based impact investment indicators through them.
The research activities of RRIstart will be carried out using mainly qualitative methodologies, including literature review, stakeholder consultation and implementation of pilot projects with start-ups, which will be accompanied whit a systematic observation process. These pilot activities will involve STEM start-ups in the fields of environment, advanced materials and biotechnology (agrifood). The research, networking and scientific communication activities will include exchanges and relations also outside the countries of the Consortium members.
RRIstart comprises 6 Work Packages. K&I will be involved in the main activities and deliverables of the project and will be responsible for the WP3 entitled “Policy, Governance & Exploitation”, in which it will follow, in particular, the definition of the “Guidelines for governance settings for exploiting RRI in start-ups”.

News

The RRIStarthack

At the conclusion of the RRIStart project, the RRIstarthack took place in Rome from 21 to 23 February 2024. During the initiative, 16 multidisciplinary teams with a total of 125 people (students, PhD students, young researchers) competed in defining innovative, sustainable and responsible solutions to challenges related to sustainable mobility, and sport and wellness. The RRIstarthack was organised by La Sapienza University, Lazio Innova-Regione Lazio with the involvement of Eni Joule, WyLab, WeSportUp and Asc27. Among the support activities offered to the 16 teams, there was also a workshop on the topic of responsibility and sustainability in start-ups, during which ...

Final Policy Brief

In February 2024, K&I prepared deliverable D5.4 containing the Final policy brief of the RRIStart project. The policy brief summarises the main achievements of the project in three years of activity and provides some recommendations to the research community, policy makers, public and private investors and STEM start-ups to support the implementation of SRSM and more generally a responsible approach to business creation and investment in start-ups ...

Guidelines on responsibility for stem start-up

On 31 December 2023, the Guidelines for governance settings, were published to familiarise STEM start-ups with the topic of responsibility and to promote the adoption and application of the SRSM - Social Responsibility for Start-ups Model, with its 24 qualitative indicators and 7 worksheets. The Guidelines, drafted by the K&I team in the context of the European RRIStart project, were the subject of a consultation with the project partners and some stakeholders of the 'quadruple helix'. They were also tested by a group of STEM Start-ups. The latter found the Guidelines a clear and useful tool to start a process ...

Model for Social Responsibility in Start-ups

On 11 October 2023, the article entitled “A model of social responsibility for startups: developing a cross-fertilisation of responsible innovation, the lean start-up approach, and the quadruple helix approach”, written by Mark Ryan, Eugen Octav Popa, Vincent Blok, Andrea Declich, Maresa Berliri, Alfonso Alfonsi and Simeon Veloudis, was published in the Journal of Responsible Innovation. The article presents the main theoretical elements underpinning the Model developed during the RRIstart project, consisting of 24 indicators and 7 worksheets. The text represents a first theoretical reflection on the complex issue of the adoption by STEM start-ups of a responsible approach in the ...

Responsible Helix Network

Starting in the summer of 2022, the RRIStart project initiated the 'Responsible Helix Network', an international multi-stakeholder network aimed at promoting the application of SRSM in STEM start-ups and by impact investors. The network connects not only investors and STEM start-ups, but also incubators and accelerators, practitioners, researchers, think tanks and civil society organisations. The intention is to provide a space that fosters the sharing of ideas, collaboration in joint projects, exchange of best practices, and access to knowledge and information stocks from the RRIStart project results. The network has a group on LinkedIn, coordinated by Saperi&Co (La Sapienza University, ...

Defined the first version of the model for the development of start-ups based on RRI and related indicators

In February 2022, the first version of the RRI-based model for the development of Startups and related indicators was completed. The model and indicators, which were discussed in a Workshop held on March 10, 2022 with representatives of some startups and with some investors, are the subject of two Deliverables of the project, D1.1 and D1.2. K&I has contributed to all phases of the work and will be active in the next phases of the project when the model and indicators will be tested through some pilot experiments ...

Kick off Meeting of RRIstart project

On the 3 rd of March the on-line Kick-off Meeting of RRIstart (A Responsible Research & Innovation Model for Impact investment & Responsible Startups) project took place, with the participation of the representatives of all the organisations that form the Consortium. The works were opened by Andrea Riccio, Project Coordinator on behalf of Università degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza. Vincent Blok and Eugen Popa, of Wageningen University (the Netherlands) presented the research activities that will be at the core of the project and that will involve all partners in the framework of WP1. In their presentation Blok and Popa ...