How can research take part in shaping the post-pandemic society? Researchers from the GoNano partner university RMIT refelcts upon a society recovering from the pandemic and the incluence of research. GoNano partner Dr Craig Richmond is one of them and shares his perspective on what role nanotechnologies plays in a post-pandemic society: 

“Nanotechnologies, being the purposeful engineering of matter at length scales close to atomic and a million times smaller than anything visible to the naked eye, have been prevalent in research and innovation for the best part of half a century,” Richmond said.

“Simply being able to see things on the nano scale has allowed us to better our understanding of the molecules and materials that constitute the world around us, for example, the macromolecular structure of our DNA or the protein shell of a virus.

“The record-breaking development and production of COVID-19 test kits and vaccines was possible because of the collaborative efforts across sectors, borders and disciplines – nanotechnology included, of course,” he said.

“And the means of communications that have helped so many of us stay connected through these difficult times are also largely attributable to advances in electronics going beyond micro and into nano.”

Richmond said that nanotechnologies have helped to shape our response to the pandemic and will continue to shape our society after it.

Read it the full article here.

This deliverable describes the outcomes of the external evaluation of GoNano project, and, based on this experience, suggests a semi-qualitative methodology for the evaluation of co-creation processes and activities.

The evaluation was done with reference to the expected impacts of GoNano, based on specific indicators addressing the efficacy and efficiency of the process, and the efficacy of the project. These indicators have been measured using a mixed methodological approach, by means of both primary (interviews) and secondary (e.g., project deliverables) sources. Results have been analyzed and included in this report.

Overall, the quantified outcomes of the evaluation show that the GoNano project succeeded in terms of both efficacy and efficiency, and thus impacts of the action. The most relevant outcomes related to the three expected impacts of GoNano are:

• Impact 1 (product level). Realize R&I products aligned with social needs and values. The project was successful in delivering a wide range of products ideas and suggestions, aligned with the views of the stakeholders engaged in the process. However, the level of maturity, structure and definition of these products varies a lot, and only few of them might find a practice use in the future. The effective engagement of industry and policy makers has been a bottleneck of the process. The project was effective in taking into account gender and diversity, which were mainstreamed all along the process and the project, either in the setting up of the co-creation process and in its implementation.
• Impact 2 (policy level). Support more responsive approaches to strategy building and policy making in R&I. This action has been affected by the difficulties in engaging with policy makers and industrial stakeholders during the project, also due to changes in the planning of events due to the covid19 situation. However, it has also been realized that this impact was quite ambitious given the methodology and activities planned in the project. In order to achieve this goal, it is important that policy and decision-makers go beyond responsiveness to societal needs and values, and societal engagement, and put forward initiatives to motivate and incentivize research, business and industry to change their way of working.
• Impact 3 (stakeholder level). Facilitate inclusive approaches for R&I, to increase confidence
  on R&I. The project was very successful in terms of favoring the mutual learning and active engagement of different actors. There were good and successful foundations in the project for opinions and voices to be heard: results were very good in terms of interaction between different stakeholders and in increasing trust among them. Providing evidence of the potential (economic) benefits for product development of co-creation is still an open issue, that might go beyond the goals of the project

Some reflections on how to perform co-creation emerged from the external evaluation:

• Fostering mutual learning: co-creation should be implemented both as an “external process”,engaging a diversity of stakeholders (e.g., citizens, professional stakeholders), and as “internalprocess”, ensuring interactions and mutual learning within the teams/partners coordinating the co-creation process
• Defining expectations: co-creation can have different goals, ranging from the democratization of science to user-led innovation. It is key to understand and address this dichotomy since the very beginning of the process
• Ensuring engagement and motivation of industry and policy actors: these stakeholders are essential, as they are the ones that could put in practices results of the co-creation process, and thus enhance responsiveness of innovation. They need to be strongly involved, motivated and incentivized, and be proactive in the co-creation process
• Continuous engagement: stakeholders need to be engaged throughout the co-creation
  process
• Review and adapt methodologies: the approach to co-creation should be adapted to the specific context, and thus methodology design and implementation go hand-in-hand: methodology developers directly involved “on field” in the engagement activities, for testingthe efficacy of the process and fine-tune it, whenever necessary.

The methodology adopted for the evaluation of GoNano, proved to be applicable along all the three phases of the co-creation process, namely:

• Identification and structuring of the problem,
• Dealing with the problem,
• Implementation.

The proposed approach went beyond the assessment of the deliverables and KPIs defined in the project itself, and while building upon the praxis available in literature, it was integrated with the following additional aspects:

• Adopting a co-creation approach for the evaluation method itself, by involving the project’s partners in the design of the methodology and indicators
• Defining specific indicators for capturing the quality of the outcome and of the impacts.

It was built upon the concept of collecting information and interacting only with the mediators of the co-creation process (i.e., the project’s partners), and not with the stakeholders participating in the process. This has been possible given that each of the specific co-creation actions performed by individual partners in GoNano already foresaw extensive collection of feedbacks from involved stakeholders.

In addition, it was pointed out the importance of involving the external evaluator in selected cocreation events, to collect primary information on the process itself, and to triangulate the feedback and data collected by the partners.

As a next step, it would be interesting to apply the proposed approach in other co-creation actions, so to fine-tune and improve it, with the ambitious and ultimate goal to define a common approach to the evaluation of the efficacy, efficiency and impact of co-creation processes.

Read the full report here.

The GoNano Online conference on Responsiveness to Societal Needs and Values in
Nanotechnologies and Beyond was originally planned to take place in Brussels in June 2020. Due
to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was postponed and transformed into an online event.

The programme was divided into three online conference days of 2-3 hours, which took place on
29 October, 5 November and 12 November.

Over 150 individuals registered for the conference and despite the anticipated dropout rate for
an online event, around 50 viewers were present throughout each of the three sessions.

Going online also meant reaching a broader audience form all over the world as well as a high
production value creating legacy material that will continue to reach beyond the audience
participating on the day.

Read the full report here.

This deliverable shares material and results at the end of the project:

• Online brochure: Presenting Governing Nanotechnologies Through Societal Engagement
• PDF presentation of results: Presenting Governing Nanotechnologies Through Societal Engagement
• Video with overall project summary: The GoNano Project in 90 seconds
• Story-videos from experiences with workshop participants – GoNano process and outcomes
• Press release – Oct. 2020, Co-create and develop better tehcnology

Pictures from the GoNano Winter School:

Pictures from The GoNano Online Conference on Responsiveness to Societal Needs and Values in Nanotechnologies and Beyond:

41 videoclips have been produced over the course of the GoNano project. They have been developed with different audiences in mind. Some aim to educate and inspire research and innovation actors to engage society, while others have been developed to educate and inform broader audiences of the potential impacts of nanotechnologies and of opportunities to integrate societal considerations at early stages of research and innovation.

Enabling co-creation in nanotechnologies

Dig into the lessons learned and outcomes of the GoNano project with this interactive brochure.

This micro-cred is a short, fully online course containing reading and viewing exercises and interactive decision-making activities inspired by expert interviews and other outputs from GoNano. The course provides learners with a practical set of skills and concepts that allows them put the principles of responsible research and innovation (RRI) into practice in their own research projects, ensuring their research is future-focused, ethically sound and ready to change the world for the better.

Housed on RMIT’s student learning platform, the micro-cred is open to all students enrolled at RMIT’s campuses in Melbourne and Vietnam, with plans to extend availability to even wider audiences under development. Similar courses focussed on incorporating co-creation into research and innovation are also planned for late 2020. The micro-credential courses complement the other training resources produced during the project and designed to build capacity in RRI and co-creation among researchers and engineers. Check out the complete suite of training materials for researchers and engineers available on the GoNano project website.

The GoNano final conference will also be a great online platform for individuals and organisations to exchange ideas virtually and learn about the state-of-the-art in co-creation, responsiveness and practicing societal engagement in research and innovation.

Below you will find seven policy briefs, each present GoNano experiences, insights and/or lessons learned.

Policy brief 1: Co-creation: A Practical Tool to Enhance Responsiveness in Research and Innovation

About: Co-creation can enhance responsiveness by

• Supporting the translation of abstract needs, values and concerns into practical options and action in research and innovation practices
• Facilitating a process of realisation and exploration of how and why broader societal perspectives matter in research and innovation

Policy brief 2: Moving from reflection to proactive engagement and action on societal needs, values, and concerns 

About: The move to action can be supported by

Leaving space for the recognition of opportunities and consciously integrate “interactional expertise in interactions between scientists, engineers, product developers, industry and policy

• Building collaboration in the early stages of research and development and encourage creativity and design thinking
• Supporting the training of interactional skills, literacy and expertise
• Implementing rewards for researchers that invite other experts and societal stakeholder to discuss and contribute to their work

Policy brief 3: Opportunities and Challenges of Co-Creation: Experiences from the GoNano Project

About: Strategies for overcoming challenges for co-creation

• Finding a shared goal and use it to drive your multi-stakeholder collaborations.
• Planning time to translate and mediate between your different types of stakeholders. The more diversity the more time you will need to mediate and build common understanding between groups.
• Choosing a clear purpose of the co-creation in research: democratisation or creation of shared value through product development. The goal prescribes the actors that should be involved and their ways of contribution.

Policy brief 4: The Value Chain: An approach to Implement Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) practices in Nanotechnologies Development

About: How the value chain approach can support the implantation of RRI

• It provides a schematic approach and a stepwise guide for embedding co-creation in business practices
• It helps identify hands-on suggestions to help successfully co-create along your value chain

Policy brief 5: Positioning Co-Creation: Democratisation versus Added Value

About: Possible uses of co-creation in research and innovation

• It can be used to integrate diverse perspectives and knowledge for improvement of innovation product and ideas
• It can be used to integrate diverse perspectives and knowledge for evaluation of the priorities and direction of research and innovation policies and practices In each case, organisers should carefully consider the role of, and expectations placed on laypeople in a co-creation process

Policy brief 6: Inclusion in Co-creation: What is Needed in Practice?

About: Key requirements for realising inclusion in co-creation

• Investing in co-creation and develop skills and competencies of organisers to develop strategies that ensure continuous inclusion
• Carefully balancing the topic, questions and preparatory materials to avoid common difficulties for inclusion in co-creation and engagement processes
• Paying attention to your communication strategy and the messages you share about your project and process to communicate in a way that supports inclusion and diversity

Policy brief 7: Gender Issues in Nanotechnologies research and innovation

About: Gender issues in nanotechnologies research and innovation include

• Male norms and visions of future role and function of technological applications give shape to research ideas and processes thereby missing possibly discriminatory or harmful implications
• The performance and potential of women in science is judged and viewed differently than their male counterparts
• A lack of discussion and awareness on the difference between sex and gender. Gender or “gender equality” refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviours, activities, and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for men and women, whereas sex refers to the innate biological characteristics

Industry Brief: The Power of co-creation

About: Designing solutions to shared problems with citizens and stakeholders

Download the report here: GoNano D5.5 – Collecting of the GoNano Policy and Industry Briefs

*The document may not be seen as an official deliverable of the GoNano project as it has not yet been approved by the European Commission.