The Horizon 2020 Advisory Group on nanotechnologies, advanced materials, biotechnology and advanced manufacturing and processing (NMBP) recently published a report on outreach to newcomers and societal engagement in industrial technologies.
New developments in industrial and key enabling technologies, including the development of the fourth industrial revolution, present significant challenges for Europe. Recent work by high-level groups (notably the Lab-Fab-App Report by the Lamy Group and the Re-finding Industry report by the Rüttgers Group) has highlighted a necessary rethink of EU outreach policy as a tool to support the emergence of the fourth industrial revolution. Simultaneously there has been growing attention to societal engagement in science, innovation and technology development in recent years.
To maximize the impact of programmes for key enabling and industrial technologies, there is a need to develop robust approaches to both outreach to newcomers and the strengthening of societal engagement, which seek to integrate the programme into a broader and strategic societal, cultural and international perspective
The report provides recommendations on outreach policy and societal engagement, based on a thorough analysis of the implementation process so far, including the interim evaluation of Horizon 2020. It provides a basis for forward-looking policy guidance of European R&D activities.
