The action is expected to analyse the way Societal Readiness is addressed and integrated in piloted projects and help in designing an efficient, clear, and impactful way of applying a Societal Readiness approach in future EU funded R&I projects with a true interdisciplinary collaboration.

The project selected should address all of the following actions:

• Make a consolidated analysis:
  • on the way Societal Readiness is considered and integrated in the Descriptions of the Actions of selected pilot-projects in terms of content (e.g., the type of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) guiding questions chosen and related methodology), implementation (e.g., SR related work distribution and partners) and methodology. Assess the level, timing, and quality of interactions between SSH and STEM partners during the proposal preparation.
  • of all First reports on Societal Readiness to be delivered by the selected pilot-projects. Assess the way SR consideration unfolds from the Description of the Actions’ methodology, observe how guiding questions are addressed and plan to respond to the concerns identified. Compare the various ‘SR visions’ put forward by each consortium.
  • of all Final reports on Societal Readiness to be delivered by the selected pilot-projects. Assess the various projects’ experiences, challenges and lessons learned during the actual implementation of the Societal Readiness activities, looking at the participation and type of external actors in co-design methods, responses to SR guiding questions, possible adjustment of R&I activities.

Mid-project recommendations based on the two first points are expected in order to give a preliminary sense of directionality for future Societal Readiness projects.

• Analyse the various interdisciplinarity mechanisms (SSH vs. STEM, collaboration with societal stakeholders) across pilot-projects as well as their effectiveness in practice. Identify successful interdisciplinary approaches and less successful ones. Possible evolutions in partners behaviours, or changes in interdisciplinary strategies should be identified. The degree of involvement from partners in SR activities, as well as the way they perceive them (in a positive or negative way) should also be scrutinised. This analysis should result in a publication with concrete tips helping future project partners integrating implementable, efficient, and well-accepted interdisciplinary practices both within consortia and towards external actors.
• Organise annual workshops in physical format to allow all pilot project representatives to meet, interact and exchange experiences periodically. Travel costs for all participants are to be covered by this action.
• Set up a public web platform during the action duration, to provide a direct source of support to future SR users, including examples of SR pathways, do’s and don’ts, tips and tricks specifically tailored to facilitate the use and understanding of the European Commission’s approach on Societal Readiness. A survey submitted beforehand to pilot-projects partners could be envisaged to help in defining those needs. The platform should be updated and completed on a regular basis.
• Eventually provide a set of recommendations to the European Commission taking stock of the work achieved as well as of the recommendations elaborated by pilot-projects in their Final reports on Societal Readiness. Practical improvements of the current Societal Readiness approach should be proposed to overcome identified shortcomings, while at the same time, acknowledging the successful aspects of the current approach. The overall Societal Readiness vision should be kept in mind when providing those recommendations, while aiming at keeping a lowest level of implementation complexity, a highest degree of understandability (including for non-SSH experts) and replicability to various technology maturities and fields of applications, as well as a strong interdisciplinary component.