1

zineJuly 2017

Our engagement with the Ocean

... and more

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under GA No. 710566

Gender Equality: Can Research support a responsible policy-making process?

BLUEMED: connecting transnational communities for a shared R&I agenda

MARINA Workshops: discover the forthcoming Agenda

“MARINAzine. Our engagement with the Ocean” is the official, four-monthly issued newsletter from the Horizon 2020 MARINA

Project. Each MARINAzine issue aims to deepen the analysis of one of the six dimensions of Responsible Research and Innovation

when applied to marine and maritime issues, namely: Public Engagement; Gender Equality; Science Education; Open Science; Ethics,

Harmonious Governance models . It is developed and compiled with contributions from the MARINA Consortium Partners and relevant

stakeholders.

Realized by APRE. Contacts: marina@apre.it.

IN thIs IssUE

N. 2 JANUARy 2018

... and more

2

The first International Conference on Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) in Science,

Innovation and Society (RRI-SIS2017) was held in Rome in September 25 and 26, 2017 in the

framework of the MARINA project.

The Conference overall aim was to establish, organize and activate a Responsible Research and

Innovation community with direct engagement of scientists and societal actors working together

during the whole research and innovation process. Such a community is supposed to share common

goals of aligning both the process and its outcomes with the values, needs and expectations of the

society and integrating citizen’s visions, needs and desires into science and innovation. It represented an opportunity for different targeted RRI

groups to share their experiences, to discuss about the RRI concepts and themes starting from the marine domain, but not limited to it.

Case studies and experiences were collected and presented during the Conference, providing an overview of Responsible Research and Innovation

initiatives and discussions, emerging from both past and running projects on RRI.

The twenty-seven presented papers will be published in two volumes titled: “Responsible Research and Innovation Actions in Science

Education, Gender and Ethics” and “Governance and Sustainability of Responsible Research and Innovation Processes”. They are in

printing by “SpringerBriefs in Research and Innovation Governance”.

The book “Responsible Research and Innovation Actions in Science Education, Gender and Ethics” provides methods, practical cases and

experiences aiming to stimulate Responsible Research and Innovation through direct engagement of researchers, civil society organizations,

citizens, industry stakeholders, policy and decision makers, research funders and communicators. It presents European initiatives and projects

in various domains and contexts, exploring how to create guidelines and good practices for Responsible Research and Innovation and how to

promote them.

The book “Governance and Sustainability of Responsible Research and Innovation Processes” promotes a common vision for reinforcing the

collaborations between different scientists and the societal actors for a wider inclusive dimension of science and innovation. It contains papers

covering governance, public engagement and inclusion in responsible R&D and innovation processes; RRI actions in science education and

communication; gender and ethical issues in RRI initiatives and sustainability of RRI processes.

The Conference presentations are available within the MARINA Knowledge Sharing Platform. Anyone interested is invited to access the Platform

and continue the discussion in this common space, sharing documents, opinions and news with a view to preparing our 2018 Conference.

Highlights from the Conference are also available in this second issue of our project Newsletter “MARINAzine. Our engagement with the Ocean”.

Hope you will enjoy going through them!

Patrizia Grifoni, CNR – Marina Project Coordinator

Foreword

3

Responsible Research and Innovation in Science, Innovation and Society: How (more) Ethical Can We Be?

Ethics is an integral part of research from the beginning to the end.

It is only by getting the ethics right that research excellence can

be achieved. Needless to say that without ethics, society would

be reduced to the type of animal behavior that is seen in nature.

No offence to our animal cousins and their ethics, of course, but

they do not engage in the Responsible Research and Innovation in

Science, Innovation and Society as we do!

As a consequence, ethics and ethical issues, are given the highest

priority in EU funded research: all the activities carried out under the

Horizon 2020 Programme must comply with ethical principles and

relevant national, EU and international legislation, so it came as

no surprise, that the very first MARINA Project RRI-SIS Conference,

dedicated its SESSION 3 to Ethics and Gender Equality.

The Ethics and Gender Equality session first presenters were our

esteemed colleagues Lorenza Perini and Silvana Badaloni from the

University of Padua, Italy. Lorenza and Silvana talked us through

Gender Equality in Academic Institutions and the new pillars for

a responsible policy-making process that addresses the issue of

measuring Gender Equality in Academia.

Lorenza’s and Silvana’s presentation was followed by Gunnar

Hartvigsen from the University of Tromsø, The Arctic University of

Norway, and his research findings on “Why Guidelines for Research

Ethics in Science and Technology Should Consider Irreparable

Research, and Why They Don’t?” Gunnar gave us an insight into the

revision process of the Norwegian guidelines for research in ethics,

which include risk analysis and mandatory evaluation for the

high-risk projects. In light of the guidelines, Gunnar proposed we

should also look at the possibility to terminate hazardous projects,

if needed.

Thomas B. Long of Wageningen University in the Netherlands co-

authored a paper with Vincent Blok on “identifying and integrating

socio-ethical factors into innovation processes in industry: The

development of a tool for enhancing sustainable entrepreneurial

opportunities”. Thomas talked us through the workshop method

developed, and also gave us an interesting overview on how

sustainable entrepreneurs consider socio-ethical issues in practice.

“An innovation model for the analysis of the role of gender

equality, privacy and engagement in smart factories’ ecosystem”,

by Francesco Niglia and Angelo Corallo concluded the Ethics and

Gender Equality session.

Francesco introduced us to a rather new perspective on the growing

need of understanding of the impact of some basic RRI principles,

such as the quality of life of people, in their double role, as workers

and citizens. Francesco also reminded us that the complete

mechanism that rules the improvement of innovation capabilities

and behaviour, when the principles of gender equality, privacy and

engagement are applied to smart factories’ ecosystems, is still

unclear.

The Ethics and Gender Equality session presentations were followed

by a dynamic question-time, which gave us all an opportunity to

talk to the presenters, and ask questions on a number of emerging

issues on Ethics and Gender Equality within the Responsible

Research Innovation.

Needless to say that we all now look forward to next year´s

MARINA Conference! In the meantime, please do get in touch with

us and let us know “How (more) Ethical Can We Be?”

By Nina J. Zugic, MARINA Project Ethics Advisory Board

Editorial

4

1 Opinions

1.1 Gender Equality makes the manufactory Smarter

by Francesco Niglia, Link Campus University Rome

1.2 Gender Equality: can research support a responsible policy-making process? The case of the Gender Equality Index

by Lorenza Perini and Silvana Badaloni, University of Padua

2 RRI Stories

2.1 Fostering Transition towards RRI Systems (FoTRRIS): local cases and virtual reality

by FoTRRIS team

3 Blue Growth

3.1 Funding opportunities for Blue Growth in the new Horizon 2020 Work Programmes

by Matteo Sabini, Italian NCP Support Team for Horizon 2020 Societal Challenge 2, APRE

3.2 BLUEMED: connecting transnational communities for a shared R&I agenda

by Fabio Trincardi, BLUEMED CSA Coordinator

4 Voices from stakeholder

4.1 The marine energy industry and RRI. Is there a possible route that connects the dots?

An interview with María Herrero, from Herrekor Basque Country

by Nagore Ibarra & Mato Knez, NanoGUNE

4.2 How can RRI ensure a smart, sustainable and inclusive Blue Growth? Engaging European stakeholders to solve current marine and

societal challenges

by Iwona Gin, Nausicaa

5 MARINA Highlights

5.1 #OurOcean 2017 Conference. A report by ISPRA

by Elena Giusta, ISPRA - Italian National Institute for Environmental Protection and Research

Summary

5

Opinions

Gender Equality makes the manufacturing smarter

I’ve been recently asked whether it is important to adopt gender

equality measures within the processes and the ecosystem of a

smart factory.

Yes, it is. And it makes complete sense to include gender-related

policies, as also stressed by the ETP “Factories of the Future”

foresight statement: addressing gender gaps in the global

knowledge society is one of the identified megatrends expected

to have considerable impact and drive structural changes in

manufacturing sectors.

Moreover, all public and private organisations shall comply with

the “equality between men and women”, one of the European

Union’ founding principles, that is always true, for each life-

related field.

Despite this, gender biasing currently permeates all life-domains

and requires the urgent need of long-term interventions, usually

not material, often related to structural changes in society

regarding women’s status and equity.

This is mainly due to a cultural and welfare model, mainly based

on the differentiation between the role of women (pivotal role

as responsible of family caring) and men (the breadwinner), but

also due to the unconscious bias in assessing excellence, and the

employment policies and practices, and this is true also for Smart

Factories.

So, the whole question shifts to the capabilities of Smart

Factories and their whole stakeholders’ ecosystem to actively

participate in this challenging cultural, behavioural, educational

and industrial innovation process.

This is a fundamental challenge that involves both ethical

and business assets and perspectives, and it is often driven by

cultural roots and high-management personal opinions.

Several studies and best practices show how gender-neutral

policy should go hand in hand with gender-sensitive measures.

These measures are not only related to a fair distribution of

men and women in the staff of a Company; it is a wider concept,

that includes several aspects of working environment such as

the importance of gender neutral content when operating in

physical and digital environments, or the presence of enabling

infrastructures. Nurseries and game rooms, drugstores and daily

infirmaries, facilities for employees who have to care for elderly

and disabled relatives, child-care rooms, to name but a few

examples of possible actions.

The McKinsey Global Institute, in its report “The power of

parity: how advancing women’s equality can add $12 Trillion

to global growth” suggests that closing gender gaps in labour-

force participation rates, part-time versus full-time work and the

composition of employment would add 12-25% to global GDP

by 2025. Other studies, as well as the growing body of research

documents highlight the many ways that women contribute

value to each link of the business value chain, as suppliers,

leaders, employees, customers, brand creators and community

members.

But, business’ improvement could be listed as a positive effect

only if other “responsible” pillars are ensured in the smart-

factory ecosystem at large. The reasons shall be founded in

the evolution of the smart manufacturing processes that sees

technological and sociological innovation shaping the whole

ecosystem. Recent studies shared with the MARINA Community

demonstrate how complex this ecosystem is and that it includes

interleaved layers of the smart factory, the stakeholders, the

environment and territory, the social sphere.

Effects of gender equality permeate all these layers, and are

seamlessly bound with the adoption of rules for education,

ethics and privacy management, increasing their relevance and

their presence as much as a factory digitalizes its processes

and shifts from the physical to the virtual work of its staff.

Factories with greater gender equality in their workforce

and top management gain several benefits, by being able to

motivate their female workers, to understand and respond to the

needs of female customers, and address complex problems by

incorporating more diverse views – in other words by becoming

“smarter”.

by Francesco Niglia, Link Campus University, Rome

6

Gender Equality: Can Research support a responsible policy-making process? The case of the Gender Equality Index

Measuring Gender Equality is certainly a controversial nevertheless

essential issue for any responsible policy making process. To this

aim, the efforts of our research group at the University of Padua

in the framework of the FP7 EU Project GenderTime, in the last

four years have been devoted to outline a specific tool - the Gender

Equality Index - tailored to perform this specific task in the academic

context.

Science is within Society: it is not a simple statement

Being gender equality a social change process, it is important to

notice that an index is not only a scientific and technical “tool,”

but also the result of many “political” decisions, and it can be

conceived from different points of view. In our group, composed

of statisticians, engineers, historians, politologists and experts

of gender issues, the decision to build a brand new instrument

has been made taking into consideration: A) that after a careful

reconnaissance we have decided that none of the instruments

available to address Gender Equality was able to give an in-deep-

snapshot of the situation of women and men at all level of career

in an academic environment - mostly due to the fact that some

type of data necessary for this task to be accomplished simply do

not exist in the academic statistical monitoring system; B) although

monitoring tools specifically tailored for the academic environment

do exist, the problem is that the methodology they imply does not

take into consideration the problem of “power”, i.e. the direction

of the discrimination they measure – is it toward men or toward

women? This is a very important issue in our opinion, in order to

tackle the power dimension of the academic system.

The UNIPD GEI methodological approach

In order to develop a useful set of gender equality indicators, our

main idea was to start from a well-founded conceptual approach

relying on a solid statistical methodology, like the one developed by

EIGE in its Gender Equality Index (GEI). We have enriched the model

by combining it with the approach proposed by the GenisLab FP 7

Project, in which some important indicators have been developed

following a “gender budgeting” approach in Academia. Data

collection has been carried out using a conceptual framework based

on seven domains - work, money, knowledge, space, health, power,

time through a specific survey addressing academic permanent and

non-permanent staff in all the research areas and departments of

the University.

Method for calculation: the System of Indicators

In this model, data come from two different sources: from the UNIPD

Management Control Office and from a specific survey built with the

purpose of colleting as much data as possible asking directly to the

people involved. After collecting information, data were coded into

variables, adequately normalized. In order to design a system of

indicators to compare the position of women and men, we decided

to compute the elementary indicators for females and males for

each variable in the following way:

where IFi is the value of the elementary indicator for female I,

normalized in 0-1 interval, and nF is the number of females in the

sample. Then the comparison was carried out by dividing the

indicators

If this ratio assumes a value of 1 it means that females and males

have the same value in between 0 and 1. Instead, this ratio assumes

values less than 1 when the indicator for men is higher than the one

obtained by women, which means that men experience a better

condition than women regarding that topic. This procedure was

applied for each sub-domain. The indicators were also standardized

taking into account the different age of male and female

respondents as possible bias.

Gender Equality as an essential responsibility

The implementation of an instrument of this type, built to measure

but implicitly capable also to evaluate the progresses of the gender

oriented policies of an academic institution, after a test phase,

should become a systematic component of the policy making

process in an environment increasingly oriented at the assumption

of responsibility towards the society, and day by day more open to

communication and transparency.

By Lorenza Perini and Sara Badaloni, University of Padua

Bibliography

• Badaloni S., Perini L. (Eds), A model for building a Gender Equality Index for academic institutions, ISBN 978-88-6938-098-3, Padova University Press, Padova, June 2016.

• Gender Equality Index 2015 Report, Measuring gender equality in the European Union 2005-2012, European Institute for

Gender Equality

• Genova A., De Micheli B., Zucco F., Grasso C., Magri B., Achieving gender balance at the top of scientific research Guidelines and tools for institutional change, 2015

7

RRI StoriesFostering transition towards RRI systems (FotRRIs): local cases and virtual reality

According to the EU, “Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI)

implies that societal actors (researchers, citizens, policy makers,

business, third sector organisations, etc.) work together during

the whole research and innovation process in order to better

align both the process and its outcomes with the values, needs

and expectations of society” and the core concept of the RRI

aims at adapting R&I solutions for the grand societal challenges.

For the FoTRRIS project, RRI is a collaborative activity that

starts from the very beginning and continues during the analysis

of the problem, the projection of potential solutions, the design

of a research and innovation project that aims at achieving a

solution, and all the way through its performance and monitoring.

It aims to strengthen local and resilient communities. Therefore,

the FoTRRIS project tests the CO-RRI approach, and works on a

local level, which supports co-creation of bottom–up solutions

for global challenges.

FoTRRIS aims to develop and introduce new governance

practices to foster RRI policies and methods in research and

innovation systems. Following this aim, during recent months

the FoTRRIS team has prototyped transition experiments in

five EU countries and worked on five regional cases which were

based on various glocal challenges: material scarcity (Belgium),

renewable energy (Italy), migration and women with disabilities

(Spain), local economy (Hungary), sustainable food system

(Austria). Representatives from four helix groups were involved

in all cases and contributed by exchange of their knowledge and

know-how. As a result, all groups developed project concepts to

support positive changes on a local level. Such activities were

facilitated by a newly developed intermediary structure: CO-RRI

competence cell (CC).

The CC is a structure which comprises trained researchers-

experts in CO-RRI methodologies willing to share their know-

how with a group of people interested in co-solving a glocal

challenge.

Such a co-creation process was organised during face to face

workshops and was supported by an online collaborative

platform: FoTRRIS WEB PLATFORM. This platform supported

knowledge actors to design, together with other stakeholders, a

CO-RRI project concept. More specifically, the platform provides:

• Innovation services to facilitate interactions between

stakeholders and to support knowledge actors to CO-

design RRI-projects in order to realise co-projected visions

of solutions to local manifestations of global societal

challenges according to RRI methods and standards by

following the Co-RRI process architecture;

• Communication and dissemination of CO-RRI activities and

results;

• Storage of lessons learnt from past RRI projects, best cases

examples and data on sustainability challenges.

We invite you to visit our website and to read more about

FoTRRIS, Platform for co-creation of RRI Project ideas and join

our Final Conference in Brussels! (March 2018)

By FotRRIS Team

8

Blue Growth Agenda

Funding opportunities for Blue Growth in the new horizon 2020 Work Programmes

Blue Growth has a relevant place in the political agenda of the

European Union.

In recent decades, human impact on seas and oceans has been

increasing due to intensive fishing, marine resource extraction

and, last but not least, climate change, with severe consequences

for the whole ecosystem. Having this in mind, the European

Commission has defined a path for a more sustainable approach

where the marine environment is considered as a resource to

protect (for instance from the pollution generated by plastics), as

a means of development for coastal areas in terms of jobs creation

as well as a huge potential source of energy production.

In order to face the challenges of the ‘Blue Economy sector’ – that

represents roughly 5.4 million jobs and generates a gross added

value of almost €500 billion a year - the European Commission has

developed a strategy consisting of three main components:

• Developing sectors that have a high potential for the creation

of sustainable jobs and growth (aquaculture, coastal tourism,

marine biotechnology, ocean energy and seabed mining);

• Providing knowledge, legal certainty and security in the blue

economy (marine knowledge, maritime spatial planning,

integrated maritime surveillance);

• Establishing sea basin strategies to ensure tailor-made

measures and to foster cooperation between countries.

Also Horizon 2020 will contribute to address these policy

objectives, in particular within the Societal Challenge (SC) 2 “Food

security, sustainable agriculture and forestry, marine, maritime

and inland water research and the bioeconomy” Work Programme

(WP). For this purpose, the European Commission has published

a “Blue Growth” call for proposals, with a budget of 239 million

euro for the 2018-2020 period (of which 166,5 million euro for the

next two years) distributed in 9 topics. This call aims at sustainably

harvesting the potential of resources from seas, oceans and inland

waters for different uses and across the range of marine and

maritime industries, while protecting biodiversity and enhancing

climate resilience.

Under these conditions, topics for 2018 and 2019 will address

sustainable harvesting methods, with a focus on the Black Sea, the

transition to the aquaculture 4.0, a multi-use of the marine space in

the offshore and near-shore areas, a more integrated connection

between sea and land areas through solutions for bio-based

plastics. In addition, the European Commission puts emphasis

on International Cooperation for Blue Growth, where it has

allocated 82 million euro in the 2018-2019 period - half amount of

the total budget for the call in the same period. Three topics are

dedicated to international Cooperation: the first one is focused

on the South Atlantic Ocean and will pave the way towards an “All

Atlantic Ocean Research Alliance” (BG-07-2019-2020); the second

one shall improve ocean observations in support of the G7 Future

of the Seas and Oceans Initiative (BG-08-2018-2019); finally, the

third one is dedicated to the Black Sea area (LC-BG-09-2019). The

first deadline for Blue Growth topics within the SC 2 is on the 13th

February 2018, both for single stage and two-stage proposals.

Thanks to the cross-sectorial characteristics of the theme, Blue

Growth related topics are located also in other Horizon 2020

Work Programmes. For instance in Pillar 1 “Excellent Science”,

where the Research Infrastructure WP funds also has included

a topic on research vessels. In Pillar 2, funding opportunities can

be found in the Space WP, that addresses the Copernicus Marine

Services, or in the NMBP WP, where there is a topic on off-shore

energy materials. Finally, Blue Growth is addressed also by other

Societal Challenges: a dedicated call can be found in the SC4

Transport (where topics are focused on ship emissions, maritime

transport safety and unmanned and autonomous activities) but

also in SC3 Energy (wave energy, offshore wind, renewable energy

technologies) and in SC5 Environment (recovery of sea resources,

sea level changes, ice-core drilling).

But this is just a starting point. Next summer the European

Commission will publish the text of the Blue Growth topics for 2020

in the updated version of the SC2 WP, with the indication of the

budget foreseen. It should be also noted that the discussion on the

future of the Blue Growth in the next Framework Programme

is open.

by Matteo Sabini, Italian NCP Support Team for Horizon 2020 Societal Challenge 2, APRE

9

The BLUEMED Research and Innovation Initiative for blue jobs

and growth provides the strategic framework for implementing

Blue Growth in the Mediterranean Area. Engaging with different

stakeholders is crucial to reach its objectives. How to bridge the

top-down and the bottom-up approach?

Cooperating on research and innovation for a healthy, safe and

productive Mediterranean Sea - this is the BLUEMED Initiative,

whose start-up goes back to the end of 2014 under the Italian

Presidency of the Council of the European Union. The endorse-

ment by ten EU Member States of the Venice declaration launch-

ing the BLUEMED Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda

(SRIA) in October 2015 marked a key milestone towards the de-

velopment of common priorities. Twelve key challenges, togeth-

er with goals and related actions, need to be tackled for filling

knowledge gaps, enhancing relevant economic sectors of the

blue growth pathway, enabling technology and creating capac-

ity. The process has been supported by the European Commis-

sion.

More recently, with the signature of the the Valletta Declaration

on strengthening Euro-Mediterranean cooperation through Re-

search and Innovation on May 4th 2017, the BLUEMED Initiative

entered the agenda of all Member States of the Union for Medi-

terranean and the European Union.

Meanwhile, since October 2016 a four year long project has been

running to support the developments of the Initiative, converting

the outputs of the agenda into actions. Funded by the European

Commission under H2020, the BLUEMED Coordination and Sup-

port Action is implemented by a Consortium of eleven partners,

under the leadership of CNR (Italy). It will support the consoli-

dation and update of the SRIA through effective coordination

of marine and maritime R&I strategies, establishing mechanisms

for stakeholders’ engagement.

Mediterranean society strongly depends on sea activities, as

demonstrated among other things by the number of ports and

terminals, 450, and the fact that 150 million people rely on a tour-

ism-centred economy. Blue careers are increasingly offering new

employment opportunities in many different sectors, providing

that the skills gap is overcome. In this framework, only healthy

ecosystems will ensure the availability of resources in the long

term.

Research, industry, policy, and society will build a virtuous rela-

tionship among them and with the environment. Different tools

and activities will be developed by the BLUEMED CSA to ensure

that the process of consolidating the SRIA and make impact

through joint actions is shared among different communities,

also complying with the principles of responsible research and

innovation.

Four thematic working Platforms on knowledge, economy, tech-

nology, and policy have been set up and are operating to address

the BLUEMED challenges in an integrated way. Experts from dif-

ferent sectors meet and work together, relying on identified key

players at national level, the National Pivots. They mobilize other

relevant stakeholders through participatory events by collecting

and conveying their message and bringing back feedback, guar-

anteeing the connection with national communities. The Marina

project is providing support by making available a customized

platform allowing a virtual forum and working groups to discuss

and share documents, the BLUEMED Community Portal.

The extension of the BLUEMED Initiative to non-EU Mediter-

ranean countries will be supported by the Union for the Medi-

terranean, enhancing connectivity also via the Virtual Knowledge

Centre. Moreover, ambassadors will be identified and trained to

spread the BLUEMED vision in these countries.

Conferences will be organized for awareness raising, aiming at

bringing new people in the BLUEMED Community.

Specific workshops targeting civil society, the BLUEMED Café,

are foreseen to enhance networking with local communities.

Actually blue growth has to happen locally, so citizens need to

enter the decision-making process and reach information-based

decisions.

BLUEMED promotes a change in the mindset of people: con-

necting communities is the priority in the perspective of envi-

sioning the Mediterranean Basin as a location for innovation.

The BLUEMED project has received funding from the European

Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under

grant agreement No 727453.

by Fabio Trincardi, BLUEMED CSA Coordinator

BLUEMED: connecting transnational communities for a shared R&I agenda

10

Q. What are the challenges the marine energy sector faces from a technical viewpoint?

There are many, but amongst them, I highlight that, in general, we have to overcome the problems related to corrosion of structures and elements exposed to the sea. Moreover, the value generated by the wind turbine, the value associated with its energy efficiency and life cycle, has to be above the fabrication and maintenance costs. In addition, it is necessary to develop devices and systems that are able to withstand storms.. Furthermore, it is very important to use materials through the whole value chain that are sustainable, recyclable. This saves money.

Q. Are research and innovation needed to overcome these challenges?

Definitely. First, it is necessary to develop new concepts/prototypes at the laboratory level and validate them. Subsequently, one has to upscale the results to the industrial level. The scale-up process is a research and development (R&D) project in itself.

Q. Do you think that opening the dialogue about research and innovation in the marine energy sector to the Society will enrich the solutions with new ideas/needs?

Firstly, I think we need to identify what is the issue the marine energy brings to all citizens. What is the common element for all of us? What kind of energy can cover the needs at all levels? Identifying a common objective is a challenge in itself. Overcoming the scarcity of petroleum is one of the reasons why the marine energy is becoming a common objective. The nuclear energy, for example, gives energy continuously but, what about the rest of the problems (residues, ecological risks, etc.)? Secondly, from that point onwards, we have to define the technological challenges that the marine energy has to overcome to become viable. Thirdly, we need to understand what are the needs/requirements of the different stakeholders. We have to integrate the ideas of a whole group of people with visions and needs that could be very different to give the best solution to the problem. For example, we have to think about sustainable solutions that respect the environment. On a different note, gathering a heterogeneous group of stakeholders in a room to nurture new and innovative technical ideas is something that companies have started doing. Thus, with the aim of feeding the creativity and knocking down prejudices, they “take out” their engineers from the meeting room allowing the creative imagination to flow without barriers. In this way, it is possible to open paths that were not considered before. Arranging a meeting with the kind of stakeholders you propose, with people who see the problem from different perspectives, can result in the creation of both disruptive and responsible ideas. I think it is very interesting.

Q. Are there barriers for such dialogue to be established? How can we overcome them?

Yes. I think that, currently, the environment does not nourish such dialogue. There are no common spaces where this kind of discussion can take place. For example, how can I talk to a fisherman? Where can I go? I also think that education is key. It is important to inculcate critical thinking from the bottom, and to participate in debates as well as in innovation forums. Promoting STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education, especially for women, is essential. The Project Inspira is an example of the latter. On a different note, outreach activities will help to create a research culture in industry, important to reach a better positioning in the market and creating new proposals by our industrial network. I also think that the media has to open the debate from different fronts to promote it, but also the local council, the institutions, etc. Moreover, I believe that developing a solution that merges all the needs simultaneously has a cost. Although the technical requirements can become very ambitious, resolving such problems would generate a great opportunity for industry.

Q. It is also important to consider the issue of intellectual property in an open discussion. If a group of people gather together and ideas are generated, who is the owner? How to manage such ideas? How to acknowledge the person who had the idea?

I believe that research centres or companies can contact the different agents to define objectives for their new

María Herrero is

the experienced

head of a company

named Herrekor.

Herrekor provides

e n g i n e e r i n g

solutions and

supplies in the technical areas of

power transmission, converting and

industrial electronic. A family

company estabçished by her parents

and uncle in Astigarraga, a small town

in the seaside of the Basque Country.

Waving the flag of innovation, this

SME joined the wave of marine

energy in 2012, through a

conglomerate of complementary

companies named Itsasolutions. With

María, we will sail through the marine

energy industry and Responsible

Research and Innovation, while

getting ready for our next MARINA

Mobilisation and Mutual Workshop

on the 26th of January 2018, at CIC

nanoGUNE, San Sebastián. Is there a

possible route that connects the

dots?

by Nagore Ibarra & Mato Knez, nanoGUNE

the marine energy industry and RRI. Is there a possible route that connects the dots? An interview with María herrero, from herrekor Basque Country

Voices from stakeholders

11

strategy. If they manage to receive valuable input to solve the problem, they should reward such participation. One has to acknowledge the person who had the idea with recognition, with a reward. In this way, we can ensure continuity. In these meetings/workshops, clever people can be identified that could be very useful for a company. If the company benefits but it does not give any reward, how are we going to expect such stakeholders to provide feedback/solutions again?

Q. Is there the risk that the dialogue could exist in one direction, in which non-technical citizens talk but companies and researchers listen? Are patents an obstacle to dialogue?

It is very important to create an atmosphere of cooperation and total collaboration, so that everybody can give and receive. It is also key to define the objective of the meeting/workshop beforehand. It also depends on the stage/phase in which the project is. If the project is in the technical phase, an agreement of confidentiality is needed. The issues discussed on the table have to stay on the table. Alternatively, the company or the research centre could be a listener and a facilitator in a way that will not risk its intellectual property.

Q. Do you think this is a problem of the industry in the marine sector or a problem of the industry in general?

I think this is a problem of the industry in general. It is a problem of mentality, culture.

Q. How could we overcome the above??

A way to overcome the problems of patenting/intellectual property could be to focus, in an early stage, the discussion on existing obstacles, problems that the marine energy currently has according to the different stakeholders. In this way, the discussion would give the requirements the technical solutions have to fulfil. This is, the boundary conditions to be taken into account to find the responsible solution. That could solve the issue. Moreover, all the stakeholders would see the solution of the problem at medium, long term. The road map could be shared/updated in the different phases of the project.

Q. Public engagement is only one part of the story of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI). There are other aspects that one must take into account for the research and innovation process to be truly responsible. One of these is Open Science. What do you think about it?

When science is paid by public funds, it has to be this way. Moreover, if science were open, we could make progress faster. On the one hand, open science will avoid that large companies monopolise the property of knowledge. On the other hand, small companies would have more opportunities to develop. Sometimes, large companies buy knowledge in the form of patents and they do not exploit them because they want to sell their current product, delaying the exploitation of the new technology even by a decade. Open science would be a good way to stop the “rule” of multinationals.

Q. What do you think about the university/industry registering a patent with public funds to transform knowledge in something, which is not public?

Good question. How do you transform this money? One can give the money to a team that may be efficient, but another with the same resources may not provide a solution. I think that the team that finds that solution has to be incentivised. How are we going to reach objectives if there are no incentives? Research that succeeds and generates results, should be rewarded, for example, with more funds, against others that do not offer solutions or whose solutions are neither oriented nor prove a strategy on the medium or long term.

Q. What do you think about gender equality? What could be done to achieve gender equality in research and innovation?

Firstly, we should ask ourselves what happens when a woman goes from the University to an Industry or to a Research Centre. When you arrive there, you see the following: why am I not the same as men? What happened? A mystery that has to be solved! [laughs] I believe one of the keys is to bring both the university and the company together. If both were more in contact, it would be possible to spread the equality that exists at academic level into the industry. The next thing is to acknowledge that having babies is a social need, so we need to facilitate working women to go through that process. The population pyramid is inverting! Moreover, a new person coming during the maternity leave has value for research and innovation, providing new viewpoints to your project, your business. This opens new possibilities. That person can become a consultant, as well. You can ask such person: What is working in the company? What is not working? One has to think what are the benefits of bringing new people to the company. Finally, supporting women during the maternity leave and the family conciliation process generates fidelity towards the company from their side. Moreover, it is a common good to have children. This is why I work in this way. I think It is a priority; on top of the specific interests, a company has a social responsibility.

Q. How do you envisage the future of research and innovation in the sector of marine energy and what role RRI?

The key of research and innovation relies on the maintenance of devices. The question is: Is the maintenance sustainable? It will be necessary to manage the maintenance with many predictive systems. Sensors are needed to track the state of the machine. Moreover, self-repairing mechanisms with robots placed offshore are also needed, to minimise the times that a human has to visit, for example, a wind turbine. This is to reduce the exposure of people to that work. There are very few days in which one can do maintenance, since the conditions are often quite harsh.Moreover, in the context of ocean energy, in wave energy for example, one has to reflect on the following issues: How can fish withstand storms in the sea? What are the mechanisms/behaviours that allow them to do so? This is the base to make devices that mimic such behaviour. It would also be very interesting to exploit the energy at the nano-micro level, that is, the small signals, the small vortices from waves. Now, it is expensive, but this is my vision. Big things end up being destroyed, they are not robust. This is why working with smaller devices is more sensible. For example, plankton withstands the storms.In this context, RRI can bring technologically appealing and challenging ideas, which will provide more value and more social acceptance. As the actors are involved from the very beginning, they are going to understand the “what” for those decisions, and the “why” in that way and not in another; as long as everybody agrees, of course [laughs].

Q. We are organising a workshop with key stakeholders to define the obstacles that the offshore wind energy faces in research and innovation, on the 26th of January 2018, at CIC nanoGUNE, San Sebastián. Would you like to join us?

I would love to. The dialogue about technology is always enriching. One of the challenges will be to find a common objective to build something together under the umbrella of trust.

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The second round of MARINA workshops will take place from February to May 2018. These participatory workshops organised in the framework of the MARINA project are part of a Mobilisation and Mutual Learning (MML) process composed of two phases at local and international levels held across Europe over the last 12 months.

The workshops will examine how Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) can help to overcome the current marine and societal challenges and unlock the potential for Blue Growth. Europe needs to promote an economic transformation through research and innovation that creates jobs, increases productive capacity, generates revenues and fosters sustainable value chains while recognizing the role of enterprises as enablers of sustainable development. Seas and oceans are drivers of the European economy. They have a great potential for innovation, development, and contribute to achieving the goals of the European 2020 strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. Accordingly, the European Commission has set out the Blue Growth long-term

strategy to support sustainable development in the marine and maritime sectors. This strategy aims to foster further growth in a number of areas such as aquaculture, coastal tourism, marine biotechnology, ocean energy and seabed mining. Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) is crucial to reach these goals, an investment for our future. Therefore, during the second round of the MARINA workshops, citizens, scientists, policy makers and businesses will reflect collectively on how Responsible Research and Innovation can unlock the potential for Blue Growth in terms of marine biotechnologies, sea transportation, deep sea mining and renewable energy as well as help to face climate changes.

The participants of the MML workshops will put forth proposals of RRI-driven actions by responding to the following triggering question: How can Responsible Marine Research and Innovation help harness the untapped potential of Europe’s oceans, seas and coasts and open up opportunities for Blue Growth and “Blue Society” while facing current societal challenges?

By Iwona Gin, Nausicaa

how can RRI ensure a smart, sustainable and inclusive Blue Growth? Engaging European stakeholders to solve current marine and societal challenges

Forthcoming MARINA Mobilisation and Mutual Learning Workshops

February – May 2018 Preliminary AgendaThe complete Agenda will be soon available on the MARINA websiteVisit www.marinaproject.eu and join our MML Workshops around Europe

MARINA LOCAL MML WORKSHOPS – SECOND ROUND (1st December 2017 – 15th March 2018)

DATE TOPIC ORGANISER LOCATION

29 January 2018 Marine biotech Institut de Science et Ethique Nice, France

2 Feb 2018 Offshore wind energy: our future? CIC NanoGune Spain

7 Feb 2018 Sea Transportation in Turkish Straits System (TSS) Istambul Universitesi Turkey

8 Feb 2018 Marine transportation AHHAA Science Centre Estonia

16 Feb 2018 Deep sea mining Institute of Biosciences and Bioresources CNR - National Council of Research

Molfetta, Italy

21 Feb 2018 Marine biotech CNTI - XPROCyprus Neuroscience And Technology Institute (Cnti)

Cyprus

23 Feb 2018 More value. Combating climate change in coastal towns in combination with urban development and innovation

AAU Aalborg Universitet Gilleleje, Denmark

6 March 2018 Climate change effects Mare Nostrum Romania

7 March 2018 Climate Change SmartBay Ireland

9 March 2018 Renewable energy (wave, wind, tidal) GeoEcoMAR Bucarest, Romania

9 March 2018 Marine Biotech Fundo Regional pra a Ciencia e Tecnologia

Ponta Delgada, Azores, Portugal

9 March 2018 Deep sea mining EurOcean Ponta Delgada, Azores, Portugal

13 March 2018 Marine Biotech Nausicaa Boulogne sur Mer, France

INTERNATIONAL MML WORKSHOPS – SECOND ROUND (1st April 2018 – 30th May 2018)

DATE TOPIC ORGANISER LOCATION

11 April 2018 Deep sea mining CNTI - XPRO Cyprus

17 May 2018 Marine transportation AHHAA Estonia

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MARINA Highlights

#OurOcean 2017 Conference. A report by IsPRA by Elena Giusta, ISPRA - Italian National Institute for Environmental Protection and Research

By 2050 the oceans could contain more plastic than fish. This terrible impending threat was the leitmotif of the fourth high level conference “Our Ocean” organized by the European Commission in Malta on 5-6 October 2017. But also maritime security, blue economy, climate change, marine protection and sustainable fisheries received many commitments from national delegates, business and society representatives.

This very relevant annual event helping to draw attention on the 70% of the planet, our ocean, was organized for the first time in 2014 and hosted by the government of the USA also in 2016, while in 2015 the conference was held in Chile.

This year’s edition brought together hundreds of public and private actors from six continents who declared themselves collectively committed for safe, secure, clean and sustainable managed oceans.

Participants’ official pledges took place at the Saint Julian Hilton Hotel in a huge conference room fitted with screens where beautiful images of the ocean and where very interesting videos were shown. Whale songs were the musical intermezzo among speeches, declarations and interventions of keynote speakers and delegates of global governments.

VIPs such as the princes Charles of Wales and Albert II of Monaco, the queen Noor of Jordan, the former USA Secretary of State John Kerry, the American actor Adrian Grenier have been the prominent endorsers of the need of cooperating at global level to preserve our oceans and keep them healthy for the sake of humanity.

In the last decades, it has become clearer that oceans provide us with a multitude of useful ecosystem services: climate, oxygen, food, energy, transport, marine resources, minerals, medicine. In exchange, mankind gives back to the ocean: marine pollution, illegal and overfishing, greenhouse gas emissions, acidification, coral bleaching. And poison thrown into the water, consciously or not, comes back to us in the fish we eat or in the damages caused to our coasts and beaches.

Therefore, international cooperation on marine and maritime

issues is an urgent and inevitable need. We can all make a difference, collectively and even individually to protect our ocean, when deciding what packaging to use, which fish to eat, what car to drive, on which business to invest in.

The take-home message of the Our Ocean conference 2017 is that we all have the responsibility to preserve the global common blue planet because it is a treasure on which millions of jobs and livelihoods depend.

In order to encourage this global commitment to foster healthier, cleaner, safer and more secure seas, the European Commission, for the first time, gathered in Malta CEOs and presidents of some multinational industries, large companies and enterprises who showed their actions, new technologies and solutions to reduce plastics in packaging and cause less damage to the marine environment and biodiversity with more eco-friendly products. Also foundations, associations, research institutions, NGOs and no-profit organisations, mainly based in the USA, gave public evidence of their awareness and monitoring campaigns to safeguard the marine environment and presented their initiatives to promote more marine protected areas in the world.

The EU’s 36 commitments on marine security, marine pollution, blue economy, climate change, marine protection and sustainable fisheries were supported by the presence of four European Commissioners: Vice-President Frans Timmermans, Vice President Federica Mogherini, Karmenu Vella and Neven Mimica. They announced over € 550 million of EU-funded initiatives to tackle global ocean challenges in line with the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals under the United Nations Agenda 2030. These and other pledges for a global amount of over € 7 billion committed by public and private actors are available in a list which gathers all the official announcements made by governmental representatives, by businesses, international organisations, NGOs, foundations, research institutes. All these commitments will be tracked in the following months and reported at the next Our Ocean conference which will be held in Indonesia in 2018.

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In Horizon 2020 Gender is a cross-cutting issue and is mainstreamed in each of the different parts of the Work Programme, ensuring a more integrated approach to research and innovation.Three objectives underpin the Horizon 2020 strategy on gender equality:• Fostering gender balance in research teams, in order to close

the gaps in the participation of women;• Ensuring gender balance in decision-making, in order to

reach the target of 40% of the under-represented sex in panels and groups and of 50% in advisory groups;

• Integrating the gender dimension in research and innovation (R&I) content, helps improve the scientific quality and societal relevance of the produced knowledge, technology and/or innovation.

The ‘Science with and for Society’ Work Programme funds specific initiatives in support of the gender equality strategy. Support is given to Research Performing Organisations (RPO) and Research Funding Organisations (RFO) in order to:• remove barriers that generate discrimination against

women in scientific careers and decision-making (supporting research organisations to implement gender equality plans);

• integrate a gender dimension in research content.

Gender equality in the context of RRI policy has two dimensions: • promoting the equal participation of men and women in

research activities (the human capital dimension); • inclusion and integration of gender perspectives in R&I

content.The need to monitor the development of a gender equality policy is underpinned by evidence that: research performance is limited by direct and indirect sex discrimination; gender equality at all levels contributes to achieve excellence and efficiency (European Commission, 2012); policy at different levels of the R&I system takes time to be developed (Wynne, 1991).

The main problems in advancing the gender equality agenda include:

• a lack of clarity in decision-making (which affects structures and processes within the research system and often reinforces status quo, for example ‘old boys’ networks);

• informal institutional practices and organizational culture (which often hides unconscious bias against women); unconscious gender bias in the assessment of excellence and

Gender Equality in the context of RRI

the process of peer-review, especially in STEM areas;• the structuring of the workplace and the gender pay gap

in academia (including research), which favors men and creates difficulties for women.

Gender bias may also have implications for the content of science itself. The integration of sex and gender analysis can increase the quality and relevance of research and its applicability, especially where gender differences play a major role, such as in the medical sciences. The overarching goal of the EU policy on gender equality in the context of RRI is gender mainstreaming in R&I, which includes both the equal participation of men and women and reviewing research content from a gender perspective.In terms of monitoring RRI policies on gender equality, we conclude that the focus should be on processes of institutional change to see whether these general ambitions are translated into concrete forms of action. Regarding our indicator categories of performance and perception, we therefore suggest to consider:

• changes in institutional processes and structures that govern and influence the career progression of women in research institutions;

• cultural change in institutions that reduces gender bias and promotes gender equality;

• addressing the unconscious gender bias that favors one sex over another, e.g. perception of women’ achievements in STEM;

• changes in workplace arrangements to support female researchers, as it is usually women who are discriminated in such a context.

In many topics across the Work Programme, it is explicitly requested that applicants take into account women as well as men’s needs and behaviors. In addition grant beneficiaries commit themselves to promote equal opportunities and a balanced participation of women and men at all levels in research and innovation teams and in management structures.Useful Sources:Interim Evaluation: Gender equality as a crosscutting issue in Horizon 2020Gendered Innovations in Science, Health and Medicine, Enigneering and Environment

by Mara Gualandi, Italian SWAFS (Science with and for Society) Horizon 2020 National Contact Point, APRE - Agency for the Promotion of European Research

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OUR ENGAGEMENT WITH THE OCEAN: LET’S kEEP IT INTERACTIVE!

The European Maritime Day 2017, held in Poole (UK), was a good opportunity to the MARINA Project to interact with policy makers, societal actors (NGOs, CSOs), private sector/industry, SMEs and researchers. Our partners XPRO Consulting and Nausicaa in collaboration with WWF-UK organised a highly interactive workshop involving more than 45 such stakeholders to discuss the benefits of public engagement and principles and tools of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI).

The workshop organized as a “game” involved all participants. The energetic game “pushed” all participants in teams

illustrating different coastal regions. The teams learned on the fly about the importance of sharing knowledge and involving all stakeholders early on in the process. The audience appreciated the participatory method used and agreed that stakeholder engagement would improve several marine issues in their daily work.

An important achievement for the MARINA project is that this type of interactive workshop has become a requirement for the upcoming European Maritime Day 2018.”

www.marinaproject.eu

Coordinator

www.marinaproject.eu

Consortium partners