Towards Transformative Innovation Policy in Territorial Governance: Mapping the Relevance of RRI Elements

Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) has emerged the last decade as a prime science policy framework. The integration of RRI as a guiding framework in territorial governance has been a challenging issue for both researchers and policymakers, one that has not been sufficiently investigated, especially in the context of Transformative Innovation Policy (TIP). Whilst RRI has been mainly associated with a variety of societal actors at macro- and micro-level, there is a noticeable gap in the meso-level analysis, or at the level of territorial community systems. The objective of this article is to contribute to the emerging tendencies of fostering empirical, qualitative approaches of assessing and increasing the level of RRI embedment into territorial governance. To address this issue, RRI audits were conducted in four European territories with distinct policy foci. The audits were conducted in accordance with a three-step procedure, which commenced with a mapping of stakeholders’ interest in relation to RRI dimensions. They also sought to determine whether and how the RRI dimensions were integrated in the policy discourse. This enabled the identification of gaps in existing territorial policies and potential for integrating RRI into territorial governance to support the development of a TIP. The research findings highlighted a set of strategic policy priorities that may accelerate the implementation of a novel RRI-based governance paradigm.