THIS PROJECT, COORDINATED BY THE UNIVERSITAT JAUME I AND FINANCED BY THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION BY MEANS OF THE HORIZON 2020 PROGRAMME, INTENDS TO SET UP AN ETHICS GOVERNANCE SYSTEM THAT FALLS IN LINE WITH ORGANISATIONS’ RESPONSIBLE RESEARCH AND INNOVATION PRINCIPLES
Espaitec, the Science and Technology Park of the Universitat Jaume I (UJI) of Castellón, participates in the European ETHNA System Project. This initiative is promoted by the European Commission and coordinated by the UJI. It is an ethics governance system for promoting Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) in Higher Education centres, financial institutions and public-private associations linked with research and innovation.
Ten partners from eight European countries form part of this project, which began in January 2020 and lasts 3 years. Espaitec’s participation in this initiative consists in setting up the governance system by including an ETHNA office in its management structure. Six consortium organisations have set up this system —two universities, two technology parks and two centres that finance research— to develop a common methodology that any organisation can adopt.
By incorporating ETHNA offices, which are supported by four tools —code of ethics, ethics committee, an ethics line of alerts and suggestions, and performance indicators about fulfilling implementation—, RRI will be promoted and institutionalised based on integrity, open access, the gender perspective and public engagement. Espaitec will prepare and publish its own code of ethics and good practices in gender perspective matters in 2022. According to Juan A. Bertolin, the Manager of the General UJI Foundation and the Director of Espaitec, «this type of projects offers the firms linked with the park the chance to provide them with enough mechanisms that allow them to reinforce their research processes and to generate innovation from a responsible perspective».
Consortium
The ten organisations forming the consortium are: the Universitat Jaume I of Castellón (Spain); the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Norway); the European Network of Research Ethics Committees (Germany); BIOCOM (Germany); Zentrum für Soziale Innovation (Austria); the Danish Board of Technology Foundation (Denmark); Applied Research and Communication (Bulgaria); the Archimedes Foundation (Estonia), UNINOVA (Portugal); FECYT (Spain). As a third party, Espaitec also participates through the General Universitat Jaume I Foundation, the Universitat Jaume I Foundation-Company and the Étnor Foundation.
