Challenging Science and Innovation Policy
Utrecht, 1-3 June 2022. Hosted by Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University
The 2022 Eu-SPRI conference “Challenging Science and Innovation Policy” is taking place in Utrecht. The annual Eu-SPRI conference is the leading event in science, technology and innovation policy in Europe, with a broad attendance of scientists as well as policymakers. The key objectives of the conference are to provide a forum for scholars in the areas of research and innovation policy analysis, to exchange ideas, and to present findings across disciplinary boundaries.
This year’s conference theme – Challenging Science and Innovation Policy– will explore future directions for studies of policies for research and innovation with a special emphasis on the topics of Digitisation, Open Science and Futuring. The conference will be hosted in Utrecht, the Netherlands. We expect more than 200 participants.
Research on STI has changed considerably in recent years. It has diversified in terms of topics and applications and deepened with respect to theories and methods. These developments reflect the ongoing development of new technologies, how novel ideas are put to use in the economy and society, how innovation is mobilised for addressing societal challenges, and how policies and institutions affect the growth and direction of innovations. In each of these interrelated areas we are witnessing accelerating changes, frictions and puzzles that pose future challenges for STI policy research in terms of new views, analyses, policy designs and co-operation partners.
Topics to be addressed by the papers at the conference cover a broad spectrum of research questions, but with a specific emphasis on future challenges for STI policy research.
The conference includes the following special sessions, organised by scholars in the field:
1 – The role of science for policy: new requirements and new challenges
2 – Forward-looking activities (FLA) for STI policies
3 – The future of science: exploring the relationship between digitalisation and scientific practices
5 – Ethics and politics of science, technology and innovation policy
6 – Accounting for justice in transformative innovation policy
7 – Diversity and inclusion in transition research and policies
8 – Connections between transforming STI policy and geopolitics, positive and negative security, and global justice
9 – Responsible Research and Innovation as a toolkit: indicators, application, and context
10 – Transformative innovation policy and the institutionalisation of responsible research and innovation
11 – Steering research for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
12 – The geographies of challenge-led and mission-oriented innovation policies
13 – Covid-19 recovery, sustainability transitions and innovation policy
14 – Transformative social innovation in sustainability and health
15 – Joint OECD-JRC session on policy intelligence for system-level innovation for sustainability and societal transformation
16 – The space sector in transformation: new challenges for policy and governance at the nexus of space, commercialisation, and sustainable development
17 – The role of standards and regulation in fostering innovation
18 – Governance of digital ecosystems
For a detailed programme visit Programme on the Eu-SPRI2022 conference website. Furthermore, the conference’s open tracks include papers on the following themes:
19 – Digital technologies, platforms and business model innovations
20 – Open science and the changing governance of science
21 – Research infrastructures: open data, big data, and new research avenues for STI studies
22 – Futuring and Foresight
23 – STI policy for societal challenges: policy design, implementation and evaluation
24 – The impact of STI policy: new indicators and approaches
25 – Social innovation: enabling factors and existing practices
26 – Globalization and the geography of knowledge and innovation
27 – STI policies, coproduction and transformations
Local organising committee at Utrecht University:
Gaston Heimeriks, Koen Beumer, Wouter Boon, Iris Wanzenböck, Matthijs Janssen, Jarno Hoekman, Jelle de Swart, Jakob Schiele and Robbert Messing
Scientific committee (on conference website)
Conference website: euspri2022.nl
Secretariat: euspri2022@uu.nl
