Co-RRI includes a kind of understanding that the world we live in is complex, and that there are therefore limitations to our understanding of this world.

Addressing grand societal challenges and, currently, pursuing the sustainable development goals (SDGs) confronts the research community, as well as other people contributing to research and innovation, with complex, wicked problems, which force them to deal with the structural failures that have gradually become part of our societies.

These societal challenges cannot be solved in isolation, but should be looked at in interaction with each other, and as parts of one global agenda. As such a systemic perspective implies dealing with structural uncertainty and a variety of interests and interpretations, co-RRI involves new approaches that go beyond mainstream impact assessment and stakeholder participation.

Key to them are lasting relationships between traditional and non-traditional knowledge actors, engagements transcending project-based knowledge creation and regular reflexive monitoring to align research and innovation processes with broader societal developments.

Do you want to initiate a co-RRI trajectory yourself? Click here to discover the tools we developed and compiled for you!