Pilot 1

Autonomous
Community of Cantabria

Cantabria in northern Spain is a region which is relatively smaller and less populated than peer Spanish regions.

As a moderate innovator, the region is however experienced in industrial development. While there are strong traditional sectors of the region that rely on manufacturing and automotive industries, emerging sectors of the region in the renewable energy and marine technologies are the route through which Cantabria will transition towards a low-carbon economy while enjoying a buoyant innovation ecosystem.  

As part of TetRRIs, Cantabria will bring RRI dimensions (gender equality and public engagement) to integrate with its regional innovation strategies as far as industrial change and culture (axis1) and technology and knowledge (axis 2) are concerned.  

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PROJECT RESULTS

Several “de facto RRI” characters already coexist within the regional innovation ecosystem of Cantabria. Responsible dimensions such as ethics, gender equality, sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) have already been implemented throughout the years.  

The main objective of this region within the project is to have a greater involvement and engagement of R&I Stakeholders of Cantabria in four core domains: including (1) Bioeconomics, Health and Post Covid-19 society; (2) Blue Economy and Fair Energy Transitions; (3) Responsible Industry 4.0; and (4) Territorial Sustainability and Responsibility. The upcoming TetRRIS lab will aim to function as a meeting point for the regional innovation ecosystem actors to stimulate science-society interactions in the Cantabria region regarding these four domains.   

The main pilot activities in the region will be composed of 3 participatory workshops that are divided into three stages: the exploration stage, the horizontal evaluation and the implementation stage. Through the implementation of certain policies aimed at the analysis of documentation and semi-structured interviews, the Spanish team was able to map the innovation ecosystem of the region.  

 

Following the dynamics of Social Lab, the next TetRRIS Lab event in Cantabria aims to continue within the margins of the exploration stage, to address the challenges presented by the region’s ecosystem. In this way, the event was designed to promote and facilitate the implementation of RRI in the region, to which the contents of the Lab differentiate the following four main ideas: 

  • Cooperative/Collaborative Health Forum: a forum for fostering synergies, collaboration, information exchange and partnership between actors with overlapping interests. 
  • Sustainable consumption model based on technological alternatives (aquaculture/hydrogen): to change the consumption model towards much more sustainable processes. 
  • Digital Empowerment: to promote competitiveness through courses and training in digital skills programmes, which provide added value for employees. 
  • Sustainability Education: to promote training and greater education regarding sustainability.  

For the coming period, a greater focus is expected within the implementation stage to address the challenges identified during the evaluation stage. 

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