Paving the way towards embedding RRI in S3 in the Republic of Srpska

On July 9, 2021, Andjela Pepic and Dragana Radulovic as representatives of the University of Banja Luka (UNIBL), the implementing partner for H2020 WBC-RRI.NET project in the Republic of Srpska, met with the Advisor to the Minister for Scientific-Technological Development, Higher Education and Information Society (MNRVOID) of the Republic of Srpska, Nikola Dragovic, who is involved in the development of the Smart Specialisation Strategy (S3) for Republic of Srpska and also Bosnia and Herzegovina. The focus of the meeting was on the possibilities and synergies between WBC-RRI.NET's future 'anchor' activities and the development of S3 as well as the Strategy for Scientific-Technological Development, Higher Education and Information Society of the Republic of Srpska for the period 2022-2028 and later on their implementation. Given that both strategies are in the early stages of development, there is a great potential in embedding the responsible research and innovation (RRI) concept in them, as a cross-cutting aspect. Mr Dragovic confirmed the importance of UNIBL (and thus WBC-RRI.NET) engagement in the S3 development process at different stages providing our own contributions regarding the incorporation of RRI keys as ingredients within S3 for Republic of Srpska which would then be embedded in its implementation later on. Furthermore, he stressed the need for creating synergies and UNIBL's involvement in incorporating RRI into the Strategy for Scientific-Technological Development, Higher Education and Information Society of the Republic of Srpska for the period 2022-2028 which will also be the basis for future grants provided by the Ministry. Ms Pepic and Ms Radulovic have indicated that the Ministry is considered as the key stakeholder to be involved in the upcoming WBC-RRI.NET co-creation of 'anchor' activities related in particular to science education and open science/open access. Mr. Dragovic indicated that the Ministry and he personally see the Ministry's engagement in the co-creation process as quite important for the later implementation of both strategies mentioned above. 

More about the project: https://wbc-rri.net/

WBC-RRI.NET project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 101006279