Cable insulation, eyeglasses, laptops, mobile phones, cars, airplanes, many applications in medicine – all unthinkable without plastics. On the other hand: mountains of plastic in the oceans and the discussion about microplastics in the food chain. The plastics industry must break new ground with fresh energy and innovative minds.
To support this transformation process, the EU project SeeRRI builds on the principles of Responsible Research & Innovation (RRI). "The idea of RRI is to look at the research, innovation, and economic systems with their impact on society and to shape them accordingly together with the respective stakeholders," says AIT project manager Marianne Horlesberger from the Center for Innovation Systems & Policy. In three European regions, RRI approach will be used to strengthen cooperation in the respective innovation systems. AIT is responsible for the quantitative mapping of the Research & Innovation ecosystem, which serves to identify topics and stakeholders, but most importantly for stakeholder engagement and the development of visions. In the Lower Austria region, the focus was placed on the plastics sector together with ecoplus (Business Agency of Lower Austria).
Representatives of the innovation system (stakeholders from science, business & industry, the public sector, as well as representatives from the general populace) jointly developed possible future scenarios for the plastics sector in several workshops. Based on these scenarios, a roadmap for the plastics industry in Lower Austria is to be developed now.
Project results will be presented at follow-up events and the project is to be expanded throughout Austria.