The role of intermediary organizations in the mainstreaming of Responsible Research and Innovation in the Italian industrial sector

Innovation can be conceived of as \u2018collective experimentation\u2019, and industry can be viewed as a full partner in heterogeneous innovation networks. The significance of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) depends on the possibility of aligning the diverse actors involved in innovation processes, including firms. A specific challenge in Italy is that the overall majority of industrial companies are small and medium enterprises (SMEs). By reporting the opinions of the participants in an Italian stakeholder workshop, this article suggests that intermediation processes and intermediary agents have an important influence on the uptake of RRI in SMEs

On Data, Big Data and Social Research. Is It a Real Revolution?

This chapter aims at discussing critically some epistemological assumptions underlying a data science for social research. For this purpose, it is discussed the general notion of big data and the meaning of key-concepts such as those of information and data, mainly considering contributions coming from the science and technology studies (STS) and the sociology of quantification. In particular, it is argued the necessary shift from a discrete and transportable definition of data to a processual one, also taking into account the fact that data are always a process both when they are produced and when they are used/analysed in order to have research\u2019s results. The notion of data-base is compared with that of infrastructure as defined in STS, so that it is clear that they cannot be considered as repositories from which it is possible to extract meanings or results like getting minerals from a mine. Data and data-base are processes which cannot begin without a research question. For these reasons the debate opposing hypothesis-driven versus data-driven research should be overtaken: in social research, as well as in hard sciences, data-driven research simply doesn\u2019t exist. The last paragraph is devoted to draw some conclusions from the previous discussion in the form of hopefully useful suggestions for developing a data science for social research

From Bench to Bed, Back and Beyond: The Four Bs of Biomedical Research

Abstract: Contemporary biomedicine is characterized by the ever-closer connection between clinical practice and research. Laboratories become nodes of articulated networks, making it no longer possible to consider them as single entities. In light of these changes, a wide range of actors – researchers, scientific instruments, data-bases, experts in bio-informatics and bio-statistics, pharmaceutical companies, clinicians, drugs, patients, cells, ethical and regulatory issues – are involved. In this Introduction, we address why these processes represent a relevant challenge for social sciences as well

The social representation of nanotechnologies and its relationships with those of science and technology: Making familiar the unfamiliar between enthusiasm and caution

This study examined the social representation (SR) of nanotechnologies and its relationships with those of science and technology. It aimed to understand the role of pre-existing and neighbouring forms of shared knowledge in orienting the way laypeople autonomously develop ideas about an unfamiliar issue, and related implications for its perceived risks and public acceptance or rejection. The study involved 489 Italian participants, stratified according to gender, age and education level. They completed an ad-hoc questionnaire with multiple free association tasks to the word-stimuli nanotechnologies, science and technology, and close-ended questions to gauge ‘familiarity’ levels with nanotechnologies and ‘engagement’ in nanotechnologies through media. The results suggested the presence of a rather shared and organised SR of nanotechnologies whose content is cautiously enthusiastic. The biomedical domain seems to be the most easily accepted field of application for nanotechnologies, indicating a ‘preferential channel’ through which they could be more welcome and trusted. Concerning inter-representation relationships, comparisons among SRs identified a strong connection among these three objects, indicating the existence of a coherent representation system where the SR of nanotechnologies is nested in those of science and technology, which, in turn, are in a reciprocal relationship. Fine-grained comparisons allowed for grasping further insights. The results showed that the SR of nanotechnologies is the least enthusiastic, highlighting critical voices among laypeople, although peripherally. Specifically, it presents elements of perceived risks and rejection on one hand, and elements indicating a detached approach in which individuals struggle to detect potentialities and advantages on the other, contrary to what has been found for science and technology at large

The Synthetic biology Innovation Policy Meter

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Public communication of technoscience in the news: A cross-linguistic Multidimensional analysis of English and Italian newspapers

Technoscience has historically been endowed by modern societies with cultural authority, which has undergone significant questioning since the end of WWII. In this study, we consider technoscience communication in online newspapers to test whether its linguistic and communicative features differentiate it from other types of news, possibly reflecting greater cultural authority. Focusing on news in English versus Italian, we apply Multidimensional analysis to a comparable English-Italian online news corpus comparing technoscience-related articles with all remaining articles. Results indicate overall linguistic and communicative homogeneity between science and other domains. Nevertheless, small differences seem to suggest an effort to make technoscience accessible and engaging in English, whereas Italian technoscience-related news tends to be more formal and richer in specialised information

Scienza e nuove generazioni. I risultati dell'indagine internazionale ROSE

Interessi, atteggiamenti e opinioni degli studenti su scienza e tecnologia dentro e fuori dalla scuola. Una comparazione internazional