2020 was a busy and exciting year for the Bassetti Foundation. In this post we look back at what can only be described as an eventful 12 months, not only here in Milan but across the globe.

2020 will long be remembered for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, a topic that was addressed from many points of view and perspectives on the Foundation website.

5 Open Questions

Our President Piero Bassetti opened a discussion that led to a long series of posts with 5 Open Questions about the Post Covid World. In this post (available both in Italiano and English), Bassetti addresses the unfolding pandemic from a glocal perspective that sees responsible innovation perspectives in health services as being of strategic importance. The questions posed address issues and problems such as the search for forms of decision-making that are both democratic and able to resolve the needs of both democracy and practice, the need to readdress the relationship between learning and training, the frustration of impotence in the face of such a pandemic, governance in an era of networked questions and a necessary reinvention of communitarian identity.

The questions provoked a series of both personal and institutional responses and reflections:

Long time friend of the Foundation Paolo Zanenga responded to each issue individually (in Italiano), addressing the problem of bridging the conflict between opinion (and the political questions it raises) and practice, the needs of democracy, practice and competences, and societal and infrastructural changes brought by new working practices (and the effect upon traditional forms of power), while offering historical examples of relational change that may offer some insight.

Further reflections came from Paride Fusaro (in Italiano), who addresses the differences between political and scientific (expert) needs during the pandemic and how their coming together works beneficially, the need to maintain personal ties and relationships and work together (particularly once we can move offline again), all seen and described within a vision for the transformation of working within and envisioning the concept of ‘progress’.

Carlo Alberto Rinolfi contributes (in Italiano) by drawing a parallel between the world post COVID and an individual in rehabilitation after a serious accident. The author describes the rehabilitation as driver of a new form of techno-politics within a bio-technological society, that is flexible, multidisciplinary and well-coordinated. The author then proposes a series of approaches, based upon the American Psychological Association’s Road to Resilience, before concluding that the ideal therapy (in both situations) requires solidarity expressed across borders and an economy that is more attentive to public good and based on values of everyday resilience.

Antonella Ferrario brings her expertize to the debate (in Italiano) with question-by-question responses to Bassetti’s provocation. Ferrario brings a human centred and action-based argument to the table, stating that rather than decision-making, we should think of a process that involves people listening and coming to shared understandings that are then passed up the political ladder. She argues the need for an integrated and realistic approach in which solidarity prevails in search for a human/nature win-win scenario, calling for real, concise and simply presented information and the exclusion of fake news.

Alesandro Colombo adds to the debate with what he describes as a contribution to the epochal challenge and necessity to re-think power from the starting position of the ‘beyond’ (in Italiano). Colombo summarizes what he sees as Bassetti’s position as a realization that the current emergency has brough an understanding that the unforeseen is part of the experience of being, thus being not only involves what we are, but incorporates the unforeseen future. The emergency has destroyed the illusion that reality only consists in what we know. The author then goes on to describe how he sees this ‘beyond’ within the health system, offering examples and suggestion on how to proceed in the present.

On Policy Choices by European Countries During the COVID-19 Outbreak

Maurizzio Bettiga opened a further COVID-19 related debate (in English) with his post On Policy Choices by European Countries During the 2020 COVID-19 Outbreak. On the day that the WHO formally acknowledged that COVID-19 had become a global pandemic, Bettiga identifies two opposing policies followed by different governments across Europe:

1. fight the spread of the infection at all cost and prioritize every patient life over everything else, accepting substantial economic damage;
2. exert limited damage control, prioritizing maintenance of the “business as usual” to all possible extent, according to the principle of “acceptable loss”.

Bettiga shows his personal position on the two approaches, describing what he sees as flaws in the second position. He maintains that the second position somewhat reflects a military goal approach, an acceptable loss for the achievement of a strategic goal, thus not new, but even given this rather brutal description he argues that the positions and choices are not as clear as they first appear.

The Foundation’s Foreign Scientific Correspondent Jonathan Hankins posted two responses to Bettiga’s call for discussion. Hankins, who is a British/Italian citizen currently posted in the Netherlands, looks at the public declarations made in the name of the two governments. In his first response, Hankins describes how Dutch politicians state that the strategy followed aims to limit economic damage as much as possible, while keeping the infection rate and associated hospital visits under saturation level. The concept of acceptable loss does not therefore relate to people, but the economy, the argument is that if the plan works, damage to both the population and the economy will be minimized. The author then briefly compares the UK government’s approach.

In a further response Hankins addresses the problem of the distribution of scarce resources in a pandemic, in which he explains the situation in the Netherlands (relatively few IC beds per head of population) and the ‘quality of life’ justification for such a chosen infrastructural path. He compares the situation with those in Germany and Italy (higher level of IC beds) and the underlying principles that support these choices, before questioning how these different positions are perceived and reported in the respective national press.

Gabriele Giacomini joins the debate (in Italiano), comparing the approach taken in China with that in Europe. He argues that the democratic approach faces a series of problems related to the implementation of restrictions and a state of emergency, not least brought by the fact that the process is based upon convincing a population that the actions are to be taken in their best interest (so cannot be preventative, but only reactionary). The author then raises the issue of pluralism, not only in politics but also in science, before concluding with a critique of individualism and calling for collaboration and unity in the face of crisis.

Collaboration during COVID-19 | Bottom-up and open-source initiatives

The Foundation’s own Anna Pellizzone opened a further channel to debate as she published a call for readers to participate in researchand the promotion of bottom-up and collaborative innovation strategies aimed at responding to the COVID-19 health emergency (also in Italiano). A host of interesting and innovative projects came to light, involving 3D printing, self-check platforms, communal mask design and production. Other approaches described in her publication include the use of Foldit as a research tool as well as other examples of several companies and academics working for the good of the health system.

Flash Recommendations on the COVID-19 Emergency

Early on in the COVID-19 pandemic, the Region of Lombardy Forum for Research and Innovation provided the Lombardy Regional Government with Flash Recommendations on COVID-19 Emergency, detailing concrete suggestions on the governance of key issues emerging from the COVID-19 crisis.

Suggestions included: effective and transparent communication; clearly articulated and science-based as well as socio-culturally situated measures; trustworthy data and technologies (such as apps) for containing and detecting contagions; policy proposals for innovation during (and after) the COVID-19 crisis. Several points in the Forum’s Recommendations are also relevant to other contexts beyond the Lombardy Region as well as deserve further attention for a responsible response to the pandemic: The importance of engaging citizens for co-creating concrete solutions to tackle the emergency; Data myopia: clarity needed in the role and the limits of data in this crisis. The means to capitalize on voluntary human resources, citizen science initiatives and social innovation organizations.

The full series of recommendations is available here in English and in Italiano.

Covid-19 Vaccines: Which Choice?

In December, the Foundation hosted a Zoom gathering to open a debate on the criteria used (or to be used as at the time the vaccines were only just becoming available) to guide the distribution of the new COVID-19 vaccines. Particpants included Leonardo Becchetti (Università degli Studi di Roma “Tor Vergata”), Marina Cazzaniga (Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca), Mario De Caro (Università degli studi Roma Tre), Andrea Lavazza (Centro Universitario Internazionale Arezzo), Pietro Perconti (Università degli Studi di Messina), Giovanni Tuzet (Università Bocconi). The Foundation’s own Angela Simone moderated the event.

The entire Zoom discussion is available to watch in Italian here, and a summary of topics discussed in English here.

TRANSFORM for a more open, democratic and inclusive territory.

TRANSFORM (Territories as Responsive and Accountable Networks of S3 through new Forms of Open and Responsible decision-Making) is a European project launched in January 2020. The project is financed within the SwafS framework (Science with and for Society) of the Horizon 2020 program and coordinated by the Bassetti Foundation. Through TRANSFORM, three regional governments (Lombardy, Catalonia and Brussels-Capital) are working alongside other project partners on experimental approaches to involve citizens in local government policy-making on research and innovation (R&I), with the aim of achieving more open, inclusive and democratic territorial development.

The project focuses on the place-based regional Smart Specialization Strategies (S3) for innovation. The territories involved are testing three participatory methodologies: participatory research agenda setting in Lombardy; design for social innovation in the Brussels Region and citizen science in Catalonia. Intra-regional dialogue is further enriched with the experience of project partner Boston Museum of Science.

The activities of the Lombardy cluster, composed by the Bassetti Foundation, Lombardy Regional Government and Finlombarda, concentrate on the methodology of participatory research agenda setting, and are aimed at defining the regional research and innovation priorities for the Lombardy Region Three Year Strategic Plan (PST). In Parallel, the Catalonia and Brussels clusters are programming citizen engagement activities for implementation within their respective regional contexts.

FETA, Fair Energy Transition for ALL

The Bassetti Foundation is partner in the two-year funded FETA project (2020-2022), alongside the Leonardo Da Vinci Museum of Technology in Milan. The initiative is coordinated by the King Baudouin Foundation, and financed by a network of European Foundations that include Cariplo, the IKEA Foundation, Deutsche Budensstiftung Umwelt, Stiftung Mercator and Open Society – European Policy Institute.

At the core of the project is the problem of people whose interests are often not properly represented in political debates, with the aim to make sure that they are also heard. For that precise purpose, debates will be held in nine European countries involving 1,000 citizens and 200 experts from all over Europe. The end result will be a series of national reports and a European report. They will offer insights into what these vulnerable groups think about the energy transition and will set out recommendations for the development of and communication about fair energy transition policies. National and EU legislators will be asked to take these recommendations into account in their policy-making and communication processes. The ultimate aim is encapsulated in the name of the project: A Fair Energy Transition for All.

Further details are available (in Italiano) here or in English via the FETA website.

Vitamina G. In Order to Understand the Present, we have to Imagine the Future

Vitamina G is another project led by the Foundation, funded by Fondazione di Comunità Milano and that involves a host of partners: ASC Lombardia, Fondazione ACRA, Associazione Nazionale Ex Deportati Nei Campi Nazisti (ANED), Legambiente Lombardia Onlus, Auser Regionale Lombardia, Comitato Regionale UNPLI Lombardia, Cooperativa sociale Tikvà Economie Territoriali Inclusive.

The project aims to promote a sense of active youth participation and community appreciation through the framework of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The promotion of ideas of collective responsibility for shared material and immaterial goods and social values expressed involves three major actions and approaches:
1) The production of an educational game based on the idea of re-constitution, regarding civic participation, voluntary and not-for-profit work.
2) The development of territorial and extra-territorial networks through the co-design and co-management (involving youth and the voluntary and social sector) of events and territorial initiatives.
3) The creation of laboratories, involving schools, sports clubs and youth clubs in the preparation and writing of a Constitution for 2050, including a wide range of themes that may be of interest to the youth.

Science and Public Decision-Making

The Science and Public Decision-making initiative aims to contribute to understanding the relationship between scientists and different sectors of society, promoting dialogue in order to encourage more efficient and consensual choices. With a focus on health, technology and the environment, this two-year initiative involves multi-disciplinary participatory research aimed at identifying best practices, tools and skills for science-orientated public decision-making. Alongside the Foundation, promotors include Codice Edizioni, Hokuto, Methodos, Humanitas, Cittadinanzattiva and Fondazione Musica per Roma, and is open to any and all social and scientific institutions that would like to participate.

The initiative was presented to the public for the first time at the National Geographic Festival delle Scienze di Roma, with further details of the presentation and project available here (in Italiano).

The project also led to the publication of a piece of Flash Research on Science and Public Decision-making, authored by the Foundation’s own Anna Pellizzone and Angela Simone (in Italiano). From initial ideas proposed by Toni Muzi Falconi, Vittorio Bo and Simone De Battisti «to promote dialogue and construct solutions for the improvement of decision-makingi» on the themes of science and innovation in Italy, this concise research looks into how citizen involvement in technoscience decision-making can be recounted based upon experience, proposing a focus on future tools and practices.

Oltre lo Specchio di Alice

Autumn 2020 saw the release of “Oltre lo specchio di Alice. Governare l’innovazione nel cambiamento d’epoca” (Through Alice’s Looking Glass. Governing innovation through epochal change) by Piero Bassetti for Guerini Editore, the first in the “Innovazione è potere” (Innovation is Power) series, directed by Francesco Samorè for the Bassetti Foundation (in Italiano). The Series aims to highlight action within reality. It analyzes the nature of the relationship between knowledge and power, investigates new institutions and anticipates imagined communities. Its aim is to allow the rethinking of dramatically changed categories: a proposal space, an evolutionary announcement.

Bassetti opens the series by expanding on his own thought-provoking statement: ‘Innovation is politics, as a force it drives our destinies. But even after the triumph of the algorithm, the power of social media, after the revolution of the life sciences and quantum physics, we find that we are holding a force without power’. Using the analogy of Alice in Wonderland and offering a glocalist perpective, Bassetti describes how we have stepped through the looking glass to find ourselves in Wonderland. But here, the old tools, territories, entities and mechanisms that held the reins of power can no longer maintain control, and the question remains of who (or what) should be entrusted with the role of replacing them.

Shortly after its release, President Bassetti participated in a dialogue hosted by the University of Pavia with Giampaolo Azzoni, Pro-Rector of the University of Pavia, Francesco Samorè, General Secretary of the Bassetti Foundation, and Alessandro Venturi, Administrative and Public Law Professor, further details of which including video and podcast are available here.

Responsible Innovation, a Narrative Approach

The spring brought the publication of Responsible Innovation, a Narrative Approach by Bassetti Foundation Foreign Scientific Correspondent Jonathan Hankins. Published Open Access by the University of Bergamo, the book is based upon his recently completed PhD. The book uses case studies to highlight how those following a craft approach (in a workshop or science laboratory) narrate their aims, purposes and practices in terms of responsibility not only to customers, but also to the process carried out. The concept of Poiesis Intensive Innovation as developed by Piero Bassetti is used, poiesis interpreted as the poetry of this narration, a construction of the elements that go into the process that are non-technical, but values, objectives or beliefs.

Hankins describes how a shared language and concept, such as the attribution of beauty in a furniture restoration workshop or accuracy in a 3D printing laboratory, can be seen to represent a shared understanding that the job has been done correctly. The author serialized the book on the Technology Bloggers platform in non-academic English, offering anyone who wishes an introduction to Responsible Innovation, a detailed overview of the book and free download.

Challenges for Responsible Innovation

Pre-lockdown 2020 saw two book related events held on the Foundation premises. In the first event René von Schomberg came to Milan as part of a series of events in which Challenges for Responsible Innovation were the topic of discussion, built upon the experience of editing the International Handbook of Responsible Innovation (with Jonathan Hankins) in the previous year.

President Bassetti opened proceedings, before Hankins made a speech (available here) in which he described how the creation and constant updating of the Foundation archive represents the accumulation of knowledge and experience gained through the Foundation’s network, before drawing parallels from his personal experience of conducting research in an artisan workshop.

Von Schomberg followed with a presentation in which he used the example of Batomoleu’s Passarola (1702) to demonstrate the framing of technology in benefit and risk, before moving on to describe the RI paradigm as based upon the aim that governments move to taking responsibility for the outcomes, not merely the risk of innovation, leading to ethics and normative principles becoming democratically embedded in the innovation process.

President Bassetti then raised a host of points that led to an interesting and stimulating debate. Details including video, summary, photos and podcast of the event are available here.

Curarsi nel futuro, by Valentina Fossati and Angela Simone

In January we reported on an event held late in 2019, as the Foundation’s own Angela Simone and co-author Valentina Fossati presented their earlier publication Curarsi nel Futuro. This dialogue based event (in Italiano), moderated by Francesco Samoré, included discussion of the development and subsequent use of CRISPR-cas9, stem cell research, the passage from research to therapy and pharmacy, and the timescales and costs involved and the role of politics.
Further details including video and podcast are available here.

Michele Mezza

Moving back into online events, the Foundation also hosted Michele Mezza, who presented his book Il Contagio dell’Algoritmo. Le Idi di marzo della pandemia (The contagion of the algorythm. The Ides of March of the Pandemic). The event involved a panel discussion of the book’s content, with Federica Lucivero – Senior Researcher in Ethics and Data, Ethox Centre and Wellcome Centre for Ethics and Humanities, Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Manuela Pizzagalli – Chief Operating Officer of the Fondazione Politecnico di Milano, member of the National Task Force on Artificial Inteligence – Agid, Aldo Bonomi – Founder and coordinator of AASTER and Foundation President Piero Bassetti all participating.
Details of the event, a report, video and podcast of the event are all available here.

As regular readers will have noticed, 2020 brought a host of developments regarding the Foundation’s website and communication capacities. The website homepage and search capabilities have been streamlined, while content type has become more varied. Beyond the strengthening of the social media platform network, the Foundation has also taken several further bold moves. Many of our closest friends, those who are able to attend our meetings in Milan or who participate in our dialogues through social media, will already know that every seminar, meeting and lecture is documented using video and photography. This documentation is shared through the website and social media platforms, and has now been added to with a podcast – called I dialoghi di Fondazione Bassetti – in order to offer mobile audio for those wishing to participate in Bassetti Foundation dialogue without the need to follow with video.

The Foundation has chosen the Anchor FM platform, which alongside the necessary audio tools will also allow us to distribute the content more widely, for example through iTunes, Spotify, Google Podcast, e poi Breaker, Overcast, Pocket Casts e RadioPublic.

The Bassetti Foundation has also formalized an agreement with the Technology Bloggers organization. As many will know, Jonathan Hankins has co-edited and written articles and posts for this blog for a decade. From 2020 the Bassetti Foundation will cover the blog’s domain name and hosting costs. This agreement guarantees funding for the continuation of the site while still leaving options open for other partnerships in-line with the values shared by both the Bassetti Foundation and the Technology Bloggers Editorial team. The blog format adds depth to the Foundation’s communication outlets, offering new and different ways of framing the argument of Responsible Innovation, using different language register and accessing a widely distributed young readership.

Reviews:Book Reviews

This year also saw a growth in book, journal and course reviews on the Foundation website. Jonathan Hankins was tasked with keeping readers informed about new releases and educational possibilities within the field of responsible innovation, while continuing his regular review of the Journal of Responsible Innovation.

Responsibility Beyond Growth

Books reviewed include Responsibility Beyond Growth. A Case For Responsible Stagnation by Stevienna de Saille, Fabien Medvecky, Michiel van Oudheusden, Kevin Albertson, Effie Amanatidou, Timothy Birabi and Mario Pansera. These authors collectively raise the issue of the aim of innovation, rather than the process, as the aim creates the framework that the innovation system is itself constituted by. The authors question what an innovation policy misses if its aim is economic growth as measured by GDP, using the example of the EU funding of Responsible Research and Innovation as the starting point for their argument.

A simple question can make this relationship clear: Can an innovation be responsible if it doesn’t work towards the aim of promoting economic growth? According to the authors, the uncomfortable answer might be that such a valuation just depends on who funded the innovation process. Read the full review here.

Responsible Innovation: Business Opportunities and Strategies for Implementation is a new offering in the Springer Briefs in Research and Governance series. Edited by Katharina Jarmai, it is available in paper version or as a free download, and offers a lot of food for thought for anyone interested in responsible innovation approaches and applications within business.

The main perspective taken in the book is one of looking at the overall objectives of RI approaches in order to apply these approaches within real-life situations. The goal for RI is thus described as ‘to increase positive societal impact and minimize actual and potential negative impact to the highest degree possible’, moving away from the abstract academic definitions and into practice in a turn that is necessary if businesses are to engage with the concept and undertake research and changes aimed at its implementation. Further reading and link to the download can be found here.

In Public Engagement in Responsible Research and Innovation, Ilse Marschalek investigates the roles that a group of people that she names ‘Public Participation Practitioners’ play in the attempt to transform the relationship between science and society though the adoption of Responsible Research and Innovation practices. She argues that public engagement is seen as the key concept and basis for RRI, playing a role in the push towards participatory democracy within science, and as a result the concept plays a central role in the European Commission’s drive towards responsibility.

Marschalek’s main point is that practitioners not only have an under represented role in the RRI discussion, but that there is no generally accepted common naming or understanding of their role, even though they are primarily responsible for the engagement processes. Their role is fundamental, as a fruitful process needs a good host. In their role as hosts, practitioners have to take care of ‘space and beauty’ – meaning the form of the activity but also appreciation, respect and other important ethical requirements.

The ORION Open Science MOOC is reviewed after having been completed in full by the reviewer. Although the website describes it as an introduction to the concept of Open Science, Hankins describes it as very thorough in its design and breadth of argument and offering a lot to anyone that follows it. The course is primarily aimed at those working in biomedicine, life sciences and other related research fields, and is intended to help scientists to share their research with the world more effectively, and there is plenty to take away from the experience from following the lectures and materials offered. Topics addressed include introductions to a variety of useful tools and research practices, as well as Open Science principles and workflows along the research cycle. This post offers more details and links to registration.

ORION Train the Trainer

Another ORION MOOC appears, with a review of their Open Science Train the Trainer Course. The ORION Open Science Train-the-Trainer course is intended as a guide in how to facilitate and run training on Open Science. The course covers the theoretical underpinnings of adult education as well as practical methods and techniques to use in training events. From didactics to video creation, from audience profiles to Brainwalking. There are a range of materials, media, and activities intended to strengthen abilities as a training facilitator, both face-to-face and online.

The course is structured into two modules: Module one is entitled Theory and covers the theory behind training adults in Open Science, including didactic concepts, identifying potential participants and their needs, defining learning aims and objectives and selecting content and design instruction. Module two is dedicated to Methods, introducing a variety of methods and materials as well as tried and tested formats and approaches. The course review closes with a fun video of Hankins’ presentation on Open Source, part of the ORION Open Science café at Berlin Science week.

Journal of Responsible innovation

As regular readers will know, the website always carries a review of each new issue of the Journal of Responsible Innovation. This year is no exception, with issues 1 and 2 here to read. Issue 3 will be reviewed in the new year, in a celebratory post! The Journal of Responsible Innovation has become Open Access, and all of the back catalogue is now free to download.

Readers looking for an overview of the last 7 years’ development can browse the reviews from each individual issue here. Congratulations to all those involved.

European Biotechnology and Society Seminar series

Hankins also attended and reviewed the entire European Biotechnology and Society Seminar series. The series involved 12 speakers each presenting for half an hour, spread over six weeks from September through November. Regular readers will recognize several names and institutions involved, not least Phil Macnaghten, Alfred Noordmann and Stevienna de Saille.
Topics covered were varied, and included uses for Lego Serious Play in research, the governance of gene editing, sustainable co-production and synthetic biology in industrial and plants contexts. The series is reviewed in two parts, the first covering the first three meetings and the second the remaining three.

Collaborators Participating

Throughout the year the Foundation’s collaborators have been busy presenting, interviewing, participating and debating a range of responsible Innovation related matters in a host of different settings. The following offers just a glimpse into this world:

Foundation General Secretary Francesco Samore offers this description of his involvement with Confcooperativa, for whom he delivered a speech entitled Developments in the Nineteen Twenties. Innovation through Cooperation (in Italiano). Podcast, video and all related documents are available here.

Jonathan Hankins delivered the Keynote Speech at the ROSIE project Final Event in the form of a video. Hankins takes a rather rye look at the question of what responsible innovation might look like in a business context, suggesting that it might resemble a circus act!

President Piero Bassetti took centre stage in a webinar entitled Resistance and Resiliance, talking through thoughts and uncomfortable visions in order to to face the present and to reconquer trust in the future (hosted by Vento and Associates).
An overview of proceedings is available here (in Italiano) with a transcription of parts of his intervention.

President Bassetti was also protagonist of the first meeting of the ‘Good People’ cycle of interviews and events, run by Fondazione Giangiacomo Feltrinelli. The interview, conducted by Rosa Polacco of Radio 3, was dedicated to capitalism from a historical perspective. Text, podcast and photographs are available here.

Gabriele Giacomini conducted and published video and podcast of his second series of interviews carried out for the Bassetti Foundation (in Italiano). The main objectives of this second series of interviews is to analize the main challenges citizens face due to the ever more pervasive diffusion of ICT and to analize a range of theoretical and practical proposals and actions aimed at the promotion of an autonomous, digital citizen.

Interviews include those with Sociologist Antonio A. Casilli, Philosopher Salvo Vaccaro and Marco Delmastro, Director of the Economic and Statistics arm of Agcom.

We would like to thank all of those who participated in all of the events described above and all of our readership and contributors. All at the Bassetti Foundation are very much looking forward to another interesting and eventful year.

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