Adapt or perish? Assessing the recent shift in the European research funding arena from ‘ELSA’ to ‘RRI’

TLDR

ELSA, introduced in 1994 under the 4th EU Framework Programme, and the newer RRI label of Horizon 2020 both illustrate how EU funding labels precede and shape the research they intend to support, with RRI emerging as a successor to ELSA. The study asks what the semantic shift from ELSA to RRI implies and what distinguishes RRI from its predecessor. The authors find that RRI’s novelty lies not in its interactive, anticipatory stance but in its focus on socio‑economic impacts such as valorisation, employment, and competitiveness.

Abstract

Two decades ago, in 1994, in the context of the 4th EU Framework Programme, ELSA was introduced as a label for developing and funding research into the ethical, legal and social aspects of emerging sciences and technologies. Currently, particularly in the context of EU funding initiatives such as Horizon2020, a new label has been forged, namely Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI). What is implied in this metonymy, this semantic shift? What is so new about RRI in comparison to ELSA? First of all, for both labels, the signifier (S) was introduced in a top-down manner, well before the concept that was signified by it (s) had acquired a clear and stable profile. In other words, the signifier preceded (and helped or helps to shape) the research strategies actually covered by these labels (the precedence of the signifier over the signified: S/s). Moreover, the newness of RRI does not reside in its interactive and anticipatory orientation, as is suggested by authors who introduced the term, but rather in its emphases on social-economic impacts (valorisation, employment and competitiveness).