Expected Outcome:
Societal Readiness (SR) is an indicator of R&I results, expressing they have accounted for different societal needs and concerns, thereby increasing their potential for societal uptake.
The project is expected to contribute to all of the following outcomes:
- The European Commission has a comprehensive overview on the way Societal Readiness is addressed and integrated in piloted projects, and main challenges and concerns are identified;
- A proven strategy to intensify collaboration between STEM[1] and SSH[2] partners led to in-depth interdisciplinary work in R&I projects. All involved project constituencies and relevant parts of society are accounted for in an integrated way to ensure broad and sustainable support for R&I solutions;
- The next generation of Societal Readiness projects benefits from current pilot projects’ experiences, success stories and do’s and don’ts thanks to a public web platform, acting as a one-stop-shop for Societal Readiness for future EU projects;
- The European Commission is equipped with a sound, clear, and replicable procedure – both at implementation and content level – presented as an improvement of the current approach, to address Societal Readiness effectively in future EU funded R&I projects.
Scope:
The European Commission has a strong interest in learning from the implementation of Societal Readiness actions piloted in eight topics from the Cluster 5 work programme 2025[3], and resulting in an estimate of eighteen projects to be implemented. Conclusions on the pilot’s monitoring and evaluation will be the basis for the European Commission’s decision to replicate further these actions, to improve its implementation and possibly widen its use to other fields of application.
The instructions and definitions applying to pilot topics are included in the introduction of the Horizon Europe Main Work Programme 2025 for Climate, Energy and Mobility.
The action is expected to analyse the way Societal Readiness is addressed and integrated in piloted projects and help in designing an efficient, clear, and impactful way of applying a Societal Readiness approach in future EU funded R&I projects with a true interdisciplinary collaboration.
The project selected should address all of the following actions:
- Make a consolidated analysis:
- on the way Societal Readiness is considered and integrated in the Descriptions of the Actions[4] of selected pilot-projects in terms of content (e.g., the type of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) guiding questions chosen and related methodology), implementation (e.g., SR related work distribution and partners) and methodology. Assess the level, timing, and quality of interactions between SSH and STEM partners during the proposal preparation.
- of all First reports on Societal Readiness to be delivered by the selected pilot-projects. Assess the way SR consideration unfolds from the Description of the Actions’ methodology, observe how guiding questions are addressed and plan to respond to the concerns identified. Compare the various ‘SR visions’ put forward by each consortium.
- of all Final reports on Societal Readiness to be delivered by the selected pilot-projects. Assess the various projects’ experiences, challenges and lessons learned during the actual implementation of the Societal Readiness activities, looking at the participation and type of external actors in co-design methods, responses to SR guiding questions, possible adjustment of R&I activities.
Mid-project recommendations based on the two first points are expected in order to give a preliminary sense of directionality for future Societal Readiness projects.
- Analyse the various interdisciplinarity mechanisms (SSH vs. STEM, collaboration with societal stakeholders) across pilot-projects as well as their effectiveness in practice. Identify successful interdisciplinary approaches and less successful ones. Possible evolutions in partners behaviours, or changes in interdisciplinary strategies should be identified. The degree of involvement from partners in SR activities, as well as the way they perceive them (in a positive or negative way) should also be scrutinised. This analysis should result in a publication with concrete tips helping future project partners integrating implementable, efficient, and well-accepted interdisciplinary practices both within consortia and towards external actors.
- Organise annual workshops in physical format to allow all pilot project representatives to meet, interact and exchange experiences periodically. Travel costs for all participants are to be covered by this action.
- Set up a public web platform during the action duration, to provide a direct source of support to future SR users, including examples of SR pathways, do’s and don’ts, tips and tricks specifically tailored to facilitate the use and understanding of the European Commission’s approach on Societal Readiness. A survey submitted beforehand to pilot-projects partners could be envisaged to help in defining those needs. The platform should be updated and completed on a regular basis.
- Eventually provide a set of recommendations to the European Commission taking stock of the work achieved as well as of the recommendations elaborated by pilot-projects in their Final reports on Societal Readiness. Practical improvements of the current Societal Readiness approach should be proposed to overcome identified shortcomings, while at the same time, acknowledging the successful aspects of the current approach. The overall Societal Readiness vision[5] should be kept in mind when providing those recommendations, while aiming at keeping a lowest level of implementation complexity, a highest degree of understandability (including for non-SSH experts) and replicability to various technology maturities and fields of applications, as well as a strong interdisciplinary component.
An analysis of the added value of SR pilot topics compared to SSH-flagged-only-topics within Cluster 5 as well as of other relevant Societal Readiness routes (e.g. at national level) applied to R&I projects in the area of Climate, Energy and/or Mobility should be performed. Successful practices identified may complement recommendations to be provided to the Commission.
Information on e.g. on perceptions, feelings, concerns, past experiences on ways of working that is not translated into projects’ documents should be collected via direct interactions (bilateral discussions with respective project partners).
The action should also initiate similar monitoring activities on Societal Readiness pilot projects funded under future Horizon Europe work programmes, whenever operational phases of this action and new pilot projects overlap.
A duration of 42 months is recommended for this action.
The proposed action requires the effective contribution of relevant SSH disciplines including the involvement of SSH experts to proficiently support the monitoring and evaluation of Societal Readiness pilot-projects in Cluster 5 work programme 2025.
[1] Sciences, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics
[2] Social Sciences and Humanities
[3] HORIZON-CL5-2025-03-D1-06; HORIZON-CL5-2025-02-D3-04; HORIZON-CL5-2026-02-D4-02; HORIZON-CL5-2025-04-D5-01; HORIZON-CL5-2025-04-D6-01; HORIZON-CL5-2025-04-D6-02; HORIZON-CL5-2025-04-D6-11; HORIZON-CL5-2025-04-D6-12
[4] A declaration of confidentiality will be signed by the CSA
[5] Societal Readiness is an indication of R&I results, expressing they have accounted for different societal needs and concerns, thereby increasing its potential for societal uptake and transition towards societal adaptation. Working towards Societal Readiness means to better understand that R&I should be driven by the needs, values, and expectations of diverse social groups, inclusive and transparent in processes and outcomes, active in identifying, mitigating, and avoiding negative social, environmental, and economic externalities.
