Meeting the Needs of Society: Experiences from Practices at the Science–Society Interface

The notion of science demonstrating responsibility to society by meeting the needs of society is key in current policymaking. Under the label of ‘responsible research and innovation’, many projects have been funded to study and stimulate practices of responsible science–society relationships, both within and outside Europe. Those projects collected insights into what constitutes a responsible science–society relationship and indicated how changes in that relationship are evolving, such as the roles and responsibilities of researchers and research institutes. In this chapter, findings are discussed to provide a broader and enriched cultural and international perspective on the changing science–society relationship. More specifically, results are derived from case studies in the Netherlands, South Africa and China.