Abstract:The European 'Measuring the Impossible' Network MINET promotes new research activities in measurement dependent on human perception and/or interpretation. This includes the perceived attributes of products and services, such as quality or desirability, and societal parameters such as security and well-being. Work has aimed at consensus about four 'generic' metrological issues: (1) Measurement Concepts & Terminology; (2) Measurement Techniques: (3) Measurement Uncertainty; and (4) Decision-making & Impact Assessment, and how these can be applied specifically to the 'Measurement of Persons' in terms of 'Man as a Measurement Instrument' and 'Measuring Man.' Some of the main achievements of MINET include a research repository with glossary; training course; book; series of workshops; think tanks and study visits, which have brought together a unique constellation of researchers from physics, metrology, physiology, psychophysics, psychology and sociology. Metrology (quality-assured measurement) in this area is relatively underdeveloped, despite great potential for innovation, and extends beyond traditional physiological metrology in that it also deals with measurement with all human senses as well as mental and behavioral processes. This is particularly relevant in applications where humans are an important component of critical systems, where for instance health and safety are at stake.
The paper presents some results emerging from the EC funded INNOVEAS project, particularly from a study on the non-economic factors that prevent (or facilitate) the adoption of energy efficiency measures and energy audits by SMEs. This study and its results are relevant for a reflection on the role of SMEs for the adoption of new business practices and technologies (including materials) that are conducive to a green transition. Attention will be paid also to those obstacles and facilitating factors that are relevant for the promotion of the circular economy – which is also, in fact, a strategy for achieving energy efficiency. The paper is based on the view that materials are a special type of technology and, as such, are the result of a social construction process. From this angle, materials can be thought of also by considering the actors involved in the process of their development and use. The life cycle of materials, in particular, must be analyzed also considering the role that different actors play in it; not only the technical characteristics of the materials have to be considered, but also the social context of development and application of materials. Such assumptions can be used also for interpreting the role of the actors in the challenges that contemporary societies are facing, particularly the promotion of energy saving and of the circular economy and more generally the transition towards decarbonization and dematerialization. In this paper, the focus is on a particular type of actors, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). They constitute a plethora of economic actors operating in numerous production sectors and at different levels of the value chains. SMEs orientations are important for achieving a better knowledge of the cycle of materials, especially in relation to the possibility of directing it towards the pursuit of environmental objectives such as energy saving and the circular economy. The paper stresses that considering the role of SMEs in such wide social and economic innovation process should illustrate peculiar aspects of the “internal” life of SMEs (culture, organizational skills, etc.) as well as the interaction with other actors within the context of operation of SMEs.
Since the summer of 2020, researchers from ten projects pertaining to the Horizon2020 Science with and for Society (SwafS) call have been meeting virtually as the SwafS14 Monitoring and Evaluation ecosystem. Topics of discussion were the trials and tribulations of their regional Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) projects as well as their strategies for monitoring and evaluation. In this paper we make a first attempt at presenting these issues as problems of translation between different kinds of stakeholders. After an exploration of the diversity of stakeholders and the process of translation in regional RRI, we suggest evaluative conversations as a way of improving regional RRI. We intend to develop this idea in the future and that these conversations will facilitate more responsible and engaged monitoring and evaluation and contribute to better R&I policies.
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