Vision and Mission Statement
The Conceptual Framework and Ecosystem
of the RRI Hub
The RRI Hub envisions itself as a nucleus for a socially responsible orientation within the three guiding missions of universities: Research, Teaching, Transfer. Its overarching mission is to encourage sustainable and socially responsible research and innovation that caters to societal needs. Therefore, the RRI Hub has two primary objectives: firstly, to promote collaboration between academia and civil society to find meaningful solutions to complex challenges in research, teaching, and transfer, and secondly, to endorse and advance the recognition of social engagement through research and transfer.
To archieve its objectives, the RRI Hub seeks to network, bundling and concretizing competencies through a reciprocal relationship between RWTH Aachen University and other stakeholders, such as civil society. In doing so, the RRI Hub strives to educate students to become responsible innovators of tomorrow in order to find solutions to global challenges as addressed by the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). To this end, the RRI Hub considers inter- and transdisciplinary perspectives by involving various disciplines and stakeholders in its teaching and research activities.
The Sustainable and Socially Responsible Anchoring of our Activities
All activities of the RRI Hub are anchored in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These activities generally relate to all SDGs, but primarily focus on SDGs 4, 5, 9, 10 and 11. As an academic actor, the RRI Hub collaborates in research, teaching and transfer with different actors of the Quadruple Helix and has already established successful collaborations with actors in all four strands. In society, for example, the RRI Hub collaborates with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to promote civic engagement. In addition, the RRI Hub cooperates with other partners in academia (e.g., with other higher education institutions in Aachen, Germany, and worldwide). Here, joint courses and research projects are conducted on topics related to the 17 SDGs. Furthermore, cooperation with actors from politics and administration (governing actors), such as the city of Aachen, is part of the transfer activities of the RRI Hub, with the aim of raising awareness for RRI and strengthening joint activities between universities and other actors. Finally, cooperation with industry is established, for example in teaching, by inviting industry partners to give lectures in courses and seminars..