Authors: Karsten Krüger (coord.); Alba Molas; Laureano Jiménez; Jonna Hjelt, Elias Pekkola; Jari Stenvall, Agata Stasik, Alicja Dańkowska & Natalia Kobza
Year: 2020
Resume: The book presents the technical reports of the first part of the project Responsible Research and Innovation Learning RRIL, in which the degree of the implementation of the concept RRI in the Finnish, Polish and Spanish innovation systems were analysed paying special attention to the knowledge area of energy and economy. The three reports are resumed at the last summary chapter.

Our analysis showed the low relevance of RRI for steering the systems, but also for the institutional governance in all three countries. At the level of research groups and individual researchers, RRI is even less relevant. Naturally, there are some exceptions of this general statement. RRI has certain relevance in some universities, research and technology centres as a guiding vision. The impression of the uneven relevance of RRI is confirmed having a look of the strategic relevance of the three RRI dimension selected by the RRIL project: public engagement, gender and ethics. In general, public engagement – in the sense of triple and quadruple helix – has the highest priority, meanwhile, for different reason, gender and ethic have lower relevance for the design of innovation strategies and within concrete science-based innovation projects

Editor: Karsten Krüger
Year: 2006
The review is only available in German and Spanish
Resumen: The traditional paradigm of technological progress, apparently uninfluenced by values and interests, following only rationalist principle, has been challenged in recent decades by social technology research pointing out the influence of the social context on technical innovation and the interdependencies between technology and society. Technology development, its implementation and application – in short technization – is a process that does not take place in isolation from the social context. The multi-layered innovation processes in the fields of information and communication technology, nanotechnology and biotechnology contribute to profound social changes, but at the same time social conditions influence the path of technological development.
The articles presented here are divided into three sections: 1) Rammert and Werle give a general overview of the state of discussion in the technology studies; 2) Sorj and Welsch discuss the social impact of the Internet; and 3) Vitores & Domenech; Chaparro & Locatel; Gataife and Foladori & Invernizzi deal with the interaction of technology and society in different areas: penitentiary methods; agriculture; biotechnology; and nanotechnology.
The selection of articles seeks to build bridges not only different socio-scientific approaches, but also between different socio-cultural areas of the shaping world society.

Author: Karsten Krüger
Year: 2019
Abstract:
‘Social innovation’ has become a central term in the European Union’s policy and the respective social science research programs. However, the term is interpreted very differently, making it difficult to identify a common denominator. According to an EU report from 2013, there is little in common between the different approaches that use this term about what means ‘social innovation’.
This uncertainty and definitional inconsistency is the motive of this essay to expose examples to expose how different approaches understand social innovation, and, then, to work out, from a sociological perspective, a general definition separating clearly social innovation from the notions of social change and invention.
In the next step, the question will be studied to what extent the analytical concepts (landscapes, regimes and socio-technological niches), which were developed by social technology studies, are also suitable for analysing social innovations. By the example of organic agriculture, the essay explores their applicability, draws lines of convergence and suggests new research lines
It is argued that the concepts of the social technology studies require modifications in order to analyse processes of social innovation. It also points out that technology studies do not pay sufficient attention to the political aspects. Political science and the micro-political approach of organizational theory offer promising concepts for examining social negotiation processes in which different actors with different and often divergent interests influence the innovation process.

Authors: Pablo Sanz de Miguel, in cooperation with Julia Frías, Maria Caprile, Carsten Jørgensen, Szilvia Borbély, Katalin Bácsi, and
Karsten Krüger
Year: 2019
Abstract: Right wing populism and nationalism, while not a new phenomenon, has in the recent years taken hold in many countries, including several within the European Union; sometimes as opposition, sometimes as government. Often, the ideological mixture of welfare chauvinism and nationalism is intended to appeal to the working class, with different degrees of success.
Membership of a Trade Union does not always mean, like it used to, immunity to these ideas, as these parties have abandoned their explicit neoliberal policies (at least in public discourse) and have taken what traditionally were leftwing issues such as social justice or redistribution to appeal to what they perceive as the ‘losers of globalisation’.
For this purpose, the study analyses several EU countries with different industrial relations (Spain, Denmark, Germany, and Hungary), welfare states and Trade Union history and density. It provides a clear definition of ‘National Populist’ or Populist Radical Right Parties, bringing conceptual clarity under the current academic concepts and theoretical framework used to study these issues. It displays the state of play in each country, identifying the key actors and parties, and what strategies are undertaken by Trade Unions to prevent their members from voting for these political options.
Published online by: European Economic and Social Committee [https://www.eesc.europa.eu]

Authors: de Gier, Erik & Warmerdam, J.
Year: 2009
Abstract: This book integrates the various country reports about (1) the discourse of the Globalised Knowledge-based Society in six EU countries Austria, Italy, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland and Spain; (2) the perception of (new) social risks in these countries; and (3) the role and functions of universities. The six country reports were elaborated in the course of the project NESOR – New Social Risk in the European knowledge society and higher education. The European Union cofounded this project through the Socrates programme.
Although in advance a common format of the country reports was agreed, the final output of reports proved to be rather diverse. To some extent this is caused by the fact that each country finds itself in a different developmental stage and speed on the road to the Globalised Knowledge-Based Society and also by the fact that actual discourses and policies are deeply embedded in national cultures. So, this trans-national report will not be a true and tough comparative exercise in the strict methodological sense of the word. What it does offer is an in-depth insight into national debates and policies and above that, also some common felt problems with respect to the Globalised Knowledge-Based Society. What you can expect in the remaining part of this report is not first of all a more or less descriptive summary of the various national reports, but an attempt to develop a sort of coherent transnational perspective of what means Globalised Knowledge-Based Society.

Authors: Baumgartl, Bernd & Mariani, Michele
Year: 2008

Resume:
The book resumes national studies carried out in the course of the project NESOR (New Social Risk in the European knowledge society and higher education). This project, cofounded by the European Union through the Socrates programme, analysed the question about the role and profile of Higher Education Institutions (HEI’s) in the European knowledge society. It provides a rich picture on the state-of-the art of the implementation of the Bologna Process and asks for future role of EU higher education institutions in the European knowledge society, especially with respect to social inclusion and sustainable economical development.
After a few years from the launching of the Bologna Process, it has produced different impacts on the different national educational systems, along with different economical and social consequences. Furthermore, the transition towards the European Knowledge Society is proceeding at quite a different pace among the participant countries partly in response to the diverse degrees in which knowledge-based activities are present in the national economies and the importance concede to knowledge as a long-run growth factor.
The transformation of the labour markets has deepened inequalities, between least skilled workers and high-skilled ones. This creates new social risks and calls for proactive strategies also by Higher Education Institutions. To face contemporary challenges, contribute to social cohesion and sustainable economical development, EU higher education institutions must further engage as active agents in the creation of the future society. Curricular adaptations, lifelong learning, assistance in the transition of the education system from education to learning, provision of equal opportunities for all, are all relevant and challenging tasks which definitely are part of the contemporary role of EU Universities.

Editors: Karsten Krüger & Erik de Gier
Year: 2011
Abstract: One of the European Union’s major concerns is its ageing population, and the need to develop a social and economic strategy able to meet this demographic challenge. One of the key issues is the care for elderly and dependent people. This question goes to the core of the European Social Protection system. But it is difficult to define exactly what care and care services for dependent people means. Traditionally a distinction has been made between health care and social care. For several reasons, these boundaries are blurred and a more integrated perspective comes up advocating the concept of long-term care, defined by the OECD as “the organisation and delivery of a broad range of services and assistance to people who are limited in their ability to function independently on a daily basis over an extended period of time”.
Long-term care systems are characterised by the diversity of the providers, of the institutional and organisational settings, and of the sources of funding. With regard to social care, the EUROFOUND made a rough distinction between waged carers and non-waged carers.
Only this distinction indicates yet that long-term care systems have complex configurations, combining different types of formal care with a wide range of informal care.
The long-term care systems of the EU-member states are under pressure from four quarters:
a) The improvement in the health of European populations has increased life expectancy. The over 65-year and the over-85 age groups have grown considerably in recent decades and will continue to do so in the future. Inevitably, this raised and will raise the demand for care for older people.
b) The family structure has changed all over Europe, towards a model characterised by smaller double breadwinner families. And as female members have traditionally taken responsibility for family care, the growing incorporation of women in the labour market increases the demand for formal carers.
c) The EU population in working age is decreasing, thus raising competition for labour between different economic sectors. This can be mitigated, but not resolved, by immigration. But low paid work and low labour status combined with high responsibilities make the care work not very attractive.
d) The retrenchment of the welfare state since the 1990s and the increasing public budget restrictions in EU-member states have made the funding of high quality national care systems even more difficult.
The multiple demographic changes exert pressure on the care service sector to respond to the increasing demand for professionalised care services. There is a lack of qualified labour to satisfy this demand, and there are strong public budget restrictions as well.
The problem of providing high quality care service is related on the one hand to the increase in the demand for care, and on the other to the labour shortage. But at the same time, long-term care is one of the sectors in which the most employment is created.
This book brings together articles by authors from four European countries (Finland, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain) which reflect trends in the search for new combinations between institutional, family and community agents to provide high quality long-term care services. The articles also show the diversity of the national landscapes of care services as well as the variety of possible solutions.

NESOR (“NEw SOcial Risks and the role of universities”), a research project funded by the EU Socrates Programme, has undertaken some 150 interviews with HE experts and University managers, has produced some 20 national reports and 4 transnational reports, has held some 10 focus groups and national conferences, and has organised 3 international conferences with internal and external speakers. Moreover, it has assembled a (non-academic, policyrelevant) book which explores the issues at stake from an institutional point of view.

Concrete recommendations for action are formulated at the end of this Brief, on the basis of evidence collected. They cover these aspects of universities: structure, role in society, major functions, type of access, major actors, major clients, type of governance, and mode of teaching; and they are directed to decision-makers (i.e. managers and board members of the universities, university strategists, policy-makers, and politicians – and not least all those stakeholders who hold an opinion or have a say on the role of universities) at the levels of the European Union, the national state – and as well at the very institutions of HE. This rich body of experience from practice allows for a distilling of relevant experience from unsuccessful and successful action by university management, in front of the new challenges arising from the Lisbon Agenda, the Bologna Process, and other reform processes at international, national and institutional level.

Editores: Bernd Baumgartl, Jochen Fried, Anna Glass

La serie de publicaciones navreme | recoge experiencias derivadas de tareas, seminarios, proyectos e informes de navreme y sus socios en toda Europa. El volumen 7 de esta serie de publicaciones presenta los resultados de algunos de los trabajos recientes de navreme en los ámbitos de la enseñanza superior, la evaluación y la gestión de proyectos. Admitimos (con bastante inmodestia) que consideramos que muchos de los resultados de este trabajo merecen ser compartidos con un público más amplio; por ello, el Volumen 7 se ha dividido en dos partes: la primera trata (7a) de algunas de las “grandes cuestiones” que ocupan un lugar destacado en la agenda de casi cualquier debate político sobre la enseñanza superior en Europa y en otros lugares: garantía de calidad, modelos de gobernanza, la aparición de un sector privado en crecimiento, tendencias demográficas, alternativas al paradigma tradicional de la universidad y, por último, pero no por ello menos importante, escenarios para el futuro. Este primer volumen presenta los hitos de la enseñanza superior identificados por los miembros de la red navreme y los participantes en la sesión del Seminario de Salzburgo sobre “Más allá de la Universidad: Shifting Demographics in Higher Education” (noviembre de 2006).