The Role of Higher Education in Creating Socially Responsible Innovations: A Case Study of the EIT Food RIS Consumer Engagement Labs Project

The chapter discusses the concept of socially responsible innovations and links it to the third mission of universities, understood in terms of social engagement of the higher education institutions. It presents the case study of the EIT Food RIS Consumer Engagement Labs project (funded by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, EIT, in the framework of Regional Innovation Scheme, RIS). The project has been rolled out to 14 European countries. It serves as a successful example of universities orchestrating the process of co-creation of new products, which involves consumers and producers. The process aimed to address societal challenges and serve the needs of a vulnerable group of senior citizens by developing new food products, proposed by the elderly consumers and matching their specific needs and requirements. It looks at the project experiences through the lenses of inclusion and responsiveness, which allow the universities to combine social responsibility with commercially attractive innovations. Universities involved in the project were playing the role of “interpreters”, linking companies and consumers, facilitating the creative activities and ensuring the methodological and ethical soundness of the co-creation processes.