The European research agenda: the role of social sciences and humanities disciplines for innovation

This thesis focuses on these aspects, analyzing first the concept of innovation along with its various facets (e.g. technological, social, and organizational) and definitions. The objective is to clarify the borders of such a concept and to understand whether there is a possibility to provide a common and acceptable definition of innovation separately from those in specific scientific fields. Many authors’ different definitions of innovation will be compared to obtain an overview of the state of the art. Then the role of the European policies linked to innovation will be highlighted, focusing on the principal tools able to exert a strong impact on the spreading of innovation in Europe: the European Framework Programmes. The latter will be examined, in the second chapter, in relation to their structures, priorities, and historical context. The aim is to offer a clear picture of the steps taken by the European Union in the realization and promotion of the research framework programmes from 1984 (FP1) to the current Horizon 2020. Moreover, throughout the investigation of the European Framework Programmes, the emerging role that the social dimension has acquired over the decades in the priorities of the FPs will be taken into account. Thus, the research will consider its gradual inclusion from the slight provision in FP4 to the huge dimension provided in Horizon 2020 (third pillar – societal challenges). As the last part of the thesis the role of the social sciences and humanities – SSH – in Horizon 2020 will be introduced as one of the mainstream themes in the European political debate. In particular, an examination of the concept of SSH embedding will be provided as well as a list of funded projects that can be taken as examples of the implementation of the social sciences and humanities. The reason for this specific focus on the SSH as the final objective of my industrial Ph.D. course was to intercept financial opportunities at the European level (mainly looking at the framework programmes) through the realization of specific activities related to social sciences and humanities themes. The project has been carried out with a large enterprise situated in the Marche Region – Loccioni Group. The key factor that puts the SSH and their role in Horizon 2020 at the center of my research can be found in the nature of subjects promoted within my home university. In fact, the University of Macerata is composed just of humanistic faculties (law, economics, psychology, history, social science, and philosophy), and in such a context the social sciences and humanities have gained great relevance, in particular since their promotion in FP7 and Horizon 2020. This context gave my Ph.D. a multidisciplinary approach, as I was involved daily in different activities linked to the European funding programmes, at both the university and the company, which were not attributable to any specific scientific field but transversal to many. This thesis tries to summarize all these different aspects and experiences gathered along my industrial Ph.D. path and put them together in the unified context of the European funding programmes, which were my main field of research and work.