GOVERNANCE ASPECTS IN THE EU RESEARCH POLICY TO SUPPORT INNOVATION

The paper is devoted to the governance issues in the implementation of EU research policy. Part of the research was carried out within the framework of the European Union 7th Framework Programme (FP7) Project "The Ethical GovernAnce of Technologies" (EGAIS http://www.egais-project.eu/) at the University of Namur, Belgium. Our attention was focused on the ethical issues in the implementation of the respective EU policy, since ethics has become an indispensible part of today's EU research policy. The collected and analysed empirical data within the EGAIS project research have provided material for our furthter research in the field. The author has continued her research at the University of Latvia, and her interest has been targeted at more recent developments and challenges in the EU research policy with the related governance issues. It concerns, among other things, the governance regarding the framing and implementation of innovative approaches in research and development, linked to the notion of responsible research. It is particularly challenging due to the potential risks that need to be addressed in the public administraiton of research and innovation, especially under the conditions of high degree of uncertainty that the world faces today. In the paper the author traces certain tendencies that become visible in the continuosly changing governance apporaches in support to innovative research and development, including the inherent ethical aspects.