Sustainability assessments of research projects: exploring the case of Sustainability Readiness Level (SRL)

Sammanfattning: This study explores the cross-section between sustainability assessment and research reviewing- and evaluation at an early development stage of emerging technical solutions´ by conducting a case study on Sustainability Readiness Level, a tool used in the application and reviewing process of the Strategic Innovation Programme (SIP) BioInnovation. The aim of the thesis is to gain a deeper understanding of how sustainability assessments can be integrated into R&D projects and to get an understanding of the perception of SRL among its users (applicants and reviewers). This is done by conducting a qualitative interview study and a literature review. The results show a mixed perception on the effectiveness of SRL, however most of the interviewees perceive SRL as an important tool that to some degree forces the applicants to reflect around sustainability. However, all of the applicants considered SRL to be vague and difficult to understand and use. This can be related to the limited time of implementations, difficulties in interpreting and set boundaries of “sustainability”, and to the, sometimes inherent, difficulties with ex ante assessments, such as uncertainties and lack of reliable data. The results indicate that SRL has led to discussions and reflections regarding sustainability issues within the projects and in the grant review process, but it does not seem to have had an effect on the integration of sustainability perspectives’ in the project design. Instead, the potential market diffusion and market need (sometimes related to requirements and regulations on national or EU-level) along with a collaborative research form seems to be the main drivers for ensuring a sustainable design of the project’s solution. SRL is a tool that answers to the many calls to incorporate sustainability perspectives into research projects applications and grant review, however, in order to fully study the effect and benefits of the tool a broader implementation in different contexts is needed, also in contexts where sustainability is not an explicit focus.