Abstract

In order to optimise the impact of research endeavours it is imperative to maximise the potential benefits to “relevant” stakeholders. But how can we select and prioritise the “relevant” stakeholders? And how can we rationalise and value the potential benefits of their interaction with the research activity? A case study will be presented on how to address these challenges. It relates to a project in the circular bioeconomy area, in the context of which an innovative methodology was developed to prioritise stakeholders in face of the potential research benefits from a sustainability point of view. To that end, use was made of: 1) the P5 standard for sustainability to frame the potential benefits from the social, environmental and economic points of view, and 2) the analytic network process multicriteria decision making method to prioritize stakeholders and benefit areas. The usefulness of the developed methodology in the wider context of the impact of research and innovation activities will be discussed (learning outcome).