On January 24, the RECIPES project was launched in Maastricht with a public conference (Reconciling science, innovation and precaution through the engagement of stakeholders). The event, hosted by the faculty of law of the university (project coordinator), allowed the partners, some of the international advisors of the project, as well as representatives of the European Commission, to get to know each other in person, to illustrate the aims and activities provided by RECIPES and to debate the very topical issues raised by the principles of precaution and innovation, not only in Europe, but throughout the world. The work of the eleven partners continued in the afternoon with an examination of the activities planned for the coming months, starting with WP1, directed by the Maastricht University and aimed at taking stock of the precautionary principle since 2000 from the point of view of implementation in the national regulations, the presence in the public debate and the awareness of European citizens. Work continued on WP2, coordinated by the IASS (Germany) and focused on the execution of eight case studies related to the adoption of the precautionary principle in relation to technological innovations in the environmental, health and food sectors. As an intermezzo, the partners attended a public lecture by Michael Ignatieff, president of the Central European University (CEU) in Budapest. WP3, implemented under the responsibility of the DBT (Denmark) and aimed at developing new approaches and tools to the precautionary principle, was subsequently illustrated and discussed.
During the second day of the meeting, the communication and dissemination strategy of the project (WP5, directed by Ecologic, partner from Germany) was showcased. Antonio Scarafino of the Research Executive Agency then outlined the main requirements of the grant agreement. Subsequently, the financial and practical arrangements of the consortium, making the subject of WP6, were discussed.
