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This report presents the policy recommendations that follow from the EPINET projects investigations into assessments of ethical, legal and societal aspects of smart electricity grids in the European Union. Its main objective has been to evaluate the state-of-the-art in assessments in this domain, especially focusing on the ways in which these may interact with or become integrated into main research and innovation networks, including the making of research and policy agendas.\ud These recommendations are aimed at, and relevant to, different groups and networks involved in smart electricity and governance at European and national levels. At one level of policy action there are the many advisory and expert groups involved in the design and development of smart grids. These include the EU Commission Task Force for Smart Grid. National initiatives such as the Dutch Smart Energy Collective form another target audience. Also relevant are the\ud expert groups participating in the shaping of Horizon 2020 ICT programme (Societal Challenges and LEIT) and the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, national research councils and their advisory bodies. Our recommendations are especially relevant to so-called crosscutting\ud actions in Horizon 2020, especially relating to Responsible Research and Innovation and Social and Humanistic Sciences. Next, our recommendations are also directed to national and EU legislators and regulators charged with adapting to and accommodating the actions of policy makers and the smart grid and smart cities communities. Finally, our recommendations are directed to the technology assessment community, including those dedicated to Responsible Research and Innovation, integrated ELSA and impact assessments.

Localisation : UMR 0951 Innovation (2015-81)

Urban food policies are increasingly considered central instruments for the promotion of food systems sustainability. As for their social sustainability, justice and equity are expected to play a central role, but gender equity remains not fully developed. In order to explore how gender relations can be addressed in the context of urban food policies in global North settings, in this paper we analyze the drafting process of the Urban Food Strategy of Zaragoza (Spain), self-identified as agroecology-oriented and which aimed at introducing a gender-sensitive approach. Based on empirical insights from this case study, we show that a lack of reflection and empirical development exists on the food policy-gender equity nexus, while at the same time there is an emergent body of specific proposals to be obtained from feminist and agroecological reflections on urban lifestyles. Indeed, our paper shows that agroecological and feminist approaches converge in claiming for the visibilization of food-related care work, and in its de-privatization through community-based infrastructures. The paper also unveils limiting conditions which may hinder the transformative potential of agroecology and feminism in urban food policy co-production processes, such as top-down approaches to food policy production, weak participatory processes, and gender-blind decisions among city officers., This article has benefited from a Juan de la Cierva (2016) post-doctoral grant from the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness, and from a grant from the Fund for the Third Sector from the Spanish Ministry of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge (2020 and 2021).