The RRI Challenge


Book Description

This book explores the prospects of innovation governance within the context of the growing uneasiness surrounding the effects, democratic deficits and overall societal adequacy of techno-scientific progress. There is a focus on the recently promoted notion of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI), and some light is shed on the inevitable impediments of its meaningful implementation with respect to the normative structure of contemporary market societies. A particular matter of concern is the normative interlock between science and the market around the notion of neutrality, and the narrowing room for ethics reflexivity. The RRI Challenge outlines avenues for further conceptualization so that RRI can fulfil its emancipatory potential as social critique. This involves challenging the current politico-economic framework of the knowledge-creation process, and re-examining key conceptual dyads in innovation governance such as: governance/government, hard law/soft law, risk/fault, uncertainty/indeterminacy and morality/ethics.




Implementing Responsible Research and Innovation


Book Description

This open access book offers a unique and practically oriented study of organisational and national conditions for implementing Responsible Research Innovation (RRI) policies and practices. It gives the reader a thorough understanding of the different aspects of RRI, and of barriers and drivers of implementation of RRI related policies. It shows how different organisational and national contexts provide unique challenges and opportunities for bringing RRI into practice. The book provides concrete examples and offers the reader both a theory-based understanding of the topic, as well as guidance for action. The target audience encompasses, in addition to RRI students and scholars in particular, all students and scholars in the field of Science and Technology Studies (STS). The book is also of interest to students and scholars in the fields of research ethics, philosophy of science, organisational governance in the research system and organisational theory more generally. Finally, the book is of use to practitioners in research conducting and funding organisations working to implement RRI.--




Rethinking the Social in Innovation and Entrepreneurship


Book Description

Offering a comprehensive classification of the analytical approaches to the social within the fields of innovation and entrepreneurship studies, this book showcases a wide variety of perspectives and a collection of theoretical analysis tackling social complexity.




Responsible Innovation


Book Description

This Open Access book, Responsible innovation provides benefits for society, for instance more sustainable products, more engagement with consumers and less anxiety about emerging technologies. As a governance tool it is mostly driven by research funders, including the European Commission, under the term “responsible research and innovation” (RRI). To achieve uptake in private industry is a challenge. This book provides successful case studies for the implementation of responsible innovation in businesses. The importance of social innovations is emphasized as a link between benefits for society and profits for businesses, especially SMEs. For corporate industry it is shown how responsible innovation can offer a competitive advantage to adopters. The book is based on the latest insights from theory and practice and combines conceptual work with first-hand experience. It is of interest to innovation managers, entrepreneurs and academics. For academics, the book will provide a combination of analysis and discussion, and present recent learnings from first-hand interaction with entrepreneurs. For innovation managers and entrepreneurs, it will provide inspiration and better ideas about what responsible innovation can look like in practice, why others have “done it” and what the potential benefits might be. The book will thus serve the purposes of spreading the word about the responsible innovation concept among different audiences whilst making it more accessible to innovation managers and entrepreneurs.




The Fragility of Responsibility


Book Description




Responsible Innovation


Book Description

Science and innovation have the power to transform our lives and the world we live in - for better or worse – in ways that often transcend borders and generations: from the innovation of complex financial products that played such an important role in the recent financial crisis to current proposals to intentionally engineer our Earth’s climate. The promise of science and innovation brings with it ethical dilemmas and impacts which are often uncertain and unpredictable: it is often only once these have emerged that we feel able to control them. How do we undertake science and innovation responsibly under such conditions, towards not only socially acceptable, but socially desirable goals and in a way that is democratic, equitable and sustainable? Responsible innovation challenges us all to think about our responsibilities for the future, as scientists, innovators and citizens, and to act upon these. This book begins with a description of the current landscape of innovation and in subsequent chapters offers perspectives on the emerging concept of responsible innovation and its historical foundations, including key elements of a responsible innovation approach and examples of practical implementation. Written in a constructive and accessible way, Responsible Innovation includes chapters on: Innovation and its management in the 21st century A vision and framework for responsible innovation Concepts of future-oriented responsibility as an underpinning philosophy Values – sensitive design Key themes of anticipation, reflection, deliberation and responsiveness Multi – level governance and regulation Perspectives on responsible innovation in finance, ICT, geoengineering and nanotechnology Essentially multidisciplinary in nature, this landmark text combines research from the fields of science and technology studies, philosophy, innovation governance, business studies and beyond to address the question, “How do we ensure the responsible emergence of science and innovation in society?”




The Challenges of Technology and Economic Catch-Up in Emerging Economies


Book Description

This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. Innovation is a pivotal driving force behind economic growth. Technological capability deepens and diversifies industrial activity, which fundamentally enhances growth potential. Consequently, failure to build effective technological capability can lead to slow long-term economic growth. This book synthesizes and interprets existing knowledge on technology upgrading failures in order to better understand the challenges of technology upgrading in emerging economies. The objective is to bring together diverse evidence on three major dimensions of technology upgrading: paths of technology upgrading, structural changes in the nature of technology upgrading, and the issues of technology transfer and technology upgrading. Knowledge on these three dimensions is synthesized at the firm, sector, and macro levels across different countries and world macroregions. Compared to the challenges and uncertainties facing emerging economies, our understanding of technology upgrading is sparse, unsystematic, and scattered. The recent growth slowdown in many emerging economies, often known as the middle-income trap, has reinforced the importance of understanding the technology upgrading challenges they experience. While our understanding of these issues from the 1980s and 1990s is relatively more systematised, the more recent changes that took place during the globalization and proliferation of global value chains, and the effects of the 2008 financial crisis, have not been explored and compared synthetically. The current effects of COVID-19, geopolitical struggles, and the growing concern around environmental sustainability add significant complexity to an already problematic situation. The time is ripe to take stock of our existing knowledge on processes of technology upgrading in emerging economies and make further inroads in research on this crucial issue.




Security and its Challenges in the 21st Century


Book Description

By the year 2000, a balance was sought between security requirements and a respect for privacy, as well as for individual and collective freedoms. As we progress further into the 21st century, however, security is taking precedence within an increasingly controlled society. This shift is due to advances in innovative technologies and the investments made by commercial companies to drive constant technological progress. Despite the implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) within the EU in 2018 or 2020’s California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), regulatory bodies do not have the ability to fully manage the consequences presented by emerging technologies. Security and Its Challenges in the 21st Century provides students and researchers with an international legal and geopolitical analysis; it is also intended for those interested in societal development, artificial intelligence, smart cities and quantum cryptology.




Ethics and Responsible Research and Innovation in Practice


Book Description

This Open Access book aims to present practical contributions to the ethics governance framework, the conceptualization and characteristics of ethics tools, as well as the experience gained from their application in different institutions. Its main objective is to provide a practical and useful guide that will help other institutions to start introducing Research Ethics effectively in their organizations. The European initiative ETHNA System has designed an ethics governance framework that can be implemented following specific guidelines and tools that can help different types of institutions to promote and generate responsible research and innovation. The papers included in this book were organized in topical sections as follows: foundations; experiences and lessons learned; ethics tools in practice; and looking into the future: main challenges.




International Handbook on Responsible Innovation


Book Description

The Handbook constitutes a global resource for the fast growing interdisciplinary research and policy communities addressing the challenge of driving innovation towards socially desirable outcomes. This book brings together well-known authors from the US, Europe and Asia who develop conceptual and regional perspectives on responsible innovation as well as exploring the prospects for further implementation of responsible innovation in emerging technological practices ranging from agriculture and medicine, to nanotechnology and robotics. The emphasis is on the socio-economic and normative dimensions of innovation including issues of social risk and sustainability.