From responsible to responsive innovation: a systemic and historically sensitive approach to innovation processes
Rödl, Malte; Boons, Frank; Spekkink, WouterAbstract
Responsible innovation has emerged as a field of research dedicated to introduce sensitivity to societal values in innovation processes. However, much of the academic literature on RI deals with single technologies instead of technological systems and is future-orientated without explicitly using specialised knowledge of past developments. In this paper, we present a problem-focused approach to RI that aims to support researchers and stakeholders in developing potential solutions from a perspective of systemic awareness and historical sensitivity. We then describe the application of this approach in an 18 months long interdisciplinary research project on plastics. We show that the approach has generated new and unexpected research projects, formed new inter- and transdisciplinary collaborations, and has impacted some participants’ understanding of the systems in which their work is embedded. We conclude that with appropriate willingness to engage by individual researchers, our approach is able to, firstly, influence highly experienced researchers to engage more responsibly with their work, and secondly, to make research projects responsive by including societal concerns and their historical emergence from the start.
Keywords
Responsible innovation; Systems thinking; Historical sensitivity; Event graphs; Learning Histories; Plastics; Co-productionPublished in
Technological Forecasting and Social Change2022, volume: 174, article number: 121231
Authors' information
Sustainable Development Goals
SDG9 Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
SDG12 Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
UKÄ Subject classification
Social Sciences Interdisciplinary
Publication Identifiers
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2021.121231
URI (permanent link to this page)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/113717