Responsible Research and Innovation Flashcards
What are the phases companies go through to innovate when they have limited resources?
1) Discovery - production facilities
2) Conceptualisation - new solution, focus on material its made of
3) Development - quality, value for money, markets
4) Launch
What are the UN sustainable development goals?
E.g no poverty, zero hunger, climate action, life below water, life on land, sustainable cities
What is the EU Horizon 2020 ?
- 100 projects funded
- 700 organisations
- 50 organisations with 3+ projects
- Mostly conceptual work - roadmaps and tools
- Responsible research focus rather than innovation
What is the engineering and physical sciences research council? (Example of a local funding body)
Committed to develop and promote responsible innovation.
Public funds of research.
What is responsible?
Responsibility for one’s actions: contractual, legal and moral
What is innovation?
Product
Process
Business model innovation
What is the definition of R(R)I?
A transparent, interactive process where societal actors and innovators become mutually responsive to each other in terms of sustainable, socially desirable and ethical acceptable innovation processes and marketable products
…in order to allow a proper embedding of scientific and technological advances in our society
What are the principles of responsible innovation?
Ethical acceptability - innovation outcomes need to be in line with societal norms and values
Sustainability focuses on environmental sustainability and eco-efficiency during the innovation process
Societal desirability proposes that innovation outcomes should contribute to the solution of key challenges facing humanity
What are the means to achieve responsible innovation outcomes?
Anticipation - anticipate future non+/intended outcomes of innovation and consequences for broader groups
Deliberation: involve stakeholders
Reflexivity: reflect upon the means to achieve innovation goals; auditing + reviewing mechanism
Responsiveness: suggests that during this process innovators should respond to newly emerging knowledge and perspectives
What is a criticism of the anticipation stage in responsible innovation?
Trying to identify risks associated with a product as early as the discovery stage is very time consuming and trying to take action on these for launch is not urgent enough for big societal challenges
Might prevent good ideas and societal challenges from being solved
What is a criticism of stakeholder inclusion in the principles of responsible innovation?
Some stakeholders have their own strategic genders and their preferences might be problematic
How do corporate responsibility and responsible innovation principles differ?
Ethical acceptability covered by CSR but RI makes that a required not expected responsibility
RI extended CSR in terms of sustainability (what is responsible might not be sustainable)
RI extends CSR in terms of social desirability (what is responsible might not contribute towards addressing global challenges)
What are some examples of responsible innovation?
Saltwater Brewary created “Edible Six Pack Rings”
Edible cutlery
What was found about awareness of RRI, drivers and obstacles and the factors facilitating RRI in ICT industry?
Low awareness but this doesn’t mean lack of activities
Profit might not be the main priority for some companies
Sector plays a role in defining corporate identity
How do external and internal values play a crucial role when integrating responsibility into corporate innovation?
External - needs to be outcome of a collective effort, an effort that extends beyond self interest and is aligned with stakeholder interests
Internal - innovation can be supported and nurtured through internal efforts to align employees’ values with organisational values and culture
