Responsible Innovation: Managing the Responsible Emergence of Science and Innovation in Society

Responsible innovation: Managing the responsible emergence of science and innovation in society, by Richard Owen, John Bessant, Maggy Heintz (Eds). (2013). John Wiley & Sons, LTD. Print ISBN. 9781119966364 Developed from the content of a workshop held at the Residence of the French Ambassador in London in May 2011, Responsible Innovation: Managing the Responsible Emergence of Science and Innovation in Society, is a collection of essays by an international cast of academics, administrators, ethicists, and scientists. Accessible for those interested in the trajectory of novelty in technique and technology, the collection is intended for decision makers and policy movers, individuals who need guidance on the unfolding of long term trends rather than specific, near term outcomes. As such, most of the essays will make it clear that they are making pains to stay away from explicit prescriptions for individual problems, and instead setting out to create management frameworks for leadership invested in innovation processes. Responsible Innovation is a textbook meant to be read early in the innovation process, ideally before ethical issues arise. The essays are very well cited and provide a wealth of information for further research. Equipped with the information found within, the text promises the watchdogs of innovative products and processes insight into the question of how innovation can and should be carried out. Responsible Innovation (RI) as a practice gets several definitions over the course of the text, with general conclusions being as follows: that RI is a pluralistic process balancing a continuum of viewpoints, varying education levels, and degrees of political and economic power; that RI has to balance anticipation of the future with the fact that technology is by definition unanticipated; that the current market-based paradigm that dominates the world economic and political systems means that when (and if) RI appears, it arises out of an organized chaos of competition and marketeering; and finally that RI is a collective commitment to the future. The various characterizations of RI proceed from a growing body of scholarship concerned with diligent stewardship of the research process, from academia to business. A collection like Responsible Innovation could easily fall into length philosophical and ethical reflection and polemics, or alternatively, stale repetition of various practical approaches already attempted. It is fortunate, then, that the editors chose such a mix of essays as they did. Philosophical perspectives are erudite, such as the criticism of consequentialism offered in Chapter 7, Understanding the Ethnical Issues (Grinbaum, Groves 2013), and the unpacking of Hannah Arendt's distinction between collective responsibility and collective guilt as an answer to the dominant consequentialist paradigm. The author's referencing of Hans Jonas' idea of technology's influence in "our power over future generations" (127) identifies one of the primary ethical issues at hand in responsible innovation: the depth of the stakes involved in the tireless march forward that constitutes innovation, stakes that have become extraordinarily high. The various global perspectives that inform the collection are helpful in this regard. For instance, a European perspective is offered in Chapter 3's A Vision of Responsible Research and Innovation (Schomberg 2013), which takes on the EU's Lund Declaration--the final word of the Lund Conference in 2009, focused on the "great challenges of our time"--as a starting point for developing 'normative anchor points' for innovative product and process: that product be ethically acceptable, be developed in a sustainable manner, and be socially desirable; and that process be responsive, adaptive, and have integrated management. Relatively new disciplines, such as geo-engineering and nanotechnology, fields of study that promise transformative innovations and coeval ethical implications, are approached with maturity and nuance. …