Phil MacNaghten (KTI): Responsible innovation across borders

In this talk I explore intersections between frameworks of responsible innovation (RI) and a variety of emergent research domains. First, I set out a framework of responsible innovation and the way in which it has been configured to comprise four intersecting dimensions: anticipation, inclusion, reflexivity and responsiveness (the AIRR framework). Having set out the framework and explained its constitutive dimensions I then examine how the framework can be put to use across diverse research settings.

There are:

1. debates on international development – examining what happens when Northern framings of RI travel and translate to the very different institutional contexts of the Global South;
2. debates on GM governance – examining how RI can be used to open up governance discussions in three rising power contexts (India, Brazil and Mexico);
3. debates on synthetic biology – exploring how RI can be used to embed Wageningen research in society; and
4. debates on sustainable entrepreneurship – examining whether and under what conditions RI processes can provide opportunities for sustainable entrepreneurs in new technology based firms.

I conclude by pointing to a number of methodological and epistemological challenges for RI as it enters into an active and contested phase of problematisation.