Collective Innovation Processes

8 Responsible Innovation

The relationships between science, technology and society have been analyzed for centuries, particularly by philosophers and sociologists. Stilgoe et al. [STI 13] mentions the favorable role that Francis Bacon attributed to science, whereas Habermas [HAB 73] and Ellul [ELL 90], for example, have criticized the power of technology over society. For some, science and technology go hand in hand with progress, while according to others, they represent threats to society. Other authors such as Callon et al. [CAL 01] or Feenberg and Dibon [FEE 04] remark that science, technology and society cannot be regarded as independent spheres since, on the contrary, they evolve together and in close interaction. The sociology of science and technology, closely related to philosophy, attempts to analyze and represent these links [VIN 05]. Now, the development of new controversial technologies, such as biotechnologies, nanotechnologies and even ICT, together with the advent of responsible development and the societal responsibility of companies, has led to new questions on these connections, which include an environmental dimension that has been absent up to this point, unlike the social or rather societal dimension which has been considered for a long time. The European Commission has significantly incentivized these works since the 2000s, giving rise to the concept of responsible development and even responsible research and innovation (RRI), which are bound to frame ...