Reflexive Governance for Research and Innovative Knowledge

6Intellectual Intervention in Society: The Key to Reflexive Governance of RRIs

Over the course of the previous chapters, we have attempted to reconstruct a certain manner of approaching the organization of intellectual involvement in society by identifying different structures of collective knowledge production, which are seen as different systems for responding aimed at social needs. To this end, we have argued for the interest of mobilizing governance theory as a form of political philosophy examining the type of action that can guarantee reflexivity with regard to ongoing actions, so as to enable, through intellectual engagement, a transformation of the way actors relate to their identities, marking a social interest in scientific practices and broader corroboration of the way in which the requirements of collective responsibility are met in research. Our thesis is that this approach may provide a better overall framework for the implementation of responsible research and innovation (RRI) policies than approaches based on monitoring the implementation of general criteria, treated as a set of externalities or pathway constraints that the scientific approach must learn to manage in order to confirm and reinforce its social legitimacy.

Our approach is thus based on a tripartite process: an information process, aiming to define the type of research governance that is best suited to meet reflexive governance requirements; a deconstruction process, aiming to highlight potential ...