The RRI Challenge

IntroductionOn the Imperative for Responsible Innovation in Contemporary Market Societies

I.1. What’s behind the “E”?

I will dare open the serious and difficult theme of the challenges facing the drive for responsibilization of the research and innovation realm in the context of contemporary market societies in an anecdotal style. Introducing the problem in such a way aims to provide a simple illustration of the normative grip that economic thinking has over ethics and societal issues when it comes to science and technology. While referring to materials for the preparation of this book, I encountered a very innocent but telling mistake in a background note aimed at informing potential applicants for Horizon 2020 funding and promoting a responsible approach to Horizon 2020 ICT-related research and innovation (R&I). The document itself was arguing the need for deeper involvement of social sciences and humanities (SSH) in R&I activities, one way being by ELSIfication. Surprisingly (or perhaps not so much), the latter was described as monitoring “economic, legal and social issues related to technological developments” [EUR 15a, p. 2]. Fortunately, the expansion for that four-letter abbreviation was accurately put in a footnote – “Ethical, Legal and Social Implications”. Nevertheless, this very benign mistake led me to think about the power of the reflex to consider “E” first and foremost as the importance of economic expediency and most often, if not always, to find ethics as a ...