Responsible Innovation
What is Responsible Innovation?
Responsible Innovation is a process that seeks to promote creativity and opportunities for science and innovation that are socially desirable and undertaken in the public interest.
Research has the potential to not only produce understanding, knowledge, and value, but also unintended consequences, questions, ethical dilemmas, and social transformations. Responsible Innovation acknowledges that innovation can raise questions and dilemmas, is often ambiguous in terms of purposes and motivations and unpredictable in terms of impacts, beneficial or otherwise. It goes beyond consideration of ethics, public engagement, risk and regulation.
Expectations for researchers
Researchers should work within the principles of Responsible Innovation, exploring these aspects of innovation in an open, inclusive, and timely way.
Researchers must anticipate, reflect and engage on the wider ethical and societal impacts, implications and value of their work, entering into dialogue with the public and other stakeholders where appropriate, and respecting the views of others, as well as reflecting on personal and collective motivations for conducting the research.
Trusted Research
Researchers must be aware of and comply with Trusted Research guidelines, identifying risks that their proposed research might produce results that could be misused for purposes that are illegal or harmful (including military applications). They should be mindful of any potential risks to national security and potential theft, misuse or exploitation of research. This is particularly relevant to researchers in STEM subjects, dual-use technologies, emerging technologies and commercially sensitive research areas.
Further Information
Further information including links to a variety of frameworks, tools and resources have been developed to support Responsible Innovation can be found here:
Responsible Innovation (warwick.ac.uk)
The National Protective Security Authority (NPSA) Trusted Research Guidance for Academia can be found here: