A comprehensive appraisal of responsible research and innovation: From roots to leaves

Martijn Wiarda,Geerten Van De Kaa,Emad Yaghmaei,Neelke Doorn

doi:10.1016/j.techfore.2021.121053

Martijn Wiarda, Geerten Van De Kaa + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2021.121053

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Abstract

Responsible Research and Innovation and Responsible Innovation, as academic endeavours, have grown substantially since their birth in the previous decades. They have been used as synonyms on a structural basis, and both concepts have been studied from various disciplinary backgrounds. This paper identifies Responsible Research and Innovation's and Responsible Innovation's shared research topics, knowledge base, and academic organisation as a common ground for scholars to further their individual or joint research. It does so by conducting a keyword analysis and a collaboration analysis, combined with a reference analysis of their academic literature. This paper discusses the most influential references in chronological order and sheds light on the accumulation of knowledge. The results suggest that Responsible Research and Innovation and Responsible Innovation have matured into an increasingly cumulative and interconnected research trajectory following the footsteps of similar, more mature research areas.

Highlights

Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) and Responsible Inno vation (RI) have gained increasing attention since their births in the previous decades (Owen et al, 2012; Owen and Pansera, 2019; Rip, 2016)
Descriptive statistics The 508 RRI and RI articles in our sample were published in 217 different sources, contained 1387 unique keywords, and were cited on average 8.9 times
Based on the contributions identified by the reference publication year spectroscopy (RPYS), this study finds that the term RI and RRI were first combined by Robinson (2009)

Summary

Introduction

Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) and Responsible Inno vation (RI) have gained increasing attention since their births in the previous decades (Owen et al, 2012; Owen and Pansera, 2019; Rip, 2016). It can be argued that RI is a rather bottom-up research stream while RRI stems from a top-down vision (Loureiro and Conceiçao, 2019) Throughout both their existences, they have been criticised, opposed, endorsed, and trans formed from various academic perspectives (Blok and Lemmens, 2015; de Hoop et al, 2016; Macnaghten et al, 2014; Nordmann, 2014; Stilgoe et al, 2013). This has caused confusion in an already multidisciplinary and complex dialogue

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