How can we promote the responsible innovation of nano-agrifood research?

Abstract

The use of nanotechnology and engineered nanomaterials in food and agriculture (nano-agrifoods) may provide numerous benefits to society. At the same time, there is also a chance that nano-agrifood innovations may pose new or unknown risks to human or environmental health and safety. To understand these issues and be more responsive to public concerns, researchers are beginning to discuss and adopt an emerging best practice in science and technology communities known as “responsible innovation” (RI). Originally developed by researchers over ten years ago, RI is now a well-established framework that is already a part of science policymaking in the European Union (as “responsible research and innovation”). In the United States, however, there are numerous structural and institutional barriers for scientists to align their research with RI principles and goals. This perspective briefly reviews RI, why it is needed for nano-agrifoods, and how it could be institutionalized more effectively in the U.S. to ensure that future nano-agrifood research is better aligned with societal needs, expectations, and concerns. This work also identifies several pathways to institutionalize RI in nano-agrifoods, ranging from a public legal mandate to privately enforced organizational norms. Further, a set of strategies and/or best practices for implementing RI in the U.S. context is presented that are applicable to both public and private organizations. While key findings from this work are focused on the need for RI of nano-agrifoods in the U.S., implementation of these best practices could have positive benefits for other emerging technologies and in other national contexts as well.